Construction crews tear up the University of Waterloo Warriors football field in Waterloo, Ontario, Monday, June 14, 2010.The school suspended its football program for a year after the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport reported nine potential anti-doping infractions. The field construction was already scheduled for the installation of a new artificial playing field.DAVE CHIDLEY/The Canadian Press
The University of Waterloo senior administrator who suspended the school's football program over nine failed drug tests is not about to reverse his call, no matter what the Warrior players and their supporters are planning.
"This decision was not made easily," said Waterloo vice-president of academics and provost Feridun Hamdullahpur, who had the final say after conferring with colleagues. "If we reverse it, we would not have made it in the first place. … I don't think this will happen."
Warrior players, their friends, family and alumni will meet Thursday at the team's practice field, where several of the team captains will make an impassioned plea. They want the football team placed on probation and allowed to play the 2010 Canadian Interuniversity Sport season based on the fact more than 80 per cent of the 62 players tested were found to be clean.
Waterloo ordered the tests after a former player, Nathan Zettler, was arrested for possession of anabolic steroids for trafficking in late March. Athletes at two other schools (Guelph and McMaster) were tested while additional testing is now being conducted on Wilfrid Laurier athletes.
The Waterloo players say they have received enough financial backing in the last 48 hours to engage in legal action against the school, if necessary. Hamdullahpur sounded unfazed by the possibility.
"It's everyone's right. Should they wish to do that, fine," he said.
Waterloo's defiant reaction to the use of performance-enhancing drugs has been a launching point for discussions across the country. Of the many recurring questions, school officials have wondered: how can university sports effectively combat drugs given the limited budgets of both the CIS and the national testing body, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports?
Marg McGregor, the CEO of the CIS, and Paul Melia, head of the CCES, have each met with Sport Canada officials to outline the need for more money for testing, especially since the number of tests done over the last decade has steadily decreased. McGregor noted one of the best ways to fight back was to establish partnerships: with the Canadian Football League, which is presently drawing up its first drug policy; the Federal Provincial Territorial Sport Committee; and perhaps via universities willing to contribute to additional testing.
"I have had a number of inquiries from universities asking questions and expressing their interest [in helping fund more drug tests] It's not out of the realm of possibility," said McGregor.
A sure course of action is target testing - identifying those athletes who have gotten physically bigger and stronger and testing them to ensure it was all accomplished through hard work.
"Testing a whole team at training camp in August, that's not money well spent," said Kevin Boyles, the Calgary Dinos director of athletics. "You've got to test the guys who fit the [drug-using]profile and it needs to be done randomly. That's smart testing."
Tom Kendall, the Guelph athletic director, insisted the CIS drug policy, whatever its faults, has been applied with great conviction, more so than in the United States' National Collegiate Athletic Association.
"The fact of the matter is - and I've worked in the NCAA [with the California University of Pennsylvania]- the education system here is better," he said. "You can't hold [the players']hands but we tend to be more vigilant and educate more than schools down there."
Hamdullahpur said his decision to cancel the Waterloo football program for a year was not meant to be a death sentence. He explained it was done "for the long-term health of football and all the sports at Waterloo." He denied player comments that head coach Dennis McPhee alerted the athletic department five months ago of Zettler's possible drug use and that nothing was done.
"I won't go into detail because we have a formal review under way," Hamdullahpur said. "I can tell you it is categorically untrue."
The Waterloo provost maintained there was never any assurance given to the players that, once they subjected to drug testing, they would play in 2010. The players say they were told to take the test so they could compete without fear of suspicion.
The CIS announced Wednesday it had clarified its transfer policy to allow Waterloo players to switch schools without having to sit out a year. The players still have to find a university team that wants them and be academically eligible.