Should player violence against coaches be a league matter or criminal?

League

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by Dan Greenland

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Most instances of violence between player and coach in professional sports happen at practice. This is within the confines of the league, and therefore should be handled by the league and the organisation. If the violence would happen out of that setting then obviously the authorities would have to get involved.

Many times when the government gets involved everything is magnified and it really hurts the game. Such is the case with Major League Baseball. Players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are facing criminal charges of perjury because they were unwilling to admit that they had used steroids to a grand jury or other government inquiry while under oath. I ask myself why were they even put in that situation. There use of steroids was not criminal and those who came out and admitted their use of steroids are in no legal trouble. The government's involvement in the steroid investigation tainted the world of baseball.

The NFL does the best job of policing its own. Other professional leagues should follow their lead. Football players were never asked to testify to a grand jury, they failed drug tests and were suspended for a predetermined number of games. They also respect the authorities and suspend players when they are convicted of crimes away from the game. They have told (or rather, showed) their players that any conduct that is not only criminal, but that is unethical, will be punished. In a game that, by its very nature, should have the most "criminals" within its ranks is quite possibly the cleanest league in major sports in this country. The reason is that players who break the rules are swiftly made examples of and other players think twice before putting themselves in that same situation.

This should be the case with violence as well. If a player physically attacks a coach during practice they should be disciplined according to the league rules...every league should have these rules in place and predetermined. A player should never get the chance to argue that, "That penalty is too harsh." They should be aware of the rules and regardless of how harsh the punishment is, they knew prior to the infraction what the penalty would be. It should be a more lengthy suspension than failing a drug test but the police certainly do not need to get involved. Many times having that predetermined punishment also helps keep the authorities out of the league's business. The police do not generally cross over into the NFL's jurisdiction. In fact, this past season when Adam "Pac-man" Jones got into a fight with his league imposed body guards at a club, the league suspended him before the police had finished their investigation.

There are times when professional athletes get into trouble and there is no way to avoid the authorities getting involved. Such was the case with Michael Vick. The infraction was not related to football and the police kept it seperate from football. Vick deserved to go to jail and he did. He now awaits a decision by the commissioner of the NFL whether or not he can play again. This was a crime commited away from the game and should have been handled by the authorities. But when a player commits an infraction within the confines of the team or league premesis, they should be dealt with by the league. In fact, to save face, the incident should be kept quiet, given a blanket name (to explain the suspention), and the player suspended for several games. Knowing about these violent incidents does help the fan's view of the players or the league and probably damages the game more than the use of drugs or steroids.

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