A scout
for the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers was caught
taking notes at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ practice and was promptly
removed from the stadium, cbc.ca reports.
Despite the seemingly glaring infraction, the league, according to The Globe and Mail, the league has decided not to fine or punish the Blue Bombers.
(Somewhere, Bill Belichick and his missing $500,000 weep.)
The Bombers, of course, denied that they had asked the scout to participate in such horrific misdeeds.
“It should be noted that the [Blue Bombers] did not engage the
services of this individual who attended an open practice for said
purposes, nor do we condone any such actions,” team president Lyle Bauer
told cbc.ca. “Although we have used the services of this individual in
the past, it has been in the area of personnel scouting, including
tracking of Canadian and CIS [Canadian Interuniversity Sport] players.”
The scout, Rob Trentini, reportedly drew pictures of formations in his notebook, an action that Tiger-Cats GM Bob O’Billovich is convinced was ordered from a higher-up in Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Sun says.
However, the league could not punish the Bombers because there was
no rule in place against scouting practices. That’s certain to change
now, right?
Well …
“The commissioner has informed the Winnipeg football club, and all
member clubs, that this type of practice is unacceptable and similar
incidents in the future may result in disciplinary action,” the league
spokesperson told the Globe and Mail.
For now, it appears as though the case is closed, at least until Canada’s version of Arlen Specter leads the charge to get the Canadian government involved.
