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Steelers' William Gay suggests NFL give players one week to advocate their cause without consequence

There has been a lot of talk this season about NFL players being fined by the league for sending a message, be it through their eye black or choice of cleats.

One of those players, Pittsburgh's William Gay, penned a column for The MMQB detailing why he happily paid the fine for wearing purple cleats for domestic violence awareness, and brings up an important thought: NFL players have the platform, so why can't they use it?

Gay writes: 

We’ve talked about this a lot in the locker room... So many of us feel like there has to be a solution; a way for the league to work with us for trying to promote good things, rather than punish us. Ben Roethlisberger came up with the idea to allow each team to have one cause that affects the community that we play in and have each player be able to represent that. Another idea, and one I feel strongly about, is to allow every player in the league one amnesty week—one game during which they can support their cause through a shoe color or eye-black and not have any consequences. Where is the harm in that?

Both Roethlisberger's idea and Gay's idea are good ones. Players would likely prefer to advocate for a cause personal to them, but it's a discussion worth having with the league. It makes the NFL look small when a player is docked money for a small gesture in remembrace of a loved one or trumpeting a cause the league doesn't also support. It seems easy enough to dedicate one or two weeks a season, at minimum to letting players wear eye black or cleats or a towel to bring a little attention to something close to their hearts, as long as they submit their plan to the league beforehand.

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Gay is one of three Steelers players to draw a fine this season: running back DeAngelo Williams wore eye black that said "FIND THE CURE" for his mother, who died of breast cancer last year (four aunts also died from the disease), and defensive end Cameron Heyward wore "IRON HEAD" on his eye black in memory of his father, former NFL fullback Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, who died of brain cancer.

October is breast cancer awareness month, and the NFL allows players to wear pink cleats and towels for that month. But it is also domestic violence awareness month. When he was 8, Gay's mother was killed by his stepfather, who shot her three times before turning the gun on himself.

The NFL fined William Gay for wearing purple shoes. (Getty Images)
The NFL fined William Gay for wearing purple shoes. (Getty Images)

So as he did last year (and he was fined last year as well), Gay happily donned the purple cleats, the color of the cause, and paid the $5787 fine.

"It’s not that I don’t understand the value of money, and it’s not that I’m trying to stir trouble. When I wore those purple cleats, I was standing for something much larger than a football game," Gay wrote. "My mother didn’t know she was in an abusive relationship until it was too late; she didn’t know what domestic violence was, let alone how to get help. Awareness, to me, is everything.

"And so when I wore those cleats, people noticed. People asked about it. During the game one official actually came up to me and asked me why I had purple shoes on. Later, he told me, 'I really appreciate what you’re doing.' I came home that night to hundreds of messages on Twitter and Instagram. I gave interviews about it. Fans chatted about it. People were talking about what I did, but in doing so, they were talking about domestic violence. The discussion grew louder. Domestic violence, an often uncomfortable and neglected issue in our culture, was brought to the attention of thousands."

Gay does what he can for his cause, volunteering at shelters and speaking about domestic violence, and believes if wearing the purple cleats helps just one person, paying the fine was money well spent.