Queen’s Athletics announced Wednesday that Gaels football will forfeit their first two games of the OUA season after dressing an academically ineligible player.

Queen’s 39-30 victory over Windsor on Sept. 1 will now be recorded as a 1-0 loss for the Gaels. The team’s home loss to Ottawa on Sept. 6 will remain a 37-30 defeat, dropping the Gaels’ record to 0-2 on the year.

Athletics found the player to be academically ineligible and self-reported the infraction to the CIS. In addition to forfeiting the games, played earlier in September against the Windsor Lancers and Ottawa Gee-Gees, the player in question won’t be allowed to play for the remainder of the season.

Director of Athletics and Recreation Leslie Dal Cin said the infraction stems from the player’s academic standing from the 2013-14 school year. She declined to identify the ineligible player.

Dal Cin added that the player was flagged in Athletics’ academic eligibility tracking report earlier this week, and their ineligibility was confirmed today.

“We verified the situation today and have spoken with everybody,” she said. “We submitted our self-disclosure to the CIS today and followed through with all the necessary submissions and notifications that we need to make.”

In addition to forfeiting the two games the player participated in, Athletics will be under CIS probation for two years. The case will be examined by a CIS panel, which could place further sanctions on the football program, including fines.

Dal Cin said she doesn’t know what sanctions will come from the panel, but added that she thinks they won’t be severe.

“We feel based on the fact of our clean record for 20 years, the fact that we self-reported, the fact that we already determined how the error took place, plus we’ve already done manual checks on everyone else, that there’s not a broader scope here,” she said.

“We’re putting our best case forward and think all those factors will be taken into account by the panel.”

Dal Cin said Athletics’ program for checking academic eligibility is considered one of the best in the country.

“We’re going to be looking into ways – our program is good – but how can we make it even better,” she said. “That will mean we’ll put in additional checks, we’ll put in additional contact points with athletes and coaches along the way. We’ll strengthen an already strong system.”

In addition, Dal Cin said Vice-Provost and Dean of Student Affairs Ann Tierney has started a review of Athletics’ eligibility process.

While the win over Windsor on Sept. 1 will no longer appear in the record book, all statistics in both forfeited games will remain intact, except for those from the ineligible player.

Queen’s next football game is Saturday at Richardson Stadium against the Western Mustangs (1-0).

This story was updated at 7:23 p.m.