The T-shirts during the BC-Saskatchewan were just the beginning of the Diversity Is Strength campaign by the CFL. Last week, the league ran an ad during its games. And the CFL got some nice publicity from CNN International.
The Diversity Is Strength campaign was in the works before the events in Charlottesville, but the league decided to step that up. CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said on CNN International that one of the executive team members wanted to "send a positive message about diversity" given what was happening south of the border.
"Having that positive view of diversity only serves, it serves to be a great reminder of how great things can be if we all pull together. Again, that is how we feel about it. I can’t tell others how they should handle their business. But for us, this felt like the right thing for us to talk about at this important moment in time," Ambrosie said on CNN International.
To see the whole interview, click here.
The CFL history is filled with players from all different backgrounds. But in a league where players wear helmets, sometimes that presence isn't as obvious. This campaign allows sunshine to showcase the league's history.
Normie Kwong, who passed away last year, is a good example. Kwong, of Chinese heritage, ran for 9,022 yards with a 5.2 yards per carry average with Calgary and Edmonton between 1948-1960. Kwong set the record for most yards by a Canadian back in a season with 1,437 in 1956. The record stood for 56 years until Jon Cornish broke it in 2012, though Kwong hit the mark in fewer games than Cornish.
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We've mentioned Warren Moon but the CFL gave lots of breaks to black quarterbacks at a time when the NFL was blind to their talents and potential.
American players do make up a lot of CFL rosters but international players, as they are labeled, aren't always American. Solomon Elimimian, a top linebacker with the BC Lions, was born in Calabar, Nigeria.
While the league did speed up the campaign release due to events in the United States, there are plenty of alt-right type groups in Canada. They don't have as much power in government in Canada and hate speech is much less of a thing legally in Canada. But their voices have been getting louder in part due to the visible growth in similar groups in the United States.
The league also ran TV ads during the games last weekend. Unfortunately, none of those games aired on U.S. TV. To see the ad, click here or the YouTube version below.
And yes, the shirts are for sale in English and French at cflshop.ca.
photos credit: CFL; CNN International
video credit: CFL
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