Roughriders on practice field despite CFL’s labour issues

It was business as usual for the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Tuesday morning.

How long it stays that way is up in the air.

The CFL team’s players and coaches were on the field at Griffiths Stadium for a training-camp workout, which started about 15 hours after the CFL Players’ Association announced a majority of players had voted down a proposed collective bargaining agreement with the league.

“Both sides want to get something done and obviously the membership didn’t think the last (offer) was good enough,” Riders kicker Brett Lauther — one of the team’s CFLPA player reps — said following practice Tuesday.

“From a personal standpoint, if I was guessing before, I would have thought it was going to be a yes.”

Lauther said the Roughriders were practising from a CFLPA perspective to try and buy some time while a new deal gets worked out.

“At the end of the day, we’re football players and we’re just trying to play football. If there’s a strike or potential loss of games, it’s not good for anyone or the league,” Lauther said. “At the end of the day, if we can come out for a day or two until they figure something out and prorate where we are at, it’s fine.”

There were reports Tuesday that the league has sent a new proposal to the union, while the players returned to the practice field.

According to Postmedia’s Dan Barnes, however, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the players have until Thursday at midnight EST to accept the latest offer or else the league would stop paying for the players’ housing and food.

#CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said if #CFLPA rejects new proposal, training camps will shut down. League will no longer house and feed players, as they had been doing during four-day work stoppage.

— Dan Barnes (@sportsdanbarnes) May 24, 2022

The league and the union’s bargaining committee reached the tentative deal last Wednesday night, ending a players’ strike that had started four days earlier.

That work stoppage forced the postponement of the training camps of seven CFL teams, with the teams in Alberta having to wait three days to follow suit.

The teams’ player reps reportedly recommended the deal to the union’s members, but the majority of the players who voted shot down the deal.

Reports suggest the Canadian-American ratio was a sticking point — most notably the league’s plan to allow teams to “nationalize” veteran American players — as was a ratification bonus.

“Guys are in different stages of their careers and lives so the yes or no is dependent on what they want to do,” Lauther said.

“I’d just be guessing — I’m just one of 600-plus in the membership — but from what we heard, it’s the ratio, which is public, no money for the first couple years and then there’s a number of other issues. Each and every guy has different issues and they are trying to address them all.”

Lauther said among the Roughriders, there’s no division between the American and Canadian players when it comes to the vote.

“Guys have been informed right away,” Lauther said.

Godfrey Onyeka, a defensive back whose family moved to Ontario when he was 11, said he understands where the league and the Canadian players are coming from when it comes to the ratio.

“You want to give the best players the best chance to play,” Onyeka said. “If (Canadians) are not given a chance, it’s hard to prove you can play when you’re not given a chance.

“It’s a lot more complex than they are just trying to get rid of Canadians or we don’t think we can hang. It’s complex and I’ll let the PA guys and the league deal with that.

“Our team had 11 Canadians starting at one point and it wasn’t because we were Canadians, it’s because we were the best players at the position.”

Lauther said the Roughriders players won’t continue practising if nothing gets done in terms of a deal with CFL pre-season games set to start on Friday.

“The next couple days will be very telling,” Lauther said.