Today there have been a number of reports detailing the "attempt" of Greg Hardy and/or the Riders to get Hardy north of the border. For those not in the know (and I count myself as one prior to reading about this), Hardy was convicted in 2014 of assaulting his ex-girlfriend and uttering threats. He was suspended by the NFl for 10 games but then reduced to 4. He played last season with the Dallas Cowboys but is currently a free agent as even the Cowboys weren't willing to extend his stay.
Now it was reported today that the Riders either tried in the past or in the present to get Hardy on their negotiation list. There is bit of a he said, he said about this; Chris Jones says Hardy previously contacted the Riders and they attempted to pursue getting him on their negotiation list, only to be blocked by the league. Jones says that was that and they moved on. However, it has been reported by Arash Mandani and Justin Dunk that the Riders were attempting this in the present only to be stopped by the league....(Google Greg Hardy and check out the resulting hits under "news", there are a number of items that discuss this.)
Either way, the league got this right. Greg Hardy should not be allowed to ply his trade in the CFL.
I am not suggesting that all players above and below the border who have had youthful indiscretions or some other transgressions should be automatically be banned or prevented from playing in the CFL. IMO it should be dealt with on a player by player basis.
But Greg Hardy has taken toxicity to a whole other level. I think it speaks volumes that Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, seemingly the Last Chance Saloon for a player like Hardy and his ilk, have washed their hands of him. The guy is pure poison, of that there can be no debate.
And yet, the Riders apparently either entertained in the past or currently hoped to bring this "guy" (sorry I wrote a different descriptor but replaced it) into the CFL?!?! Now I realize Jones has his side to the story vs. what the reports state. But why even go there?!?! By his own admission:
“Greg Hardy inquired to us back during camp and it was about a six-hour discussion,” Jones said, according to CBC.ca. “The league made their ruling on it and we moved on.”
Now Jones can argue that the Riders made the ultimate decision to not sign Hardy and maybe that makes it appear they took the high road. But a 6 hour discussion IMO makes it seem far from cut and dried in the Rider's eyes.
The league has in place a policy regarding domestic violence but when it comes to pre-CFL actions, there is no set formula as to how the players are dealt with. Instead the commissioner is tasked with evaluating the situation on a player by player scenario; which is what occurred here.
What prompted me to post this was a concern with how the Riders approached this. Was this a case of embracing the fine print of the domestic violence policy in the league but ignoring it's moral and ethical core? Are the Riders that concerned with winning that they are willing to overlook the most egregious transgressions by a player? With the Riders recent history involving Taj Smith, Dwight Anderson and a PR player whose name I can't recall is this situation with Hardy just another symptom of something rotten at the core of RoughRider organizational culture? Another aspect to this coverage of Hardy is the fact that Justin Cox, starting corner for the Riders, was arrested for domestic violence while at Mississippi State in 2014 and then was arrested and charged with aggravated domestic violence and burglary in 2015 and cut by the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs.
As I previously mentioned, I am not in favour of preventing all players who have had some transgressions in their past play in the CFL. But when it involves violence and harm to another, I feel a line has to be drawn.
The league does has a domestic violence policy in place and all teams need to govern their actions according to that policy. Teams also need to realize they are citizens of the CFL community, just like the players and staff themselves and they need to govern themselves according the values that drove that policy being implemented.
I hope the Riders do not consider themselves above that sense of being part of a league-wide community. Because the presence of a Greg Hardy, Pacman Jones, Ray Rice et al reflects upon the entire league and would only result in a huge negative backlash and tarnish the entire league. The Lions have undertaken a great program with their work in stopping violence against women (and children) and IMO that is an incredible credit to the team and the players that participate.
Anyhoo my vent, my two-bits. Just something I thought was a decent topic for discussion....
Greg Hardy and the Roughriders
Moderator: Team Captains