'Pinball' Clemons speaks on Argos quarterback suspension

It’s a controversy that has plagued the Argos for months. Today in Guelph, where the team is holding its training camp, general manager Mike Pinball, Clemens faced it head on. We will respectfully abide by the league’s decision, but more than that, we are going to take the steps needed to protect against this situation occurring again in the future. Kelly Several months ago, the league launched an investigation after a former Argo strengthened conditioning coach filed a lawsuit. A pattern of harassment against her by Argos quarterback Chad Kelly. She’s claiming that Kelly made repeated and unwanted romantic advances towards her dating back to 20/22. She says the situation escalated in November of last year. The plaintiff in the lawsuit alleges that she tried to address Chad’s behavior with him, but he reacted violently and according to her, said publicly that he couldn’t wait until she was fired. So I think that’s where things really got serious. The team claims to have had no prior knowledge of the alleged harassment until that incident today, Clement said that’s not an excuse, even going so far as to accept blame for having something like this happen under his watch. If that’s anybody, it’s me because I’m, I’m, I’m the boss, right? So. So if you want to blame someone, I’m the guy. According to the league’s investigation, there were definite violations of the CF LS gender based violence policy. As a result, Kelly was suspended for a minimum of nine regular season games. The league has ordered Kelly to undergo counseling from a gender based expert. He will then have to be assessed after completing the counseling before he’s allowed to return to play again. The league has laid out instructions for him and and so he will follow those instructions. It’s a minimum of nine games. There is no guarantee that he sits out nine games, goes through these guidance sessions and gets back in the league. That is up to Randy Ambrosi, the commissioner of the CFL and the head office of the League’s discretion. Is with the Argos at their training camp in Guelph. He was there but did not practice. So he was. He’s allowed to be out here, right? And the league is giving him that permission and we will follow the league’s direction. The Argos have also been named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The former coach is claiming that she was wrongfully dismissed by the team because of what transpired with Kelly. Greg Ross, CBC News, Guelph.