NFLPA vote to repeal ‘junior rule’ to allow certified agents reach out to college players-NFL News
The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) has offered to take a lenient stance to the certified agents coming into contact with the US college football players.
NFLPA has voted to repeal the rule it formulated and enforced in 2007 under which the certified agents were not allowed to contact a college league player until he completes three years of being out of the high school.
Under the change, only certified agents are allowed to contact the players in their junior career, while their recruiters or runners are still not allowed to do so.
The concession is reported to have come last week when a majority of the association’s members voted for the repealing of the rule introduced about five years ago.
Carl Francis, the association’s spokesman, said that representative of each team had participated in the meeting held over the past weekend and voted in favour of the change.
This comes as good news for the agents, who are said to be frustrated over the restrictions in reaching out for the potential players.
Ralph Cindrich, an agent, said. "I hated this rule, which only benefits slimy characters. A bad, dumb rule."
NFLPA, in the meantime, said that it will leave legitimate agents who have rather controlled monitoring and tracking programme to remain in the business, while purging out the improper people.
The rule was introduced as a result of reports of handing over cash, presents and other rewards to the players and family members.
It prompted an investigation from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) involving few colleges, and led to suspension and punishment in other forms to some of them.
NCAA said to be still on the trail of the issue, continuously monitoring and introducing measures to check corrupt practices.
According to the association:
"Tackling the complex issue of improper agent activity in college sports requires commitment from several groups to provide effective education and enforcement. For this reason, we appreciate the NFLPA continuing to examine how best to address inappropriate
contact from third parties with student-athletes, while also holding agents and runners accountable for unscrupulous activity."
One major impact of the change in the rule is the denial of access of bogus agents or their front runner to ineligible college players.
It was the practice previously prevailed in the market and involved a number of corrupt practices to the benefit of both parties.
The NCAA inquiry had shaken the entire market as the practices such as handing over of gifts came as rather surprise to many football circles and they backed stern measures to eradicate the malpractice.
Now, the repeal of the so called ‘junior rule’ is expected to facilitate genuine and certified agents and discourage those who try to seek an undue advantage of the player’s move to various levels of the game.
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