Obama: NFL ‘behind the curve’ on rice case, applauds new policies

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Barack Obama says the Ray Rice domestic violence case showed that the National Football League was “behind the curve” in setting policies about athlete behaviour. He says new policies now in effect will send a message that there is no place for such behaviour.

He says in an interview Friday with Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio that “an old boys’ network” at the NFL that had created “blind spots.”

He says: “You don’t want to be winging it when something like this happens; you want to have clear policies in place.”

He says the Rice case raised awareness about domestic violence and showed men need to change their behaviour and “it has to start young.”

Obama was promoting sign-ups for his health care law, which has a Monday deadline.