The Varsity Blues men’s soccer team has forfeited the 2003 season for including an ineligible player on their roster, according to a U of T press release dated Thursday, Oct. 30.
The team, ranked number one in Canada at the end of the regular season, was replaced in the playoffs by the Waterloo Warriors.
The press release indicates Blues striker Tom Kouzmanis has been found by the Ontario University Athletics association (OUA) to be in violation of Canadian Interuniversity Sport’s (CIS) rules regarding participation in professional leagues.
The CIS allows varsity athletes to play on professional teams, but states that they must then wait a period of a year to re-join a varsity team.
Kouzmanis played with the Toronto Olympians professional soccer team during the summer of 2001. In the fall of 2001, he returned to the Blues roster, not waiting the required year.
Because of the infraction, Ontario University Athletics (OUA) has fined Kouzmanis one year of playing eligibility. This means that instead of playing for the legal five years of OUA eligibility, Kouzmanis could only play four. Taking to the field this 2003 season pushed him over his eligibility, and has led to the team’s disqualification.
The Blues ended the regular season with a record of nine wins and one loss, but since Kouzmanis played in every game, each has been re-scored as a 1-0 loss for U of T. Both the OUA and the CIS have indicated they will further investigate the situation and additional penalties for U of T may result.
On Thursday Oct. 30, U of T made a full self-disclosure to the OUA, and filed a compassionate appeal to the provincial body. Director of athletics Liz Hoffman said in the release “. . . we are certain that it was never Tom’s intention to compete beyond the maximum five years of eligibility.”
Ward Dilse, executive director of the OUA, is sympathetic but unmoved. “Unfortunately the rule doesn’t go on intention, it goes on what happened,” he said.
Dilse says the OUA may consider further sanctions to the university regarding the 2001 season, but will wait to see the results of the CIS’s investigation before proceeding. Because this is the first time the OUA has conducted such an investigation, the outcome is still unclear.
The initial OUA rulings that disqualified the Blues were passed swiftly, seeing as U of T was to advance to the championships this past weekend. “Usually there’s not a quick turn around,” explains Dilse, and he estimates that the rest of the proceedings won’t happen so quickly.
Tom Huisman, the CIS’s director of operations and development, says he won’t speculate on a time frame for their investigation either. Huisman says that any further sanctions will follow CIS rules, and may range from warnings to suspension or fines.
U of T coaches say they have decided to remain quiet about the situation while the investigations are underway. A U of T official has suggested York University is responsible for revealing Kouzmanis’ violation to the OUA. Director of varsity soccer Jim Lefkos could not confirm or deny this allegation.
Waterloo Warriors coach Brian Cartlidge says “he knew something was going on behind the scenes” at the quarter final match-up between his team and the Blues. Kouzmanis’ absence from the bench was an initial clue, but when Waterloo was told to unofficially prepare the team for the possibility of a trip to the semi finals, Cartlidge knew something was wrong. U of T beat Waterloo in the quarterfinals, 2-1.
Though Kouzmanis’ ineligibility has benefited his team by advancing them to the championships, Cartlidge empathizes with U of T. Even if eligibility status is checked very carefully, he points out, mistakes still happen. “It’s unfortunate,” he said. “It’s a situation that can happen to any university.”
Waterloo lost yesterday to Western, in the OUA championship match.
