Ex-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick set to fight NFL in court

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is preparing to take the NFL to court.

San Francisco 49ers outside linebacker Eli Harold, left, quarterback Colin Kaepernick, centre, and safety Eric Reid kneel during the national anthem before an NFL game last October.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, an NFL free agent who last year began the kneeling protest during US national anthem, has filed a collusion grievance against the NFL.

Six weeks into the NFL season, the 29-year-old Kaepernick is still without a job despite a number of openings created by injuries to other quarterbacks.

Kaepernick and his lawyer, Mark Geragos, are claiming the owners violated terms of the collective bargaining agreement, specifically a clause that prohibits teams from acting together in regards to a player’s employment status.

He filed his grievance on Sunday just days before the owners were to meet in New York.

“We can confirm that this morning we filed a grievance under the CBA on behalf of Colin Kaepernick,” Geragos said in a statement. “This was done only after pursuing every possible ­avenue with all NFL teams and their executives.

“If the NFL (as well as all professional sports leagues) is to remain a meritocracy, then principled and peaceful political protests, which the owners themselves made great theatre imitating weeks ago, should not be punished and athletes should not be denied employment based on partisan political provocation by the Executive Branch of our government. Such a precedent threatens all patriotic Americans and hearkens back to our darkest days as a ­nation.

“Protecting all athletes from such collusive conduct is what compelled Mr Kaepernick to file his grievance.”

Kaepernick, who spent six seasons with the 49ers, appears ready to go to court rather than go through the players union with his grievance claim.

Kaepernick claims owners have colluded to keep him out of the league because of his kneeling protests during the playing of The Star-Spangled Banner last year.

Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers in March but found no team willing to sign him despite past successes that included leading the 49ers to the 2013 Super Bowl, where they lost to Baltimore 34-31.

Tensions were raised about the kneeling when US President Donald Trump last month called any NFL player kneeling during the anthem a “son of a bitch” and said they should be fired.

That has prompted an increase in the number of players who kneel or link arms in a sign of unity over the past four weeks and set the stage for league executives and owners to talk about the matter in depth next week at regularly scheduled club owners’ meetings.

The NFL players association offered Kaepernick its support and reiterated it was prepared to assist him, “as we do all players”.

The US media reported earlier this month that Kaepernick had been ready to work out in private for NFL teams and sought to be judged only as a player while staying quiet during the controversy to avoid becoming a distraction.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has denied the league has deliberately kept Kaepernick off rosters, but as teams have sought to fill vacancies caused by injuries to quarterbacks, Kaepernick has not been given a tryout.

AFP