NFLPA President Domonique Foxworth wants to see evidence for player involvement in bounties
The National Football League (NFL) early last week announced severe punishments for four players who were alleged to have played leadership roles in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal and had also committed their own personal money for the bounty pool.
Saints linebacker, Jonathan Vilma received the severest of punishments as he was suspended for the entire 2012-13 campaign, Green Bay Packers defensive end, Anthony Hargrove was suspended for half of the regular season, Saints defensive end, Will Smith was
given a four-game suspension while Cleveland Browns linebacker, Scott Fujita was suspended for three games.
Both Hargrove and Fujita had previously played for the Saints and were alleged to have enthusiastically participated in the illegal programme.
The announcement from the NFL received scathing criticism from all four players and their colleagues while the players union NFL Players Association (NFLPA) filed grievances with arbitrators challenging Goodell’s authority to hand down such punishments.
The NFLPA contends that the league has so far refused to share its evidence with the players and the union which is unfair to the players.
NFLPA president, Domonique Foxworth in a special op-ed written for USA Today on Wednesday, said that the league is misleading the public in the case of the bounty scandal.
“There are people willingly misleading the public, saying that the NFL Players Association's objections to the conduct of the "bounty" investigation conflicts with our deep, decades-long commitment to player health and safety.”
The union president also wrote.
“Instead of transparent and fair due process for the four suspended players, the NFL chose news media leaks, character assassinations, PR campaigns and legal manipulation to mislead the public. We're obligated to ensure that the league is fair, accountable
and transparent and upholds our collective bargaining agreement.”
The NFLPA continues to contend that the league has unfairly punished the players as it continues to refuse to divulge the information it says it has regarding the bounty programme and have so far failed to conclusively prove that the Saints players aided
the bounty programme.
Battles over the legality and fairness of the punishments will continue as the arbitrators look into the grievances filed while the process will take even more time as all four players have filed appeals challenging the suspensions.
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