Bruce
Arland Bruceturned politically correct yesterday and insistedhe didn’t really mean the accusations he made the day before about CFL officials being racist. Here’s something you should know, though:
Many blacks in the CFL believe the Argonauts’ talented receiver was telling the truth in the first place. Calgary receiver Nik Lewis, for instance, was astounded a couple of years ago when a CFLofficial actually told him: “I don’t understand jive talk.” That was the zebra’s response to complaints from Lewis to the official about a call — a call that clearly was blown, by the way. That official no longer works in the CFL.
The referee in charge of the game involving Lewis was Jake Ireland, the same man who headed the crew during the loss by Bruce and the Argonauts in Sunday’s Eastern Division final at Montreal. Over the years, there have been at least seven black CFL players and coaches who have told me Ireland and his crews seem more disrespectful to them than to their white counterparts.
Ireland won’t talk to media types about such matters, but CFL officiating supervisor George Black told me yesterdayhe isn’t concerned.
“I don’t believe Jake or any of our officials are racist,” Black said. “If I thought they were, they wouldn’t be working for me.”
Black said the official who told Lewis he didn’t understand “jive talk” was disciplined for blowingthe call in that game two years ago and was let go a year later for an unrelated incident.
During his comments Sunday, which resulted in a fine from his team and will undoubtedly produce another from the league, Bruce said he thought CFL officials are racist and dislike the Argos’ black head coach, Michael Clemons. He also wondered why the league is devoid of black officials.
Black’s response yesterday was this: “All I can say is that we draw all our officials from (Canadian college football). That’s our training ground.”
Bruce’s outburst was the third in less than a week by blacks regarding alleged racism in and around the CFL, and I find that alarming.
A couple of Alouette players believe they were stopped in a luxury vehicle by Montreal police last week strictly because of their colour. And Roy Shivers, the only black general manager in CFL history, told me he believes his colour was largely why he was fired by Saskatchewan last August. He also said black Roughriders are frequently blamed by Regina police and natives for that city’s troubles.
Folks, there’s obviously something wrong here. Rather than jump all overShivers, the two Montreal players and Bruce, it’d be prudent to consider what’s upset them and what caused them toexpress their concerns.
Whether their perceptions are right are wrong is irrelevant. The fact that blacks in the CFL fear racism in this day and age — in our country — is utterly abhorrent.
Anyway, it’s Grey Cup week, and I have lots more on the CFL in my newest CFL Report.
