NFL accuses NFLPA of stalling on HGH testing


Earlier this week, NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth complained about the lack of progress on the HGH testing issue that the players and the league seemingly agreed to already, saying the league was trying to force a test with no appeal on them.

The league quickly denied that charge, and have taken the next step of accusing the union of dragging their feet.

It has been a stall,” said Adolpho Birch, the NFL’s senior vice president for law and labor policy, via Judy Battista of the New York Times. “I don’t know if it’s a tactic. There is absolutely no reason for this to have taken this long and us not have testing implemented. We should have been more than a year into this by now.”

Birch contended that the NFLPA was using HGH testing as a lever to try to amend other parts of the CBA, specifically Commissioner Roger Goddell’s authority over disciplinary matters, saying: “I do think there is an effort to go back and revisit a lot of things that were agreed to, negotiated on extensively and agreed to.”

NFLPA officials talked about their desire to be able to appeal the science of the test and said the league had refused, but Birch said the league had offered third-party arbitration on drug test appeals, and suggested players would use the appeals process to delay inevitable punishment.

That’s a long way of saying the league and union continue to kick the HGH can down parallel roads, which don’t appear to be intersecting any time soon.

14 responses to “NFL accuses NFLPA of stalling on HGH testing

  1. At this point, it’s hard not to think that a large amount of players are using it. If they werent, the players shouldve spoke up by now, because I know if I wasnt using, I damn sure would want to make sure Im not playing against guys who are.

  2. The NFLPA and SMITH are pretty laughable on this one. First with the football players are different and now to try and and renegotiate the CBA which he totally failed on.

    Next step congress steps in.

  3. Hey NFLPA ! Screw the NFL! They coluded against you all and then took the steps nessisary to make it impossible for you to do anything about it. I say you tell em to check back in 10 years or so.

  4. The NFL is right. Demaurice would never miss a chance to get his ugly mug in the papers, and was pushing to reopen several issues along with HGH. The NFLPA killed the initiative.

  5. Why would they just bend and givethem what they want? Goddell would try and weasel some more concessions away from the players if he could. I get what NFLPA is doing here. And its fair.

  6. There is only one reason (and no good reason) for them to drag their feet. Because they know their members are using and have been. One would think they would encourage the testing for the benefit of the majority of members who are not. Level the playing field and ensure clean players don’t get pushed aside by the dirty ones. This is not rocket science though the NFLPA is making it look like it.

  7. Duh, players like Sherman have to get it out of their systems. The players that have a significant downfall in their play you can assume are or were on HGH.

  8. It’s clear they’re stalling to make sure the HGH is out of all the players’ systems before testing starts. Guys like Cushing and Rey Maualuga are actively pleading to Smith to keep stalling.

  9. I dont understand why people even care about this. If the players are on HGH let them. it will improve the quality of the product.

    why anyone cares about players’ health it beyond me, they are gladiators for people’s entertainment. nothing more.

    as one player breaks down, anotehr takes his place. fans root for teams, organizations, not players.

    Wrong on both accounts; Sherman wasn’t accused of taking or being on HGH. Also the downfall of players is often attributed to age or injury, so don’t assume anything.

  11. I’d say the league has made enough of a concession on this issue in that BOTH the league and the union agreed in the CBA to have HGH testing in place by the beginning of the 2011 season, and it still hasn’t started.

    The league should just leak a couple documents that says the league has offered MLB-style HGH testing to the union (which both sides have publicly said is sufficient) and the unions response tapdancing around the issue- its not like either side is above it.

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