The University of Regina has launched an internal review after they were forced to forfeit three football games this season because of an ineligible player. The player played in all five of the team's regular season games in 2018.
The Regina Rams submitted the eligibility issue to U SPORTS, the national governing body of university sports in Canada after discovering that one of the players did not meet U SPORTS eligibility regulations.
Lisa Robertson, the Director of Sport at the university says it was an academic ineligibility. As it is a personal matter, the team will not be identifying the ineligible athlete, or going into further details about the issue.
The team was forced to forfeit games won on September 7 against the University of Alberta, September 14 against the University of British Columbia and September 29 at UBC.
The forfeiture drops the Rams to the bottom of the Canada West standings.
“We’re gutted, devastated for our Rams family,” Robertson said at a news conference. “There are no words, there are no sorries, there are no ways to make it better.”
Canada West says the statistics for that player will now be attributed to the team, while the other individual player stats from those games will remain intact.
The review will look into how students are selected for the team, and make recommendations on how the process can be improved in the future. U SPORTS may also levy sanctions against the team after the review.
"This is a heartbreaking situation for the student-athletes, coaches, members of the Rams organization, and the University of Regina community," said University of Regina Director of Sport, Community Engagement & Athlete Development Lisa Robertson in a written release. "The University will fully cooperate with U SPORTS as they review the situation. Additionally, we are launching an internal review of our student-athlete intake processes in order to minimize the risk of this happening again."
The university has made counselling services available to the Rams players in the wake of the decision.
The Rams have three games left in their season.
