DRAKE FENTON
The Ubyssey (University of British Columbia)

VANCOUVER (CUP) — T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the UBC football house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Then the Grinch broke in and because he’s a swine, he took away their wins and gave them a $1,250 fine.

Indeed, you are a mean one, Mr. Grinch.

Over the Christmas break, the Canada West University Athletic Association relished its role as the Grinch, forcing the UBC football team to forfeit their six regular season wins and their one playoff win, leaving them with an official record of 0-8. UBC was also fined $1,250 and placed on probation for the 2012 season.

The reason? An inadvertent administrative error in 2009 that allowed a UBC player to play this year when he had already exhausted his eligibility.

Neither the CWUAA nor UBC would release the player’s identity, but it is believed to be defensive end Connor Flynn.

Flynn had played five years of junior football with the Vancouver Trojans before being recruited to UBC in 2009. During the year he was recruited, Canadian Interuniversity Sport amended their eligibility rules as follows: “A student-athlete shall complete his eligibility within seven academic years, calculated from the beginning of the academic year immediately following his high school graduation or completion of high school eligibility … An exception is granted to any student-athlete listed on a 2009-2010 eligibility certificate.”

When Flynn came to UBC in 2009, Ted Goveia was coaching the program and his staff made a clerical error. Flynn was not listed on an eligibility certificate.

During the holidays, this story garnered a lot of media attention. And while it is undoubtedly newsworthy, the only real news is the ridiculousness of the CWUAA’s decision.

UBC fully cooperated with the investigation and stated the violation was unintentional. To say the CWUAA’s decision was needlessly severe would be an understatement. In fact, according to a separate ruling by Canadian Interuniversity Sport (the parent organization of the CWUAA) the CWUAA’s sanctions were needlessly severe. The CIS stated that according to their bylaws, an inadvertent administrative error does not warrant the forfeiture of games.

The harshness of these sanctions are even more confusing when it is taken into account that UBC self-disclosed the error. The CWUAA didn’t know about the error — UBC head coach Shawn Olson informed them of it.

For his honesty in admitting that the program’s former coach had made a mistake, Olson and the current UBC program were punished.

I am not trying to say Olson and UBC are completely without guilt. Olson didn’t properly check the eligibility of all of his players before the season started, and for that the program deserves a monetary fine (as the CIS suggests in this situation) and should be placed on probation.

What is perplexing is why the CWUAA took such a faux-hardline stance. If they wanted to be serious and flex their muscles, then why not go all the way? Their ruling allowed all game statistics, individual honours and awards to remain intact. Quarterback Billy Greene’s Hec Crighton award (CIS MVP) was not put in jeopardy by having all of his statistics wiped out. None of UBC’s first-team all-stars were stripped of their awards. But if the CWUAA was willing to take everything else away, why not those too?

The CWUAA’s ruling was a bluff, and they knew it. They knew it wouldn’t be contested or appealed, simply because no one would care enough to do so.

If UBC had won the Canada West championship or the Vanier Cup, I doubt the CWUAA would have taken such an action. And if they would have tried to go after Greene’s Hec trophy by wiping out his stats, I’m sure the CIS would have stepped in and let them know where the ultimate power lies.

The only good thing about this whole fiasco is that UBC now holds one of the most unique records in Canadian collegiate sport. Greene is the only athlete to have ever played on a winless team and still end the year as the nation’s most valuable player.