{"id":41048,"date":"2025-08-02T04:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T04:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/41048\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T04:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T04:53:08","slug":"montreal-alouettes-dl-shawn-lemon-takes-full-responsibility-for-gambling-suspension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/41048\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Alouettes DL Shawn Lemon takes ‘full responsibility’ for gambling suspension"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy: Montreal Alouettes<\/p>\n

Shawn Lemon sounds like a man who has learned a hard lesson after being suspended for 400 days by the Canadian Football League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a mistake. I take full responsibility for my actions and understand\u00a0that it was a lapse of judgment. I took some counselling to work on myself as a man so I can be ready from a mental aspect and as physical aspect as well. Trying to better myself not only as a football\u00a0player, but as a man as well,\u201d Lemon told 3DownNation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted to feel like I was entitled to an\u00a0opportunity to rejoin the league. Thanks\u00a0for allowing me back in the league\u00a0to the commissioner and the league, I won\u2019t let you guys down. I\u2019m thankful to have an opportunity\u00a0to be back playing, doing what I love to do, and\u00a0that\u2019s play football.\u201d<\/p>\n

The soon-to-be 37-year-old was suspended on April 24, 2024 for gambling on CFL games in 2021 while he was with Calgary Stampeders, including one in which he played. He bet around 70 Euros, the equivalent of approximately $100 CAD, on a two-game parlay.<\/p>\n

The Charleston, S.C. native appealed the decision and played four games to start last season, but an independent arbitrator upheld his indefinite suspension.<\/p>\n

Lemon was eligible to apply for reinstatement on July 4, 2025 and was\u00a0reinstated 12 days later by commissioner Stewart Johnston with conditions<\/a>. Montreal signed him to a one-year contract on July 17<\/a>, which allowed him to serve his two-game drug suspension in Week 7 and 8. With discipline for both suspensions served, Lemon will make his season debut on August 2 against Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful that he sat\u00a0down, we met and we got to talk about things. He got to know me better and I got to know him as well and definitely appreciate the support from him,\u201d Lemon said about going through his reinstatement process with the Johnston.<\/p>\n

The six-foot-two, 248-pound pass rusher was a leader for the Alouettes after joining the team midway through the 2023 season while helping Montreal win the 2023 Grey Cup. He produced 26 tackles, nine sacks, two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, and one forced fumble in 13 regular season games that year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all up to the team\u2019s discretion on whether or not they wanted me to join their club and if they think\u00a0that I would be an asset to the club as well,\u201d Lemon said regarding re-signing with the Als.<\/p>\n

However, there are pundits who believe Lemon should not have been reinstated by the CFL and instead been given a lifetime ban. The veteran defensive lineman does not resent those who hold that viewpoint.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I look at it like this: everybody\u2019s entitled to their own opinion. I\u2019m sorry for my actions that happened in 2021 and\u00a0I hope to be able to earn the support back of those who\u00a0don\u2019t think that I should be playing football,\u201d Lemon said. \u201cI can\u2019t control everyone, how everyone else feels\u00a0about me.\u00a0All I can do is control myself as a man and be the best version\u00a0of myself and be the best teammate I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lemon did try to appeal his two-game drug suspension for Phentermine<\/a>, which was handed down in February, but it was denied. He admitted not knowing all the proper information for what\u2019s allowed and what\u2019s not on the joint CFL and CFL Players\u2019 Association drug policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going to a nutritionist and I was prescribed a medication from my doctor. I didn\u2019t know it was a banned substance because it\u2019s medication\u00a0prescribed from a doctor,\u201d Lemon said. \u201cI take full responsibility, being a professional\u00a0athlete you gotta know the details. It\u2019s a lesson learned going forward, even if you\u2019re prescribed a medication, go about things the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what Lemon aims to do as he returns to playing professional football in the CFL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Montreal Alouettes Shawn Lemon sounds like a man who has learned a hard lesson after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-41048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}