CFL player-sponsored bounties aren’t all that surprising, but the practice still should be stopped

The scandal over former New Orleans Saints' defensive coordinator Gregg Williams' reported bounty system is rocking the football world, and the reverberations are being felt in Canada. Dan Ralph of The Canadian Press wrote an excellent piece on bounties in the CFL that was published Wednesday, including admissions by former defensive tackle and current analyst Adriano Belli as well as several unnamed current players that the practice is common north of the border as well. This isn't likely to go to the same levels as the NFL scandal, as what's really driving the issue there is that coaches and team officials offering players money to injure opponents not only violates the collective bargaining agreement, but also sends the message that the league and its authority figures encourage causing serious injury; a small pool that only players contribute to carries less of an institutional imprint. Still, the practice of offering bounties for critically injuring opponents is a disturbing one, and it's one the league should find a way to stop, regardless of if it's coaches or players involved.

Here's the key part from Ralph's article on how bounties work in the CFL:

Again, the bounties being just between the players does mean this is unlikely to blow up into something as big as the NFL's scandal, as there's no CBA violation and no boss ordering players to injure others. Players can exchange money, and they frequently do over poker and other card games. It's also not that surprising that they're doing this; football's a rough sport, and many see taking down the other team as the way to win. Throw in competitive instincts and a desire to gamble, and you get bounties. However, that doesn't minimize the implications of this report; we're still talking about offering financial rewards for injuring another player, and there are significant problems with that. As Sports Illustrated's Joe Posnanski writes, the idea of bounties may fit in with football's rough-and-tough image, but if looked at dispassionately, it might be one of the worst things in sports:

It's worth noting that bounties haven't always been seen this way. As MJD pointed out over at Shutdown Corner, the subject came up in the NFL in 1989 with Philadelphia Eagles' defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, and no one really minded then. There have been suggestions that similar things happened in the CFL during that era. That was before all the frightening information about the long-term effects of football and particularly of blows to the head, though, and before the current safety movement became so pre-eminent. Thus, it's good to see that the CFL is taking this seriously. From Ralph's story:

That's the right approach from this corner. Sure, bounties have been around in the past, and sure, maybe they're part of the rough-and-tumble football tradition, but they shouldn't be allowed or tolerated now given what we know about player safety. Football is a dangerous enough sport without players being paid to injure others, and from that standpoint, it doesn't really matter if the money's coming from players or coaches. It just needs to stop.