TORONTO — Ricky Ray doesn’t expect the Toronto Argonauts to become the latest CFL team to link arms as a sign of solidarity.
On Sunday, the Saskatchewan Roughriders players and coaches linked arms during “O Canada” prior to their 15-9 home loss to the Calgary Stampeders. Veteran quarterback Kevin Glenn said the gesture was a show of unity following U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial remarks about NFL players kneeling during the American anthem.
“We’ve talked about it as a team, I’m sure everybody is talking about it because that’s what’s happening,” Ray said. “But we haven’t talked about doing anything beyond that.
“It’s just kind of a topic of discussion. We don’t have anything organized.”
During a rally Friday, Trump stated: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired.”’
Trump also rescinded an invitation to the NBA-champion Golden State Warriors to visit the White House after all-star guard Steph Curry said he wasn’t interested in attending.
On Sunday, numerous NFL players took a knee, sat, stayed in the tunnel or linked arms during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In London, Jacksonville owner Shahid Khan stood arm-in-arm with his players before the team’s 44-7 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
But Ray said Toronto head coach Marc Trestman is a big proponent of respecting the Canadian national anthem. The Argos (6-7) visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-9) on Saturday night.
“He (Trestman) is really big on respecting the national anthem and that’s what we’ve been doing all year,” he said. “We feel very privileged as Americans to be able to come up here and make a living playing football in this country.”
Offensive lineman Tyler Holmes, a 29-year-old Ottawa native, also said he hasn’t heard any talk regarding a pre-game activity by the Argos.
“It hasn’t been discussed at this point,” he said.