The Canadian Football League announced a suspension for Ajou Ajou on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The wide receiver will miss no fewer than six games for violating the CFL\u2019s Gender-Based Violence and Harassment Policy.<\/p>\n
Immediately after word of the suspension came down, the Saskatchewan Roughriders announced the player\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
The league says it conducted a third-party investigation into Ajou after multiple claims arose this past January. The league says the investigation saw interviews with the player and the complainants, as well as multiple witnesses.<\/p>\n
The investigation revealed that Ajou engaged in unwelcome physical contact with a number of women at a Regina restaurant in the month of November.<\/p>\n
\u201cProtecting the safety and well\u2011being of our communities is non\u2011negotiable,\u201d CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston said in a statement. \u201cOur players are expected to lead with integrity and serve as role models. When improper conduct occurs, our policy is clear, and we will enforce it without exception. It is my hope that Mr. Ajou learns from this experience, and that other players take this unfortunate situation as a reminder of the standards we uphold.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the suspension, Ajou must attend a minimum of 15 counselling sessions with a gender-based violence expert, undergo a psychological assessment and meet with Johnston. The CFL says it can modify the discipline meted out should these steps not be satisfactorily completed.<\/p>\n
A 24-year-old native of Brooks, Alta., Ajou was set to enter his third CFL season. He has appeared in 20 games for the team across two seasons. He had two receptions in the Riders\u2019 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes at this past November\u2019s 112th Grey Cup in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Saskatchewan Roughriders do not tolerate gender-based violence or harassment and Ajou Ajou\u2019s actions go directly against the values we hold as an organization,\u201d Riders general manager Jeremy O\u2019Day said in a statement. \u201cWe hold our players to a high standard, one that focuses on integrity and treating people with respect. He failed to meet that standard and is no longer a Roughrider.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Roughriders also announced O\u2019Day will speak to the media later on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canadian Football League announced a suspension for Ajou Ajou on Thursday. The wide receiver will miss no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[229498,712,49,48,521,522,520,77833,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-608338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ajou-ajou-sports-football-player-player-statscom-1213908","9":"tag-apple-news","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-canadian-football-league","13":"tag-canadianfootballleague","14":"tag-cfl","15":"tag-saskatchewan-roughriders-sports-football-team-team-genius-sports-106752","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608338","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=608338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}