Ambrosie on reinstating Kelly: 'We're hoping that Chad will be a spokesperson'

CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie shed light Wednesday on reinstating Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly and his "last-chance agreement."

Kelly returned to play last week after he was suspended for two exhibition games and the first nine games of the regular season for violating the league’s gender-based violence policy.

Speaking to OverDrive on TSN 1050, Ambrosie reiterated Kelly had to clear multiple steps before returning, the last of which was meeting with him. 

"He demonstrated a significant contrition. He opened the session with an unqualified acknowledgement of the mistakes he's made," Ambrosie said. "We sat and listened to him, he spoke freely, he was very earnest in his assessment of his own behaviour. And then at the end of that, of his own volition he basically said 'Look, I’m making you a promise this will never happen again.' As it related to the final outcome, what we said is 'We're going to hold you accountable to that promise that it will never happen again.'

"The punctuation on this was, it can't happen again. You've made some mistakes, you've acknowledged them, you appear to have learned from them. We're hoping that Chad will be a spokesperson to explain to men and boys that kind of behaviour is inappropriate. Hopefully some good came of this if he can be a good messenger. And then, ultimately as we would expect it, he will be to his word that we'll never see his happen with him - and frankly maybe through his learning experience we can slowly, and hopefully permanently, create an environment that is safe for everyone who works in the world of sports."

The 30-year-old Kelly completed 24 of 39 passes for 322 yards with one interception as the Argonauts defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders 20-19 last week. He issued an apology while speaking to the media for the first time since his suspension after being named the starter earlier in the week.

"I'm sorry for my actions. I'm sorry for what I did," Kelly said. "I affected a lot of people...my teammates, my coaches, women, my family. I feel bad for the situation that happened. I've grown, I've learnt from not only the past couple months, but every day I'm trying to get better. Be a better person, better teammate, a better male. I have to own up to my mistakes and I know what I did wrong, and I've learnt from it.

"I've done more than what is being asked from me because I want to get it right. I want to make sure everybody believes that I'm never going to do something like this again. I know I affected a lot of people, including the person, so I just want everyone to know that I'm sorry and I will be better." 

Kelly added he came to realize "what actually had been done and been affected" during his time away from football.

"This person obviously deserves all the respect, no matter what gender you are," he said. "Everybody puts in a lot of work and time into perfecting their craft. No one should have to go through the heartache and the mental sides of things that people have go through being affected by this." 

Kelly is the league's reigning Most Outstanding Player after leading the Argonauts to a 16-2 record last season, which equalled the 1989 Edmonton franchise for the best in CFL history. ​