JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The NFL has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over its handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal.
At a press conference in New York on Friday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made his first public statements in more than a week about the rash of professional players involved in domestic violence.
Goodell took full responsibility for the way the NFL handled the Rice incident and even introduced a new policy that the NFL will implement to combat domestic violence among its players.
Former Jaguar Tony Boselli has played football most of his life and told News4Jax he's not happy at all with what he's been hearing from the NFL the past few weeks.
"There's no place for it. It's a bad example for young people who love and watch this game," Boselli said of the recent domestic violence scandals. "It's obviously very disappointing that a few individuals have made very poor choices and unfortunately domestic violence is an issue across our society, and in the NFL, if you make a mistake like that, there's a lot more attention paid to it."
Boselli's wife, Angie Boselli, said as a former NFL family, being under the microscope comes with the territory. Angie Boselli said she watched the video of Ray Rice's domestic violence incident with his then-fiancee and said she was shocked at what she considered Rice's lack of emotion.
"That was the hardest part about watching that video. Even after he had done this and his wife was passed out, he had no remorse, and he was practically kicking her out of the elevator," Angie Boselli said. "So I don't understand that, and I'm grateful for this environment."
Some of the changes Goodell announced Friday include mandating that all players and staff on the league's 32 teams undergo education and training about how to prevent abuse.
"Hopefully it brings awareness to everyone in society," Tony Boselli said. "This is a serious issue and for no reason should a man ever lay his hand on a woman."
Angie Boselli said she thinks the changes need to be made at a grassroots level, not just in the NFL.
"Coaches don't babysit when they go to the NFL," she said. "If they aren't a good man when they get there, all that money is just going to expose the lack of character they have, so it's crucial they establish character and get on their two feet very solid before they enter that environment."
Tony Boselli, who coaches at Providence, said one of his goals is to do more than teach players to win football games.
"At the end of the day we want to teach them the core principles of being a man," he said. "Hard work, courage, teamwork, serving other people. It's the greatest game in every level, and the fact that the lessons that it can help teach young men are incredible, and we do that here at Providence."