Normally when student-athletes are dismissed from their team, it has to do with a violation of team policy or infractions having to do with their academic performance while on campus. In the case of Australian freshman Xavier Forsberg, a NCAA dismissal stems from the actions of three teammates from his Sydney Olympic Football Club team 10,001 miles away.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association decided last week that Xavier Forsberg would have to sit out nearly two full seasons due to eligibility issues coming from investigations showing that three of Forsberg’s teammates received payment while playing on the Sydney Olympic FC team, but not finding that Forsberg was ever included in the list of players being paid.
Forsberg was “called-up” to play on Sydney Olympic’s professional team for three games, but never signed a contract team. This means Forsberg was never compensated for this time spent on the professional team. Despite never being given anything for his time spent on the professional team, the NCAA has determined that Forsberg is in violation of the association’s amateurism policy. Forsberg has stated that he was unaware of any players being paid for their stint with the professional team.
After a 10 week ordeal, the NCAA handed down a one season plus six game “suspension” for Forsberg due to these violations. This means that after packing up and moving his life to the US to play soccer, the NCAA determined he will not be able to do so until nearly a year from now.
While the NCAA’s rules are understandable, it is also easy to see that said rules are being enforced in a very unique way that is different from what the rule was initially set up to do. A rule that keeps paid-professional athletes from entering the amateur collegiate ranks is being enforced on a player that appeared in three games for a professional club while being on the club’s youth team roster and never receiving a dime for his efforts.
Not only is the enforcement of this rule being grossly overused in this circumstance, it might keep other international athletes from making the jump to the States to pursue a college career because they might be punished for playing at an elite level in their homeland.
An award for outstanding play is being used to punish an athlete that is only looking to advance his athletic abilities at a new level that is Division I soccer. Playing at a professional level before the age 20 is a huge accomplishment and is the reason that our school decided to recruit this talent to play for us.
This ruling will definitely change the way CCSU soccer will have to look at recruiting international players in the future, making sure we don’t use scholarships on players that might be deemed ineligible due to previous playing commitments.
The NCAA has clearly overstepped their bounds in their enforcement of the amateurism policy and should give great thought to reinstating Xavier Forsberg based on his appeal of their prior decision.
