A whole season down the drain

The Concordia Stingers football team was forced to forfeit their two wins from this season, as a result of having an ineligible player on their roster. The Stingers disclosed the information themselves to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport and Réseau Sport Étudiant du Québec yesterday night.

Two players, who wished to remain anonymous, have confirmed the player in question to be offensive lineman Daryl Rankin.

Rankin, however, is not at fault for the sanction. The RSEQ and the CIS are citing CIS eligibility article 40.10.4.3.1.1, which limits the number of years a student athlete can participate in CIS competition to five years.

Details are still vague as to what specifically made Rankin ineligible, but it appears that the year he spent playing in the Quebec Junior Football League after CEGEP may have knocked off a year of his CIS eligibility. The rule in question was changed in 2007-2008, and stated that:

“Beginning with the 2003-2004 academic year, upon graduating from a Quebec high school, an athlete shall be charged with a year of CIS eligibility for each year of participation beyond three years at any level of tackle football, including but not limited to midget, junior, and CEGEP.”

Therefore, if the one year spent in the QJFL was three years after Rankin had graduated from high school, it would knock off a year of his CIS eligibility, meaning that Ranking really only had four years of eligibility left when he joined the Stingers.

It is possible that Rankin, and the school for that matter, was not aware that the rule carried over. The Concordian is still awaiting confirmation from the CIS as to whether or not this was the case.

It is also unclear as to whether or not this particular ruling carried over for players that it applied to before the rule was changed.

Concordia’s athletic department released this statement to the press on Tuesday regarding the sanction handed down by the RSEQ:

“We recently discovered that an administrative error led to an ineligible student athlete participating in our first five football games this season,” wrote Katie Sheahan, director of recreation and athletics. “Although we are disappointed for the members of our football team who have worked so hard this season, we are fully supportive of the sanctions that have been applied by the CIS and RSEQ.”

The Stingers will now fall to 0-6 for the year, with the scores from their wins against Bishop’s and St. Francis Xavier being changed to a 1-0 loss, according to the CIS press release. Player’s individual statistics will not be changed.

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