Ajou Ajou has been released by the Saskatchewan Roughriders after a suspension from the CFL.<\/p>\n
The league announced the slotback was suspended for both preseason contests and a minimum of six regular-season games after violating the league\u2019s gender-based violence and harassment policy.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the announcement, the team released the 24-year-old player.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/p>\n
Riders general manager Jeremy O\u2019Day said they were made aware of the allegations in late January against Ajou. O\u2019Day said they immediately reached out to the league offices, who then initiated a third-party investigation which included interviews with Ajou, as well as with witnesses and complainants.<\/p>\n
The league said the investigation revealed that on November 18, 2025, Ajou engaged in \u201caggressive and unwelcome physical contact with multiple women at a restaurant in Regina.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we received the information and results of the investigation, we decided to release Ajou as this was clearly a violation of our team\u2019s code of conduct and the CFL\u2019s gender-based violence and harassment policy,\u201d O\u2019Day said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hold our players to a high standard. We don\u2019t tolerate gender-based violence. Our expectation is our players and staff treat people with respect and integrity. These violations clearly did not meet that standard for our organization and they will not be tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Day added he wouldn\u2019t speculate whether additional charges would come, as he only knew what was happening at a team level.<\/p>\n
The general manager said he had spoken with Ajou about his release.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not (a conversation) you look forward to having with him. It was just a sad conversation, but try to give him the information, talk it through with him a little bit and make him aware of the situation and let him know we were going to release him today,\u201d O\u2019Day said.<\/p>\n
\u201cProtecting the safety and well\u2011being of our communities is non\u2011negotiable,\u201d CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston said in a news release.<\/p>\n
\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
O\u2019Day said it did occur on the day the team\u2019s Grey Cup parade was held.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur players were out celebrating a Grey Cup championship and it is unfortunate it happened at all,\u201d O\u2019Day said. He later stated no other player was under investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about how to handle yourself in the community such as training on substance abuse \u2026 Our whole team was probably out that night and a large majority of them understand what it\u2019s like to be in the community and handle yourself in the community and the expectations that are required to be a professional athlete and how you should be out in the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cDifficult challenge with the combination of celebrating a Grey Cup but our expectations don\u2019t change because we\u2019re celebrating,\u201d O\u2019Day said.<\/p>\n
In order to be reinstated, Ajou will need to complete a process that includes a minimum of 15 mandatory counselling sessions conducted by a gender-based violence expert, a psychological assessment by another independent expert and a meeting with Johnston. If he is unable to complete the process, the CFL can modify his discipline.<\/p>\n
Even if Ajou were to be reinstated, O\u2019Day said they would not sign him.<\/p>\n
Ajou was selected by the Riders in the seventh round (59th overall) in the 2024 CFL Draft. He was named the team\u2019s rookie of the year after catching 20 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns. He turned that into a brief stint with the Indianapolis Colts in 2025.<\/p>\n
He returned to the Riders last season<\/a> and played in eight regular-season games and started in the 2026 Grey Cup<\/a>, which the Riders won.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ajou Ajou has been released by the Saskatchewan Roughriders after a suspension from the CFL. The league announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-615859","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\/615859","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=615859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}