Chad Kelly, Toronto Argonauts and CFL have a lot of work to do going forward

It's taken some time to get this post up but it felt like the necessary time to finally discuss the ongoing situation with the Toronto Argonauts and Chad Kelly.

Part of the reason why I haven't written or responded on social media when tagged in tweets is not because of my unwillingness to talk about it. I wanted to wait for the league investigation to conclude in order to gather the appropriate information.

The CFL announced the decision to suspend Kelly for a minimum of nine regular season games and the pre-seaason following an investigation that was published in an 87-page report. Now the league isn't making that report available to the public but TSN's Dave Naylor has obtained it and reported that three of the six allegations made by the former Argonauts strength and conditioning coach were corroborated by the independent investigation.

Neither the Argos nor the CFLPA have received the entire report instead they got an executive summary. On Friday, the player's union filed an appeal in order to access the full report which was previously denied, although it's not certain if there will be an appeal for the actual suspension.

"The CFLPA has filed an appeal to the CFL to obtain the full records and report of the CFL's investigation, as our previous requests have been denied. Accountability and transparency are critical in these matters, and we have real concerns about the process and consistency applied during the CFL investigation," the CFLPA wrote in a statement.

"We value safe working environments for women working in football; the CFLPA takes allegations of gender-based violence very seriously. We will pursue these concerns further with the League office and will have no further comment at this time."

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the legal process will be concluding anytime soon and you wonder how long Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment will want this lawsuit to hang over the organization.

Make no mistake, this has put the CFL and the Argonauts under the microscope in a way they shouldn't want to be.

This is why Kelly's appearance at rookie camp Thursday was met with justified scrutiny. General manager Michael "Pinball" Clemons told reporters that the quarterback's appearance was within the conditions of the CFL's discipline but a league spokesman told the Canadian Press that Kelly was on the field at the Argos' discretion.

Clemons did his best to take ownership and essentially fell on the sword but the fact the general manager had no knowledge of what was going on is another issue altogether.

“Our goal is to make sure that it doesn’t. In this situation, this is no explanation for what has taken place. 99 percent is not good enough, you’ve got to be 100 percent," Clemons said. "That’s what our goal is — emphatically. We want to do our very best in this area. We want to be committed that this is a safe and healthy environment for everybody.

“If you want to blame someone, I’m the guy. If that’s anybody, that’s me because I’m the boss. I wasn’t aware of the allegations until they came out. The blame game is no good. Let’s go back and look at processes and see if our process could have been better. For that, we’re going to need outside help because trying to examine that inside, I don’t think that we’re qualified to do so."

The team clearly took some time to understand why the decision to have Kelly on the field was not the right one at the time and reversed course with training camp open.

As the Argos mentioned in the press release, they don't want Kelly's suspension and legal issues to take away from the focus of what is happening on the field. While it's fair for the Argos to want the attention to be on the players at camp currently, it'll be tough to expect the conversation to shift that drastically.

A nine-game suspension is a significant punishment and Kelly is a valuable part of the team as the starting quarterback. However, it's also clear that the conduct warranted a harsh punishment and earning the trust of the fanbase is going to take time.

The optics of the situation have groups of fans showing displeasure with the team including a desire to cancel season tickets. On top of that female staff across the league have voiced their displeasure too and those are the people who's opinions should hold a lot of weight during this time.

Obviously, I cannot speak to how tough it is to be a women who works in sports, an industry that is male dominated, but in my experience working with and talking to those women has shown me it's not easy. Unfortunately, Kelly's situation and the fallout continues to show that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make women valued the way they should be.

For Kelly, he'll have to do a lot of work not only to get himself in a position to be back on the field but to try his best to show fans that he is worth a second chance in this league. Seeing where things currently sit, it looks like a lot of time and work will be needed.

This is the player who was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player last season and has put in the work to be an ambassador with MLSE through different outreach programs and charity. He is a high profile player and that isn't stopping people for holding him accountable and hopefully he understands that.