By Perry Lefko,
CFL.ca
The pain etched on the face of Hamilton offensive coordinator Joe Paopao gave an illustration of the physical agony he felt, but revealed nothing of the emotional and mental turmoil.
Paopao had been standing on his team’s sideline when Tiger-Cats receiver Brock Ralph came crashing into him when tackled by a player from the Saskatchewan Roughriders in game on August 19 at Mosaic Field.
The force of the collision took Paopao’s legs from underneath him and when he regained his feet he looked as if he had been severely injured.
Clearly the impact did some unspecified damage to one of his legs. But Paopao remained on the job, all the while grimacing.
And this was happening in the midst of a brutal loss in which the score would end with Hamilton losing 46-15.
Already the team had fired its coach, Greg Marshall, after starting out the season winless in four games. Some critics had pointed the finger of blame on Paopao, who had every reason to be hopeful going into his first season with Hamilton after four years as the head coach of the Ottawa Renegades. Paopao absorbed some losses during his tenure in Ottawa, but nothing in which he would leave the field physically, emotionally and mentally wounded.
Paopao needed support purely to make it to his team’s dressing room on the other side of the field.
You think about players who are injured and how it could ruin their seasons, but you never think about a coach and what could happen in the case of a sudden injury. X-rays a few days later revealed Paopao had a badly sprained right ankle and would require a splint to stabilize things, but he would not be placed on the team’s injured-reserve list. Nope, an injured coach must embrace the pain and do his job.
It reminded me of a game a few years ago when Cal Murphy, during his time as head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers suffered a broken arm when standing on the sideline and run into by a player. Murphy had a cast placed on his injured limb and did not miss a game.
The irony of Paopao’s injury is that it happened after he had left the press box, where he had watched the first half of the game, to do his job from field level. Early in the third quarter, the Tiger-Cats put together a touchdown drive and appeared to have made the necessary halftime adjustments.
But it didn’t last. And the television cameras focusing in on Paopao clearly showed his frustration.
And then he suffers an injury in a freak collision with one of his own players.
Now that’s cruel.
It’s a case of all pain and no gain.
You really for sorry for the individual, even more so when it’s a good guy like Joe Paopao.
Apparently you not only need a thick skin to be in the business of football, you need a coat of armour – or pads.
Perry Lefko is the Director of Communications for the Canadian Football League.
