WRAY PERKIN
The Argosy (Mount Allison University)

Pierre Lafontaine

SACKVILLE (CUP) — Canadian Interuniversity Sport introduced the league’s new CEO Jan. 31 at a press conference in Toronto. The former CEO and coach of Swimming Canada Pierre Lafontaine will fill the position and the league is hopeful he can change the trend set by several large-scale issues the CIS has dealt with over the past few years regarding hazing, steroids and player eligibility.

These issues have raised huge controversy recently, and the league as well as its schools have had to impose harsh sanctions on the teams involved. Although the schools usually administer the punishment, it often comes down to a lack of team supervision by the athletics departments that allow these problems to continue.

In 2005, the CIS was rocked by news of a McGill Redmen football team hazing ritual when a rookie athlete alleged he was sexually assaulted with a broomstick. With just three games remaining in that season’s schedule, the university cancelled the team’s remaining games. In addition, the league imposed sanctions including a multi-year ban that prevented McGill from appearing in any televised games. The Redmen have endured tough times since then, including four winless seasons.

Apparently the Dalhousie Tigers womens’ hockey team didn’t learn from McGill’s mistakes, and this year had the entire second half of their season cancelled by the school after news went public of humiliating and intimidating hazing at a rookie initiation party. The school suspended all but the five rookie players on the team, and subsequently cancelled all remaining games. Only time will tell if the Tigers’ future will become as bleak as McGill’s.

The Waterloo Warriors football team are still trying to recover from their steroid scandal that saw them suspended for the entirety of the 2010 season. After one player was arrested for trafficking steroids, the school called for the entire team to be tested. Nine players tested positive and the season was suspended.

The CIS offered players from the squad who did not test positive the opportunity to transfer to other schools and play immediately, without having to wait for a year as per normal transfer requirements. As expected, many players did transfer, and Waterloo has since only won two games in the last two seasons.

Player eligibility has become a recent issue as well for the CIS. In this season alone, Bishop’s and Concordia football teams and University of Prince Edward Island, St. Francis Xavier, Winnipeg, Montreal and McGill men’s soccer teams have had to forfeit games due to ineligible players.

Of course last season it was the University of British Columbia football squad who, after a 6-2 regular season record and a trip to the Canada West championship game, admitted to having used an ineligible player. Disclosure resulted in UBC forfeiting all their wins and the 2011 season is now officially listed as 0-8 for the team.

York women’s volleyball team also played with an ineligible athlete last season. They had finished first in their division during the regular season and were set to host the championship tournament, but because they used an ineligible player in their quarter-final victory, the playoff win was forfeited and York lost its right to host the championship.

Using ineligible players should be easy for an athletics department to prevent. These departments monitor the grades and eligibility of the athletes, so allowing an unqualified athlete to dress for games is inexcusable, unless the department didn’t know about it and the team’s coaching staff made the decision. While preventing the use of steroids and hazing is further from the control of the athletics department, there should still be policies for the teams to follow so these issues can be avoided.

With the events of recent years, and especially on the heels of the Dalhousie hazing incident, I expect and hope that schools and athletic departments across the country will crack down on their sports teams so that next year the CIS can have a sanction-free season.

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Photo: Sam Brooks/CUP