With the suspension of the University of Waterloo’s varsity football program for 2009-2010 season, many are questioning the university’s decision to punish the team as a whole.
They say it's unfair to punish the players who did not test positive for steroids. How can 80-plus players and coaching staff be held responsible for the actions of nine individuals?
The reason for the punishment follows the age-old sports cliche: win as a team, lose as a team.
It's hard to keep secrets in a locker room, and the unnatural physical growth steroids provide is difficult to hide.
The responsibility falls on the players to reveal the cheaters, and their failure to turn in their teammates is why there will be no football for them next season.
Waterloo’s decision sets a precedent that will impact teams across the CIS: doping will not be tolerated.
The consequences of steroid use in sports have been well-documented over the past decade, beginning in the late 1990s with baseball’s fall from grace, and continuing through professional football, cycling and the Olympics.
But the question on many people’s minds is: why use them?
The Waterloo team hasn’t seen a winning season in years, and has been on the receiving end of numerous blowouts by their conference rivals.
The steroids haven’t turned the team into a perennial powerhouse and even with the physical benefits they may provide, they do not turn mediocre football players into good ones.
With steroid use in the limelight once again, sports programs, from high school through university, should use the opportunity to better educate players about the potential consequences of their use. Waterloo will serve as a prime example.