CFL backs off after kickers decry forced use of microchip balls

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By: Paul Friesen

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The kickers kicked up a fuss, and the CFL listened.

A day after Sergio Castillo of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a few of his colleagues went public with how microchips in footballs are wreaking havoc with the kicking game, the league says it will no longer force teams to use them.

“The league has tested these footballs using robotic technology and current CFL players,” a Friday afternoon statement from commissioner Randy Ambrosie read. “While there is no definitive evidence to suggest their use impacts performance in any manner, we are taking this step out of respect for kickers who do not yet feel comfortable using them.”

Castillo was one of those, telling reporters after Winnipeg’s 27-12 loss to Montreal that kickers are guessing what the microchip balls will do in the air.

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“I don’t know where to aim,” Castillo said. “Every time I’m out there, I’m literally praying the Rosary. Every single guy is opposed to this. We’re all against it.

“No. 1, it affects the team. It’s a momentum killer. And two, we could lose our jobs over this.”

Other kickers around the league chimed in before the night was through.

“No other pro league uses chipped footballs in the kicking game and every CFL kicker voted against these footballs,” Ottawa placekicker Lewis Ward posted on X. “This has a negative impact on the integrity of the game and is a very sad for the league to disregard this issue.”

Ward’s teammate Richie Leone, a punter, and Brett Lauther of Saskatchewan also spoke out on social media.

Lauther, the vice president of the CFL Players Association, said multiple players had complained about balls not flying straight, even about bruising on their feet from kicking the chipped balls, but those complaints fell on deaf ears.

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“The CFLPA has exhausted all efforts to try and get these balls taken out,” Lauther posted. “And still the league waited until the night before game one of the regular season to decide to use these footballs that will eventually cost jobs and livelihoods.”

The balls are chipped to provide fancy stats like the speed of passes.

Lauther says the USFL experimented with the chips but rejected them because of all the wonky field-goal tries. CFL kickers, he says, voted 10-1 against using them.

Ambrosie’s statement says “some kickers” have said they want to keep using them, so the league will give teams a choice before every game, effective immediately.

Week 1 continues with Hamilton in Calgary Friday night.

Microchip balls will remain mandatory for all non-kicking plays.

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Castillo says the chips don’t seem to affect spiral punts or throws. But anything that goes end-over-end, like a field-goal try or even an Aussie-style punt from his teammate, Jamieson Sheahan, “gets a whole other life.”

Castillo missed field goals from 38 and 40 yards against Montreal and was wide on a convert attempt from 32 yards out.

Every time he missed, he says he looked at head coach Mike O’Shea and just threw up his hands.

“I’m like, ‘I hit them clean.’ You go through my practice film, I hit them clean. That is the very frustrating part.”

O’Shea was well aware of the concerns of kickers around the league.

“He’s a 90 per cent kicker,” the coach said of Castillo. “Sergio has kicked 20,000 footballs. If he says he hits it clean, he hits it clean. If it doesn’t do what he thinks it should do, there’s something there.”

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Castillo hit on 46 of 51 field goal tries last season, a 90.2 percent success rate.

He said he was lucky to hit 60 percent when using the chipped balls in training camp.

A Grey Cup rematch, Winnipeg vs Montreal was the league’s opening game and marquee matchup of Week 1.

In addition to Castillo’s two misses, Alouettes kicker David Cote missed a convert. Cote made both his field goals, but the longest was just 22 yards.

That the league allowed this issue to blow up cast a cloud over the start of the new season for the second year in a row.

Call this Chapter 2 of the Genius Sports debacle.

Last year the CFL’s entire statistical platform was in a shambles, a problem that hasn’t been fully rectified to this day.

The geniuses who didn’t properly test that new toy apparently didn’t learn a thing from it, trotting this one out despite flaws affecting the very games we watch.

Ambrosie says they’ll keep testing the balls, aiming for a potential return to their mandatory use next year.

The former O-lineman has at least punted the controversy aside before it does more damage to this season.

Score this one for the kickers.

pfriesen@postmedia.com

X: @friesensunmedia

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