Chargers : Plummer Takes On Role as Team Leader in Strike
Gary Plummer has been a low-key guy until the recent National Football League Players Assn. strike. Suddenly, the second-year Charger linebacker has taken it upon himself to become the team spokesman in dealing with the non-union players who have crossed the picket line.
“Everyone feels strongly about it,” Plummer said. “It’s just that certain people are afraid of some ramifications from being so boisterous.”
Throughout the strike, Plummer has been the most vocal Charger when it comes to taunting the non-union players at practice.
According to eyewitnesses, Plummer and non-union linebacker John Taylor challenged each other to a fight Monday in front of a gate at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium where the non-union players enter.
There were words, but no fight.
“The guy threatened me, and I told him to hit me because I needed the money,” Plummer said. “And I was laughing when I said it.”
He explained further:
“I was having a discussion with Jeff Jackson (a non-union linebacker) and my comment to Jeff was something to the effect that they gave up in excess of 200 yards rushing (Sunday). And the other guy popped off and said, ‘Hey, I want a piece of you.’ I don’t even know who the guy is, but I think he’s an inside linebacker.”
Taylor had little comment.
“I ain’t saying nothing,” Taylor said. “It’s just the same stuff that has been going on since we’ve been here. Let him tell his story. There was no altercation, if you mean something physical happening.”
Plummer says the “harassment and everything else we have done” is directed at the non-union players.
When it comes to the Chargers’ management, Plummer said: “We understand that we have to come back and play for the San Diego Chargers when it’s all over. You don’t want to burn any bridges.”
Plummer, who maintains the Chargers will stay together as a team during the strike, said the team has taken two votes, and there has been a substantial majority in favor of not crossing the picket line each time.
“Our feeling is that we don’t want to be that weak team that goes in,” Plummer said. “We don’t want to be the team that theoretically starts the landslide.”
Gill Byrd, the Chargers’ assistant player representative who attended the NFL Players Assn. meeting Monday night in Chicago, said Tuesday: “As far as what the union will do about free agency, I won’t say. But Gene Upshaw will speak on behalf of the players in the negotiations.”
Byrd said the Chargers have differing views regarding the free-agency issue.
“Some players feel if it is a stumbling block, (then) why not try to bypass that and get other issues hammered out,” Byrd said. “Then we can go back to the free agency issue.”
At a meeting of Charger striking players Tuesday night, Byrd updated his teammates on what transpired at the meeting in Chicago. “We came up with some options,” Byrd said of the Chicago meeting. “I’m optimistic.”
The NFL Management Council Executive Committee has said that returning players who rejoin their clubs by 10 a.m. today (PDT) will be eligible to play in this weekend’s games. However, Byrd believes that even if the players return as late as Friday, the owners will play them this Sunday.
Charger Notes The striking Chargers will continue to practice and picket each day. The non-union Chargers practiced for two hours Tuesday afternoon. The team does not usually practice Tuesday, but Coach Al Saunders said he could hold a practice every day because there is no collective bargaining agreement governing these players. “We feel we need as much practice time as we can get,” Saunders said. Saunders said defensive lineman Jim Stuckey was the only non-union player not at the practice, and he did not know why. The Chargers looked at former Ram linebacker Steve Busick Tuesday, but no decision was made about signing him.. . .