Waterloo Warriors caught for steroid use

When Joe Surgenor was ushered into the head football coach’s office last month, he knew the jig was up. It took only a few minutes for him to break into tears and acknowledge there wasn’t any need for a drug test; he’d been using Winstrol, an anabolic steroid.

Soon others from the University of Waterloo football team would admit to doing the same.

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“There are a few of us who self-declared,” Mr. Surgenor said yesterday, acknowledging his part in what could be the biggest drug scandal to hit Canadian Interuniversity Sports. “It doesn’t feel good.”

The official test results have yet to be made public, but Waterloo and CIS officials are bracing for the worst. They know one of their athletes, Nathan Zettler, a Waterloo receiver, has been charged with possession of anabolic steroids for the purpose of trafficking. They know another Waterloo football player, Matt Valeriote, and a former team member, Eric Legare, have been charged with break and enter and possession of stolen property. None of the charges have been proved in court.

What the CIS is investigating after Waterloo had its entire football team tested is how deeply rooted the drug use was and whether it spread into neighbouring universities Wilfrid Laurier, Guelph, Western Ontario and McMaster.

“We’re investigating to [what] extent it runs deeper in football,” said Marg McGregor, the CEO of the CIS.

Mr. Surgenor, a 6-foot, 226-pound defensive lineman from Barrie, Ont., has been banned for two years from the CIS for admitting he used drugs. He agreed to tell his story for two reasons: to warn other athletes that the risk of using steroids isn’t worth the price of being caught, and to state that what happened at Waterloo is happening elsewhere across the country.

“To be perfectly honest, anyone who doesn’t think there are seven to 13 players on every team [using performance-enhancing drugs] in the CIS, you’re kidding yourself,” said Mr. Surgenor, 21. “There’s at least that number. I don’t think the CIS really wants to find out what’s going on. They don’t want to know the answer [to how many athletes are taking steroids].”

“We’re not looking into this as an insolated incident,” Ms. McGregor said.