Andrew Harris has been suspended for two games by the Canadian Football League after testing positive for the steroid Metandienone, and the news is significant on a number of fronts for both the all-star running back and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Not only does the suspension, announced Monday by the CFL, come on the eve of the annual Labour Day Classic/Banjo Bowl doubleheader with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, it will also impact the discussion of Harris as a Most Outstanding Player candidate and will undoubtedly affect the reputation he had worked so tirelessly to build.
Statements from Harris, Bombers President and CEO Wade Miller and head coach Mike O’Shea were issued by the Bombers after the announcement and can be read here.
A defiant and emotional Harris met with the media Monday morning following the announcement, stating the label on the product he took— a men’s energy, anti-oxidant, multi-vitamin supplement with natural testosterone enhancers he purchased at a local store – indicated it contained ‘all-natural ingredients.’
Taking full responsibility for having ingested the supplement, Harris said “a lot of these companies work with different labs and different manufacturers and my assumption is that is where it came from, and we’re working on trying to figure out the actual source.”
Harris said he has been randomly tested more than any other player in his four years as a member of the Bombers and three times in 2019 – on March 1, followed by another clean test on July 2 that included blood and urine samples and 10 days later on July 12 through a urine sample. It was the July 12th test which revealed a small trace of the banned substance.
Harris had the B sample tested, which also came back positive, and insists if he had intended to take the banned substance there would be a higher volume in his system.
“That’s where I stand, the fact that it was a contamination,” he said.
Under terms of the CFL and CFL Players Association drug policy, players who test positive face a two-game suspension for a first doping violation, a nine-game suspension for a second violation, a one-year suspension for a third and a lifetime ban for a fourth.
The CFL drug policy has a ‘zero-tolerance’ component, meaning Harris cannot appeal the suspension. He can still practice and attend team meetings at the club’s discretion – he will – but cannot travel with the team or be on the sidelines during the next two games.
Harris was informed about the positive test prior to the Bombers’ game against Calgary on August 8th and had quietly informed a few of his teammates before addressing the entire group on Sunday, following the club’s win in Edmonton on Friday.
“It’s been devastating,” he said. “It’s been hard to focus on football and hard to come in after winning a game and be thinking about what’s going to happen in a couple of days or possibly next week and how it’s going to affect my team.
“I don’t want to be a distraction. I would never want to put my team in jeopardy, myself in jeopardy, or my career. At this point now I have to face the music and move on.
“(Sunday) I addressed the team and that was the hardest part. You put a lot of energy, effort and a lot of hours in with these guys and you become a family and you never want to let a family member down. When I addressed the team, that was the feeling in my stomach.”
Harris said that after going through this recent experience he would like to work with the CFLPA to be a spokesperson on this subject, adding, “This could happen to anyone. I would never intentionally cheat and I’m in the situation now where I’m being questioned, and it hurts. I’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this game and worked my butt of to be where I’m at and now it’s being questioned.
“… I pride myself in being a role model to my daughter and youth, my peers and at this point now I have to face the music and use this as a learning tool in how this can be avoided.”
Harris has backed up his consecutive CFL rushing titles in 2017 and 2018 with a sensational 2019 campaign. He leads the CFL in rushing with 908 yards and recently became the league’s all-time leader in yards from scrimmage among Canadian players – an achievement for which he received a standing ovation from Bombers fans when it was announced during the team’s win over the B.C. Lions on August 15.
Recalling that moment on Monday, Harris was brought to tears.
“It was hard to really enjoy it. I’ve been carrying this with me for a few weeks now,” he said. “That B.C. game, the standing ovation… part of the reason I got so emotional was because of this. This is very deep in my stomach and took away from something that was really great. It was very difficult.”
About a dozen Bombers players attended the media availability with Harris in a show of support, with both quarterback Matt Nichols and Stanley Bryant, along with head coach Mike O’Shea speaking to the press afterward.
“Those guys are my brothers,” said Harris. “We care about each other and support each other. I think ultimately they know the type of integrity and work ethic I have and they’re standing beside me because they know that this is some bad luck.”
“It’s an unfortunate thing,” said Nichols. “I know Andrew and think that people would be wrong to question his integrity and that he would go out of his way to purposefully do this is not something that is in his character or anything that is questioned in our locker room.
“It’s an unfortunate situation. We’ll get over it and get past it. It’s a good learning thing for everyone on this team and everyone in sports, in general, and the general public that no supplements can be 100% safe.”
On the field, the Bombers now head into their Labour Day Classic/Banjo Bowl home-and-home series without both Harris and Nichols. The club does currently have two options at running back – Canadian Johnny Augustine backed up Harris in last week’s win over Edmonton, while American John Santiago from the University of North Dakota, who was cut during training camp but re-signed in early July, is on the practice roster. Winnipegger Brady Oliveira, the team’s second-round selection in the 2019 CFL Draft, remains on the shelf after suffering a leg injury in the club’s home opener in June.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who can step up and fill the role,” said Bryant. “We always have the ‘next-man-up’ mentality, so I think those guys will step in. They’re not going to be Andrew Harris – there’s only one Andrew Harris – but those guys can step in and do some of the similar things he can do. We’re going to strive together and be the team we can be.”
O’Shea, meanwhile, said he met the news with a combination of disbelief and empathy for Harris who “has worked so bloody hard to get to where he’s at and do things the right way.”
“Ultimately any athlete in any sport that has a drug-testing policy is responsible or what they ingest. Andrew knows that he’s responsible for that. The fact that he was tested 10 days prior with a blood and urine sample and that came back clean suggests to me that it is pretty evident he ingested something in a supplement he was unaware was contaminated and tested positive 10 days later.”
O’Shea added he wants Harris around the squad during his suspension, because his presence will be helpful for those replacing him, but also because it can be therapeutic, too.
“Most guys when a situation happens through injury or something like this, I damn near force them to be with the team because that’s what they need,” said O’Shea. “They need the support of their teammates, so this is no different.
“I want him around. I want him surrounded by his teammates and guys that care about him and guys that believe in him.”
