[ref18]

Originally posted by AndrewMcCarthy

Well yeah- the season's over.

Or so you'd think, this shows up in today's paper,

It's about money, says coach
Hamilton Spectator File Photo

Matt Zwolak says he's no crusader, just a football coach.
Liability, not safety, keeping him sidelined, says coach
By Tony Fitzgerald
The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 17, 2005)

A physically challenged football coach says his being on the sidelines is not about safety but about money.

Matt Zwolak, a Cardinal Newman assistant coach, has been deemed a safety hazard by the Hamilton referees association.

The Hamilton Football Officials Association has told the coach he must have his wheelchair padded and be 10 yards from the sidelines.

Zwolak says protecting players' safety is not their paramount concern. Protecting themselves financially is.

"This is clear because (Kevin) Mickleboro, the referee-in-chief and executive member of the HFOA board has gone on record twice to say that if the school board would be willing to waive the officials' liability should the chair result in an injury, they would allow me to be on sidelines like all other coaches," Zwolak said. "The officials would be willing to ignore what they claim to be that paramount issue of kids' safety as long as they're not liable.

"Let's call a spade a spade. It's clear their position is less about safety and more about dollars and cents."

The coach cites other safety hazards on school fields such as benches cemented into the ground. They don't bother officials because they are on school property and if a player is injured by running into them, the school board would be liable.

"If the referees association is responsible for coverage that stipulates only able-bodied coaches are covered, that's their problem," Zwolak said. "It's not the board's and not mine."

Zwolak said some people think since he is not the head coach, he should be happy to abide by the officials' restrictions.

He can't.

He says it is difficult to smile for two hours when you have a deep and persistent feeling about being violated.

"It's difficult to sleep, to focus on your job or your family when you know for two hours on Friday you are going to be subjected to being treated like a second-class citizen," he said. "This is more than just an inconvenience to me. I don't have a flair for the dramatic and I'm not out to get anyone's sympathy. I don't need it and I don't want it," he said.

"Don't think I set out to be some sort of crusader for the rights of the physically challenged individuals. I set out to coach football."

The officials and Zwolak have been at loggerheads for two years regarding him being on the sidelines for football games.

The Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board supports the coach in his fight to be on the sidelines.

So do Francois Larsen, a lawyer for the Human Rights Commission and Bill Adair, executive director for the Canadian Paraplegic Association of Ontario.

Zwolak, who was a linebacker with the McMaster Marauders, was left a quadriplegic after a cycling accident in 1999. After the accident he attended teachers' college and got a job as a physical education teacher at Cardinal Newman Catholic High School.