Scott Radley: Mac forfeits football games due to ineligible player
McMaster's football team has had last week's win over York University stripped and the previous week's game declared a forfeit as a result of using an ineligible player.
U SPORTS announced Friday that the McMaster Marauders football team forfeits its first two regular-season games of the 2022 season due to the participation of an ineligible player since the beginning of the current campaign," said a statement from the governing body of university sports in the country. McMaster self-disclosed the infraction upon becoming aware of the eligibility violation."
The penalty means McMaster - which missed the playoffs last year - is now 0-2. The forfeit against York is particularly painful from a competitive sense as Mac had clobbered what is surely the weakest team in the province 39-1. Taking a loss on the easiest game on the schedule is a gut punch.
The school would not identify the player citing personnel rules. However, in a statement of its own it did say where the problem arose.
The ineligibility is due to an administrative oversight in paperwork involved in a student transfer between institutions," McMaster said. This is a most unfortunate circumstance."
This isn't the first time in recent years the school's football team has found itself in the news for nonfootball issues.
In 2018, then-coach Greg Knox was suspended and then fired after allegations of harassment and threats of physical violence against a sideline game official." Two years later, the school investigated allegations of racism around the football team which led to a scathing report that led the school to make changes.
This latest case doesn't sound at all similar in tone to those incidents. In fact, in its own statement Friday, the school said it had alerted authorities as soon as it discovered what it believed was a violation.
We contacted U SPORTS and OUA right away and self-reported the circumstances," the statement said. The player will not be playing this weekend. We are maintaining the confidentiality of the individual as we would do in any circumstance involving a student."
Still, it's the football team being talked about again for something other than winning games. That's not ideal.
The Marauders are scheduled to host the University of Ottawa GeeGees on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Ron Joyce Stadium. A loss would be crushing to their playoff hopes. However, that may not even be the biggest concern for the program.
U SPORTS may impose additional sanctions upon completion of the discipline process," the statement said.
Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com