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Eskimos' Robert Sands and Stampeders' Brandon Underwood named in NYT story on domestic abuse
The CFL drew some American attention this week, but not the kind it would prefer. The New York Times ran a big piece by Steve Eder on allegations of domestic abuse from two former wives of NFL players and the lack of support they say they received from their NFL teams and other players' wives. While the piece was predominantly focused on the NFL, it does mention that both of the players accused in it are now in the CFL: Robert Sands is a rookie defensive back with the Edmonton Eskimos, while fellow rookie defensive back Brandon Underwood played with the Toronto Argonauts earlier this year and is now on the practice roster with the Calgary Stampeders. Neither player is a huge contributor for their team at this moment in time (Sands only recorded two special-teams tackles this year, and is currently on the six-game injured list, while Underwood's only on the practice roster), but there could still be some focus on them ahead of the teams' matchup in the West Final Sunday thanks to this story. (An odd factor here is that the Eskimos and Stampeders publicly teamed up to take a stand against domestic violence in partnership with the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters earlier this year.) These aren't the only current CFL players with domestic abuse allegations in their backgrounds, though, and the numbers of players so impacted may put extra pressure on the league and the players' association to come up with a policy on this. (See CFL VP Matt Maychak's comments on the work the league is currently doing towards a policy.)
The allegations against Sands and Underwood by their former wives in the Times' story are particularly disturbing. The accusations against Sands involve a long period of time, but the most prominent ones involve his 2013 arrest. Here are the details of that from the Times. (Warning: they're graphic.)
On the day of Mr. Sands’s arrest, in January 2013, Ms. [Mercedes] Sands fled in her car to a nearby park to call 911. The police found her shaken and in pain, dry-heaving, with a small, bloody scratch on her face. She said Mr. Sands had choked her and put pressure on her stomach, and she told the arresting officer that there had been a pattern of verbal and physical abuse. The officer wrote in his report that he found her credible.
Mr. Sands told the police that he had not harmed his wife, and he repeated that in his interview with The Times. He said of the police report, “Everything in the doggone statement was false.”
Mr. Sands’s case has been expunged; he said the charges were dismissed in exchange for his agreeing to undergo counseling. After the arrest, Ms. Sands filed for an order of protection, which was granted.
And here are the key parts of the allegations against Underwood from the Times. (Warning: they're also graphic):
On June 16, 2011, [Brandie Underwood] and her husband attended a ring ceremony to celebrate the Packers’ Super Bowl victory that year, and each of the players’ wives received a necklace. But the Underwoods’ marriage was tumultuous, and the celebratory mood soon gave way to more fighting. Later that day, Ms. Underwood called the police to report that her husband had ripped off her necklace and thrown her out of his parked car and onto the ground before driving away.
When the police in Green Bay, Wis., responded, Ms. Underwood began to recant her story, telling officers that she did not want her husband arrested. According to a police report, when an officer asked why she had called, she said, “I wanted to put my foot down this time so he would know that he cannot keep doing this to me.” The police arrested Mr. Underwood nevertheless. ...
It was not until the next year that she began making plans to divorce her husband; she left him about two months after his arrest on the night of the ring ceremony. (Mr. Underwood pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct charge in that case, paying $767.50 in court costs.)
It's important to note that these are allegations made in the media and not in a court of law, that the two cases were resolved in court with minimal punishments, and that Sands in particular still hotly disputes the accusations against him, telling the Times that "My hands were never put on her...the only thing was restraining her from hitting me and pulling my hair." (Underwood declined to talk to the paper.) Moreover, these incidents happened long before these players came to the CFL; the Underwood incident described above was in June 2011, the Sands one in January 2013, and both players only joined the CFL this year. That doesn't mean they should be given an automatic pass for their past, though, and it's worth discussing both how their cases compare to other current active CFLers and what the league's actual policies on domestic violence incidents are. Specifically, it's interesting to look at why these guys were allowed in when Ray Rice wasn't. Beyond that, though, while neither of these guys is likely to play this week, they may still be a focus of discussion ahead of the West Final thanks to this Times piece.
See also our interviews with CFL VP Matt Maychak about the league's efforts to develop a domestic violence policy and about why Rice's case was different.
