With Alouettes rush-end Shawn Lemon about to miss his ninth game this weekend, Derek Wiggan says enough is enough.
Wiggan, a Montreal defensive tackle, believes Lemon has been in limbo for too long, and said the time has come for CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie to specify the length of his teammate’s suspension, which is currently indefinite.
“I think he should be playing already,” Wiggan told The Gazette by telephone. “To jump through so many hoops, just for this, a mistake from three years ago, seems quite extraordinary. As a player you understand, if I do something wrong this is what (the sanction) is. In Lemon’s case, it seems like he’s in limbo. He hasn’t played since the end of June. Is it going to be the year? Shorter? Is the consequence going to be you’re in limbo forever?”
Lemon has been serving a suspension since early July for gambling on a pair of November 2021 games — including one in which he played — while with Calgary. He didn’t bet against the Stampeders. Following a two-day video conference hearing last month with independent arbitrator Allen Ponak, the CFL on Aug. 28 announced Ponak was upholding the league’s decision to suspend Lemon indefinitely.
The Gazette has obtained a copy of Ponak’s decision. Ponak wrote that the indefinite suspension “falls within the range of reasonable responses,” adding that Ambrosie and his delegates “exercised discretion in a judicious and reasonable manner.”
In conclusion, Ponak alludes to the CFL’s constitution, which states “indefinite suspensions are not forever.” Ponak said it behooves Lemon, presumably with the assistance of the players’ association, to work with Ambrosie to determine the “time and conditions under which the indefinite suspension can be rescinded” so Lemon can “resume an illustrious career.”
Wiggan, along with Calgary general manager and head coach Dave Dickenson, was one of two character witnesses who testified on Lemon’s behalf. Wiggan was Lemon’s teammate in 2021 and one of the team’s player representatives. He stressed the league failed to provide education to its players about the gambling policy that season.
After the CFL cancelled the 2020 campaign due to COVID-19, Wiggan said the emphasis in ’21 was on a return-to-play policy. The start of the regular season was delayed until Aug. 5 and teams played a condensed 14-game schedule. Wiggan testified “the coaches never mentioned gambling” in any pre-season communication and was “absolutely sure” notices weren’t placed on the team’s dressing room bulletin board. Wiggan said no information was received from the team until 2022.
However Nick Bojda, the Stamps’ director of football operations, testified he received a copy, dated June 28, 2021, of the league’s gambling rules, posting it on two bulletin boards — in the dressing room and the staff lunch room. Dickenson also testified that a mandatory meeting was held with all players at the end of training camp, during which violence against women and gambling were addressed.
When Ambrosie was questioned, he admitted it wasn’t until 2022 that it became mandatory for players to take online betting modules. Before that, Ambrosie said the league relied on its coaches to advise players that betting on CFL games was prohibited. Ambrosie added players shouldn’t have required a module to understand the exercise was wrong.
It wasn’t until 2023 that the CFL introduced a match-manipulation policy — two years after the Canadian government legalized sports betting with the passage of Bill C-218. Ambrosie has described legalized gambling as a “huge financial opportunity” for the league, one that should benefit both owners and players, increasing the value of the CFL’s television deal with TSN and RDS. Of the eight million Canadian gamblers, 25 per cent bet on CFL games, according to Ambrosie.
While Lemon and his Montreal-based lawyer, Aaron Makovka, have refused interview requests from The Gazette, the 36-year-old player testified he wasn’t advised about the no-gambling rules after signing with Calgary on July 30, 2021, his second stint with the team. He said the 73 euro wager — the equivalent of about $109 Canadian — was made “for fun” while admitting it was a “stupid” act. Lemon said he never would have jeopardized his career for $100.
Ponak wrote in his decision he accepted Lemon’s claim that he “may have” joined the Stamps after Dickenson addressed the team, adding he was satisfied Lemon might not “have been clearly told” about the league’s gambling restriction prior to the 2021 season.
The CFL didn’t learn about Lemon’s wagers until last February, when it was notified by the International Olympic Committee as part of a wider review of sports betting.