Nihon University, one of the best Japanese college football programs in history, is abolishing its entire program after the rampant use of marijuana among players. The decision to disband the team is official after a board meeting on Wednesday afternoon, per the Yomiuri Shibun.
“Rampant marijuana use” is relative.
Japan has very strict — and confusing — laws about drugs, including cannabis, so it is a big deal when even one player smokes weed. It is an even bigger deal when it involves more than one player, like it does in this instance.
Nihon University is located in the Chiyoda City region of Tokyo and enrolls more than 70,000 students. The school’s American football team was founded 83 years ago and is considered to be a powerhouse.
The Phoenix, as they are known, won 21 national championships between 1955 and 2017. That is the second most, behind only the KG Fighters. They are the best team in their conference by a large margin.
A significant drug scandal is rocking the program, and the university.
Both Nihon University president Takeo Sakai and vice president Yasuhiro Sawada submitted their resignation on Wednesday. The latter was advised to step down immediately. The former will do so at the end of the current academic year in March.
According to The Mainichi, Sawada turned right around and filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court. He is demanding 10 million yen in damages (about $64,500) on grounds of harassment. The lawsuit claims that the chair of the university’s board of trustees put pressure on him to quit in wake of the ongoing saga surrounding the American football program.
The scandal began in early August.
A general, very broad, timeline is as follows:
- August 5 —
- Police searched the football team’s dormitory in Tokyo.
- A third-year player was arrested for possession of cannabis and an illegal stimulant.
- He was later indicted on charges related to the possession of a stimulant drug.
- Nihon University suspends all football operations.
- August 9 —
- Sawada, the vice president who is currently suing the school, suggested that “if there are multiple arrests, we have to think about abolishing the club.”
- August 10 —
- Nihon University allows football operations to continue, because the entire team should not be punished for the actions of one single player.
- August 22 —
- Suspicions of additional cannabis usage and possession spread like wildfire.
- Police search the football team’s dormitory, again.
- Nihon issued a statement: “This is no longer about individual criminal behavior. Our management and supervisory responsibility as a university has now been called into question.”
- Nihon forms an independent committee to investigate the situation.
- September 2 —
- Nihon suspends all football operations indefinitely.
- The football team’s dorm is closed.
- October (exact dates unknown) —
- A second football player is arrested for buying marijuana.
- The independent committee concludes its investigation and determines that president Sakai, vice president Sawada, and board of trustees chair Mariko Hayashi are blamed for poor governance.
- The third-party committed claims that members of the staff should have known about the drug issue as early as one year prior. It said that “Nihon University officials at all levels tried to downplay a drug use problem before and after the arrest of an American football player.”
- November 23 —
- The Board of Nihon University recommends that Sakai and Sawada resign.
- November 27 —
- A third player is arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Drug and Firearms Control Division for allegedly violating the Special Drug Provisions Act.
An international college football powerhouse no longer exists.
On Nov. 28, Nihon University announced that its American football program will be terminated. A team that won 21 national titles is gone. Just like that!
To make things even crazier, Nihon’s president accused the vice president of violating the country’s cannabis control law back in August. The university was criticized for not reporting its discovery of marijuana fragments and other suspicious drug-related items in the football dorm.
Sakai, the university president, accused Sawada, the vice president, of holding the confiscated items for 12 days. That could subject him to charges under the cannabis control law.
Sawada is currently involved with a lawsuit against the board chair. Insane.
It is unclear if Nihon University plans to consider a return to American football in the future. As of right now, that does not appear to be the case. They have much bigger issues to handle at the moment.