Former Big Kahuna Rams head coach Chris Butschler has been banned from football for two years by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport for refusing to allow anti-doping personnel access to his players during an unannounced, in-season visit.
In a statement issued Monday, the CCES said Butschler failed to co-operate with the CCES, thereby undermining a CCES sample-collection session.
Butschler waived his right to a hearing, admitted to the violation and accepted his two-year suspension from the sport, the release states.
“It is completely unacceptable to tamper with any part of the doping control process and represents a very serious breach of our anti-doping rules,” said Paul Melia, president and CEO of the CCES.
“Coaches have a responsibility to play an active role in keeping sport clean and fair for all competitors.”
Butschler resigned from his post at the end of last season after coaching for parts of 12 years with the junior football club, which last fall announced it was moving from South Surrey to Langley. He joined the team in 1999 and, after a brief hiatus, rejoined the team as its head coach midway through the 2006 season.
Butschler was not available for comment, but Rams president Gord Querin said the team stood behind its former coach, and also took issue with the CCES.
“We’re very disappointed, not with Chris, but with how the whole thing was handled,” Querin said.
According to Querin, CCES officials approached Butschler after a Sept. 11 game in Kamloops – which the Rams lost to the Broncos – and asked to test three players after the game, one of whom had already left.
Butschler, Querin said, wanted some clarification from the CCES on the situation, so doping officials were stalled for 30 minutes while he made a phone call.
Eventually, the players were all gathered and tested, Querin said.
