THE CANADIAN PRESS
WATERLOO, Ont. — It started with a property crime investigation. Along the way, police say they found a cache of several thousand pills, vials and capsules.
Charges followed against three football players linked to the University of Waterloo.
The legal trail continues but the Waterloo football program learned its fate Monday. Shut down for a year as a result of what has been described as one of the "most significant" steroids scandals in Canadian history.
Waterloo was not exactly a football powerhouse last season. The 3-5 Warriors finished tied for sixth with Guelph in the 10-team Ontario standings and did not qualify for post-season play.
But now the school must deal with a tarnished image while players who tested clean are paying the price for those who didn’t.
"Doping in sport is a bit like dealing with an arsonist," said Paul Melia, president of the anti-doping watchdog Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. "One doper, just like one arsonist, can cause a lot of damage."
The Waterloo Regional Police say their police investigation into property theft turned up the drugs plus stolen computer equipment and jewelry during a search earlier this spring.
Charges were laid against three men, including a receiver with the University of Waterloo football team.
The university immediately demanded that every player on the team be tested for performance-enhancing drugs. So the CCES tested 62 football players on March 31, tests that subsequently revealed nine potential anti-doping violations.
Four of the nine have admitted breaking the rules, three triggered what has been described as "adverse analytical findings," and another refused to submit to the test.
The other case is pending a police investigation, and the CCES is still waiting for the results of 20 blood tests it had taken.
Melia calls the Waterloo case "one of the most significant doping issues in Canada’s history."
The CEO of Canadian Interuniversity Sport calls it an "eye-opener."
"The volume of positive tests is unprecedented in our history, so absolutely, it has given us pause to reflect and to take a good, hard look at what’s in place," said Marg McGregor.
Head coach Dennis McPhee and assistant Marshall Bingeman are being placed on paid leave from football duties while the university conducts a full review.
"There’s been a lot of tears over the last several days," said Bob Copeland, the university’s director of athletics. "This has been a very measured decision by the university. We’ve discussed all of the pros and cons of doing this, and we felt, given the gravity of this issue, that this was just too important not to take this particular action."
Players who passed doping tests were left to pick up the pieces Monday.
"The university said they dealt with it in a way that would set an example — unfortunately, that example ruins the lives of some of our players here," wide receiver Dustin Zender said. "Because of the actions by some, who weren’t smart, it now affects players who did the right thing."
Defensive back Patrick McGarry said the university’s decision would taint each member of the team, regardless of whether they tested positive. He feared it would hurt any player with an ambition of one day playing in the CFL.
And on a more immediate level, he said some of his teammates had already signed leases for next year. Being locked into a contract, and the difficulty in finding anyone willing to sublet an apartment for the whole academic year, would create another layer of difficulty for players hoping to transfer to other schools.
"We were locked in our change room like animals and told that we were just going to clean out the bad," McGarry said of the day the team was tested. "That’s what we did. We were told we had the support of the school, and we obviously don’t."
The CIS does not pay for testing done by the CCES, which is funded by the federal government. Copeland, said the school shared the cost of testing its football team with the CCES — which cost in the neighbourhood of $36,000.
Tests at the University of Guelph and McMaster University returned without a failure. A similar round had been scheduled at Wilfrid Laurier University, but Melia said the attempt failed because of "a mix-up regarding the location of the players on the day testing was planned."
He said his organization needs more resources, saying it spends $1.3-million on lab costs alone for elite Olympic athletes, as well as those competing in the CIS. Melia estimated it costs $1 million to gather samples — which have been sought from athletes in a number of unannounced visits since the news broke in Waterloo.
"We are not taking the view that this is an isolated problem at the University of Waterloo," McGregor said. "In fact, our former testing results have shown us that there have been positive infractions, and not just in football, but in a number of sports on a number of campuses."
McGregor said that, excluding the Waterloo case, 202 tests were carried out across the CIS last year, with 89 of those centred on football. More than half of those football tests (45) were done out of season.
Approximately 10,000 athletes compete in 15 sports in CIS.
Nathan Zettler, a 23-year-old receiver with the Warriors, was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking following a search of two residences in March. He was also charged with break and enter, use of a stolen credit card and possession of stolen property under $5,000.
Matthew Valeriote, listed as a receiver on Waterloo’s football roster, was also charged with break and enter. Former Warriors player Eric Legare was also charged with break and enter. According to Waterloo police, stolen goods worth approximately $7,500 was recovered during a search of two residences. The thousands of pills and vials were submitted for expert analysis.
That case led to the results the CCES revealed Monday.
First-year linebacker Jordan Meredith tested positive for Tamoxifen, a prohibited substance commonly used by athletes as part of a post-cycle treatment to combat the side effects of steroids.
Meredith has waived his right to a hearing and acknowledged he committed a doping infraction. He will be suspended for two years.
Joe Surgenor, a second-year linebacker, admitted to use of a steroid at the time of CCES testing and accepted a two-year ban.
The CCES did not identify all the players in its release.