Pubdate: Tue, 21 Jun 2005
Source: Kingston Whig-Standard (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 The Kingston Whig-Standard
Contact:  http://www.kingstonwhigstandard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/224
Author: Patrick Kennedy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

POT-SMOKING RUGBY PLAYERS MAY LAND SCHOOL TEAMS IN HOT WATER WITH OFSAA

The Queen Elizabeth Raiders senior boys rugby team is facing disciplinary 
action from the ruling body of provincial high school athletics.

Moreover, a possible one-year probation period could apply to all Raider 
teams -- a fate the school will learn later this week.

Tomorrow, the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association's board of 
reference-sanctions will meet to decide what penalty, if any, is warranted 
for QE's default of its last game at the recent OFSAA double-A championship 
tournament in Belleville.

The team was hauled on the

OFSAA carpet for using under-aged players in the consolation final on the 
last day of the three-day affair at Belleville.

The juniors were pressed into emergency service after five senior players, 
all starters, were caught by Raiders head coach Reuben Brunet inside a 
Belleville hotel room that smelled of marijuana smoke.

Brunet immediately suspended the five from the team, checked them out of 
the team's lodgings and drove four of them straight home to their 
respective Kingston residences.

The other player rode home with a none-too-pleased parent.

With five starters suddenly unavailable to him, Brunet was short the 
required 15 needed to field a team. He phoned a tournament official later 
that night to explain the situation.

"[The official] phoned me back the next morning, on the day of the 
[consolation final], and told us we had to default the match but that we 
could still go ahead and play it and use our juniors, which is what we did."

Four QE juniors -- who were with the team in Belleville -- participated in 
the unofficial consolation final against Orillia Park Street -- unofficial 
because the latter had already been declared the winner via default. Park 
Street won the exhibition 20-19.

OFSAA, however, wasn't pleased.

"Our rules [for rugby] clearly state that all players must be 16 years of 
age at the start of a championship," OFSAA assistant director Steve Sevor 
said yesterday from Vaughan.

Sevor faxed QE officials with a request for a written account of what 
happened and why. The response will then be forwarded to the 
reference-sanctions board.

The Raiders are two-time defending Kingston area champs and an invaluable 
source of inspiration and pride for students and staff at the Kirkpatrick 
Street high school.

Brunet, a driving force behind QE's rejuvenated rugby and football 
programs, said it was customary for the team to gradually introduce some of 
the higher-skilled junior players to senior competition in regular-season 
games.

Letting a few juniors share in "an OFSAA experience" is part of that 
apprenticeship, he added.

The underage players were told beforehand not to expect any playing time at 
the provincial tournament. None played in the team's opening four contests.

"It's a shame that this school and certainly this particular team could be 
punished for the adolescent actions of a few guys," said QE vice-principal 
Al Baker, who takes over as principal in the fall.

"This team and the football teams as well have done more to raise spirit 
around here than any school board or ministry could ever hope to do.

"From a school perspective," he continued, "we're not going to allow this 
mistake in judgment by five kids to denigrate what this team and Reuben 
Brunet have accomplished over the past few years."

Raider player Tim Poffley, who competed in four varsity sports and 
captained QE's basketball, football and rugby teams, praised Brunet for 
dealing with the pot smokers swiftly and decisively.

"What those guys did was selfish and definitely not in everyone's best 
interests," said the Queen's-bound athlete. "For the team, it was a very 
disappointing thing."

Brunet hopes the incident doesn't mar an otherwise terrific rugby campaign, 
one which saw QE capture a second successive city title, the first repeat 
of a city senior crown since the great Raider football teams of the 1960s.

In the spring, Brunet, four other coaches and 20 rugby Raiders enjoyed a 
four-day stay in Washington, D.C., with nary a problem.

"I've talked to three of the five kids involved and they were very 
apologetic and, in fact, in tears," said Brunet. "They know they let down 
the team, the school and themselves.

"Having said that, I also don't hold any grudges or any resentment for them."

The five players also received five-day suspensions from school.

"You have to remember that these are kids we're dealing with -- not 
adults," Brunet said. "Sometimes -- fortunately it's not often -- things 
happen."
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