TAJ SMITH UPDATE
OTTAWA (CP) – The Saskatchewan Roughriders say wide receiver Taj Smith is accused of being in a bar in Ottawa, and that’s why he was charged with violating a condition of his release.
Roughriders general manager Brendan Taman says that’s why Smith will be missing a game Thursday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
At the time of the initial announcement, the team only said that Smith was “charged with violating a condition of release stemming from an incident last August.”
Taman now says Smith is accused of going to a bar in Ottawa on Sunday night, and that violated a condition that was set as he awaits a preliminary hearing on a charge of aggravated assault.
Smith was charged last August after he and teammate Dwight Anderson allegedly beat a man outside of a Regina nightclub.
A judge ordered Smith to stand trial after a preliminary hearing in June found that there was enough evidence to try him but not Anderson.
Evidence presented at a preliminary hearing is subject to a publication ban.
“We had to make a team-oriented decision and we sent him down for a week,” Taman said about the decision to keep Smith off the field.
When Smith was released on the assault charge, a number of conditions were attached including no visits to bars.
Smith has 227 receiving yards so far this season with two touchdowns.
Taman is non-commital about what the future holds for Smith, admitting there is a chance he might have played his last game as a member of the Roughriders.
“We’re going to have some more discussions with him. We obviously had a couple with him yesterday. We’re not happy with it. We’ll see how it plays out,” Taman said.
—
Here is the transcript of Taman’s comments:
WHAT CAN YOU TELL US?
BT: It was obviously a long day yesterday. We had an unfortunate scenario where he violated one of his previous conditions of his previous charge. He was charged with it anyway. We had to make a team-oriented decision and decided to sit him down for a week.
WHY WAS HE SUSPENDED THIS TIME AND NOT LAST YEAR?
BT: Last year it was still going through the courts obviously, not that this won’t. When you have two things going against you, and knowing the facts that we knew, or as much that we did, we just felt it was conduct we didn’t want to go with what we’re doing right now so he’s not with us.
WAS THIS IN REGINA?
BT: No it was here. The details I’m not going to get into because I’m not exactly sure what the charge was over. But I know he was charged and that’s what we’re dealing with.
WILL HE PLAY NEXT WEEK?
BT: We’re going to have some more discussions with him. We obviously had a couple with him yesterday. We’re not happy about it. We’ll see how it plays out.
HOW DOES THE CODE OF CONDUCT COME INTO PLAY?
BT: That’s a good reason why he’s not playing this week.
COULD HE BE RELEASED ALL TOGETHER?
BT: There’s a chance of that, yah, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. We still have to do our due diligence on it and see where it goes.
IS THE TEAM DISAPPOINTED WITH THIS?
BT: Yes. I didn’t come out to Ottawa to spend all day with him. Not that that matters but it’s very disappointing. Taj is a good kid but he’s making some bad decisions at the wrong times and in this case he’ll have to pay for it.
Taj…you let the team down with your actions. He's a very good player, but it might be time to part ways with him as he can't seem to stay out of trouble.
Taj Smith is a very talented receiver. Yet he has become a huge distraction. Time to sit him out until the court case had been heard. Allow him his day in court but do not allow him to continue to be a distraction. I for one want Taj to play wide out and continue to be our deep threat. Just not at the cost this team is having to pay with interruptions and distractions. If after his case has been heard and he is able to play great. The code of conduct should not come into play unless he is… Read more »
Enough of Taj! Send him home on suspension pending further discipline by the courts. All of the good things accomplished by the Roughriders are the result of a disciplined team effort. You either have the character, humility and dignity to be a Rider or you don't. Playing nurse maid to Taj is not worth the distraction. Let's move on!
must have been a bombers fan who reported him!!!
I guess we will see what is more important and harsher penalty to the Riders, a player that violates his court conditions or a player that fumbles a football once and get benched or even released.
Relax everyone. It actually amazes me there is as little of this as there is. You have 50+ 20 something guys … mostly single and away from home. High testosterone and rewarded for hitting hard. Some of these guys come from some pretty tough backgrounds where getting into scraps is a normal occurance. Excuse … no. But we should not always be quick to judge others by our fortunate standards.
This team is getting far to much of this crap happening. If it continues we will be the laughing stock of the League.
For sale;
One rider jersey #88 cheap.
You can rationalize and justify this type of behaviour all you want, but there is a standard and a code, which ALL players must adhere to. These Players are given a wonderful opportunity to make a decent life/living (for those coming from troubled or challenging backgrounds) and it is up to THEM to recognize this and adhere to the rules imposed upon them; they will get direction and coaching, and there are a lot of examples for them to follow of the behaviour expected of them. The problem with Society today is WE always find a way to justify this… Read more »
Who reported the breach? If I was a national playing for the riders trying to keep my spot by playing hard and acting like a professional off the field, I would report the violation. I would not trust a player that does not have the discipline to respect his release conditions.
STFU about the magical code of conduct. Every professional organization sports or not, has some diatribe on the wall citing their beliefs, morals & standards.
He broke Canadian law, he's probably done, he made his own bed.
Enough of the C of C! Fair?
Jason
This is a tough one. I don't like this but I also don't like leaving the young man under the bus. He's kinda like family now. Let's support him, give him some tough love and keep him here. This is where the GM earns his money. If you just whack him Calgary or Winnipeg is just gonna grab him, they won't care. Come on Taj, time to grow up!
If he breached…that usually means incarceration and put on remand for trial…Taman may not have any decision on Taj…the justice system might be doing it for him…I can't see Taj playing this year…
The Rock
overreaction. he'll play next week.
Hope your right…hate to see him end his football career because he had a drink…
The Rock
Tim from kansas is right. Since there is no league wide code of conduct if we cut taj someone else will pick him up under the guise of second chances or whatever justifies not applying whatever there own policy is ( if they have one). Having a code is one thing but if it puts the riders at a dusadvantage because ours is more stringent than other teams then that is no good either.
Taj didn't go to that bar himself. What the hell were you teammates thinking not keeping him out of there? Did you have to go to a bar?? If Taj isn't smart enough to stay out of there you guys could have looked out for him! The team has several captains… why weren't they looking after him? This is a team failure. But in the end Taj has let the organization, teammates and fans down in this one. Big time!
I honestly hope for many of your sakes you hold yourselves to the same lofty standards you do for these Football players. This code of conduct is nothing but a political passing of the buck. Employees have issues, they have problems and it should be the mandate of an organization to support an individual towards success. The charges were dropped against the other players, and Taj Smith's charges are still pending. If something happened then so be it, deal with it. Why throw the guy under the bus? You know this code of conduct crap is something that is just… Read more »
Taj made a mistake which we all do but his was disrespectful to the law and to the people he works with. He needs to face the consequences both from the courts and from the team. Unfortunately we loose a great player for a week maybe longer but this young man needs the time to reset his goals and focus on making things right. I have always thought Taj was a pretty good guy, perhaps alcohol brings out that other side in him. Personally I hope the Riders keep him around, this being strike two another strike and he is… Read more »
Lofty standards? Is it normal for a person to have charges pending, break conditions of parole, and be escorted in for two court dates? So living a life without the necessity of being tried by judge and jury is a lofty standard? I am expecting way too much from my children.
Is Taj Smith one of your children, whom you have a right to discipline as you see fit if they are in trouble with the law? Or is he a football player, with an organization that you have no say over how they handle workplace misconduct issues?
Like anything else "breaking the law", in and of itself, doesnt automatically get anyone fired. its all about the individual circumstances, and the nature of the offence. we dont know the specifics of the allegations of either situation yet, so going so far as to cutting him, would be premature.