The Hamilton Tigers Cats head coach has been suspended due to a misunderstanding, and two players.
The Hamilton Tigers Cats head coach has been suspended due to a misunderstanding, and two players.
No stranger to CFL sanctions, Hamilton Tiger-Cats defensive back Chris Edwards has been banished three games for inciting a brawl in the waning seconds of Saturday’s Eastern semifinal in Montreal.
The league stated Edwards was disciplined “for striking opponents and for his part in inciting a non-football altercation.”
Fines were imposed on five more Ticats and two Alouettes for “engaging opposing players in a non-football altercation” and leaving the bench area.
In Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, the Als were leading 27-12 when the event happened with 43 seconds left. Edwards wrestled with wide receiver Jake Harty, who was trying to block him, as he rushed the passer.
The two continued their backfield struggle until the play on the opposite side of the offensive line concluded, with Edwards finally punching Harty and slamming him to the ground. That infuriated a wave of Ticats who left the bench.
Players fined were Montreal wide receiver Régis Cibasu and running back Jeshrun Antwi, Hamilton receiver Omar Bayless, defensive back Carthell Flowers-Lloyd, quarterback Kai Locksley, and defensive linemen Mason Bennett and Mohamed Diallo.
The fine sums were kept under wraps by the league.
The PA system strangely played John Lennon’s “Imagine” while the penalties were worked out during the lengthy on-field process of sorting out the fines.
Among those sent from the game were Edwards, Bayless, Bennett, and Antwi.
The fact that his players avoided discipline when Montreal plays the Argonauts in Toronto in Saturday’s East final will please head coach Jason Maas.
Two hundred and seventeen-pound, six-foot-two Edwards is a serial offender.
After the Tiger-Cats lost 38-12 to the Alouettes in June, he faked a nice greeting and was fined the league maximum for shoving Montreal receiver Austin Mack with two hands. Even though the game was done, Edwards received a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Though the CFL’s maximum sanction is equal to half a player’s game check, the precise amount of the discipline was not revealed.
Edwards was suspended for six games in December 2021 while he was a member of the Toronto Argonauts for his part in a fight with a supporter after Hamilton defeated the Argos 27-19 in the East Division Final at BMO Field.
As they departed the field following the game, a few Argos players and staff members got into a fight with spectators. An incidental video that went viral on social media showed Edwards seeming to engage a Ticats fan in a shooting match.
The Argonauts removed former vice president of player personnel John Murphy, who was also involved in the 2021 incident. The league also penalized then-Argos quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson for “an inappropriate on-field incident with a cameraperson.”
In his sixth year in the league, the 30-year-old Detroit native, who played for Edmonton and B.C. before Toronto and Hamilton, attended the University of Idaho.
