A scout affiliated with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers was ejected from Hamilton Tiger-Cats practice Tuesday and has had his press-box credentials revoked after being caught taking notes during the workout.
Ron Trentini, a scout/coach in the Hamilton area who helped the Bombers prepare for the Canadian Draft by working with them at the combine in Toronto this spring, was confronted at the Ticat practice, had his notebook confiscated and was ejected from Ivor Wynne Stadium.
The Bombers and Ticats, both 1-1, meet this Saturday in Hamilton and among Trentini’s notes were a number of diagrams of Ticat plays and formations. Press-box credentials for this weekend’s game were also requested by the Bombers, but have since been pulled.
"He took upon himself, without any specific direction as to what was appropriate or not appropriate, to attend what was an open practice with the belief that what he was doing was acceptable and somewhat innocent," Bombers director of football operations Ross Hodgkinson said Tuesday night. "Obviously that’s not the case and obviously that’s not something we condone or solicit.
"We apologized to Hamilton and we’ll make sure nothing like this happens again."
All CFL teams prohibit fans from shooting video during practices and, ironically, the Bombers have been particularly diligent in banning the media from shooting certain segments, fearing some of their game plan or specific plays would be made available to their opposition.
Upon being confronted, Trentini initially said he was scouting for a junior team, but then admitted being a friend of Bombers director of player personnel John Murphy. After being ejected, Trentini immediately called the Bombers to explain what happened and the football club then contacted CFL headquarters to come clean rather than denying his association with the team.
Trentini is claiming the mistake was "innocent" after reading on the Ticat website that practices Tuesday and today would be open to the public. He was also accredited as a Bombers scout during the Ticats’ pre-season game and had credentials for last Saturday’s Toronto Argonauts-Saskatchewan Roughrider game at Rogers Centre.
Former Bomber QB Danny McManus, now a regional scout for the Ticats, saw Trentini at the game Saturday and spotted him Tuesday at the Ticats’ practice Tuesday before he was removed.
"It’s totally unethical," Ticats GM Bob O’Billovich told The Hamilton Spectator.
"It blows my mind that the guy would be dumb enough to walk into our stadium and take notes and think he wouldn’t be recognized.
"Everybody in the league gets the same films of every game that they can use to scout. It’s ridiculous to think that this guy thought he could make any difference.
"Maybe this used to go on a long time ago when a guy might try and watch practice with binoculars from a building across the street or something. But to just walk in and just start taking notes? That’s pretty dumb."
It’s not clear if the Bombers face a fine for this transgression, but it’s the latest in a series of no-nos the organization has been called on the carpet for this season, including planning to invite their veteran quarterbacks to a free-agent camp in Florida in the spring and also having them report for "QB School" before training camp opened in June.
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