The NHL has been relatively clean when it comes to the existence of racism, much in part to the fact that the vast majority of athletes in the league are white. Whether it be at the youth level or the NHL, there is no denying the fact that the sport is predominantly white. Through the efforts of grassroots movements and more development programs in urban areas in the NHL's push to target minorities, there has been a young talent entering the league with African American heritage such as Evander Kane, Kyle Okposo, and PK Subban.
Another young, black player who has developed into a very impressive winger is Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers. In his first season with the Flyers organization, Simmonds has recorded career high point totals, but has also faced adversity as a result of his lineage. Since last season, Simmonds has been involved in two instances of racism that led to significant media coverage, with him also noting alleged occurrences aside from the two that were covered in the press.
The first incident that brought plenty of media attention to this problem in sport occurred last season when the Flyers played the Red Wings in London, Ontario in an exhibition game. During a shootout, as Simmonds was approaching the goaltender, a banana peel was thrown onto the ice in Simmonds' direction, in an act to insinuate a common stereotype of African Americans. Fortunately, Simmonds handled the situation professionally, stating that such an occurrence, while unfortunate, is expected. In an interview after the game, Simmonds said "I guess it's something I obviously have to deal with - being a black player playing in a predominantly white sport. I've grown a lot playing in this league and throughout my whole life. I'm not going to dwell on that, it's over with now" (Custance, 2011).
As if one act of racism against a player wasn't enough, just yesterday Simmonds had to deal with more disrespectful fan behavior. Playing for a Czech Republic team due to the current NHL lockout, Simmonds was showered with racial taunts following a fight with an opponent of the home team. The fans of the Czech team Chomotov began chanting "opice" following the fight, which translates to "monkey" in english. Simmonds was unaware of what the chanting meant until following the game when teammate Chris Stewart (also African American), informed him of the translation.
Apologies were made on behalf of the Red Wings and Chomotov organizations immediately following both incidents. London Mayor Joe Fontana apologized to Simmonds on behalf of the city, stating "it was a stupid and mindless act by one individual, however, it reflects badly on the entire community." Chomotov general manager Jaroslav Veverka also issued an apology following the incident on Sunday, saying "it was embarrassing, pathetic, and small" (Allen, 2012).
While these apologies are a small step in the recovery process, they are still no reason to ignore the fact that these racist incidents have occurred. A sport such as hockey has been fortunate enough to have very few isolated incidents of racism, but we see it quite often in sports such as football and baseball where organizations are more diverse. Sport, as anywhere, is no place for racism. Hopefully these incidents that have arisen in just one season will open the eyes of not just NHL fans, but also fans of all sports, and change the way some fans view the athletes. We should be applauding their athleticism and performance, not holding their heritage and skin color against them.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/7007219/fan-throws-banana-philadelphia-flyers-winger-wayne-simmonds
http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2012/10/29/nhl-wayne-simmonds-racial-incident/1666947/
Unfortunately, fans tend to be against change as a whole. With hockey being such a predominately white sport for so long I did not expect the fans to accept the change with open arms. In know way am I saying these acts are acceptable. I think they are pathetic and hopefully the NHL can extinguish them before they ever occur in a game. It is good for a sport to push onto the minority because there will be a growth in the talent and a bigger pool of talent to pool from. I am impressed with the how professional Simmonds handled both situations but he should never have to worry about being put in them in the first place.
ReplyDeleteMike Frank
Those were great examples of racism in hockey. And as you said, hockey is predominately made up of white players. The old stereotype of black hockey players were that they were just enforcers and were on the team just to fight. Players like Mike Grier, Peter Worrell, and Donald Brashear were examples of this stereotype. But players like Grant Fuhr and Jarome Iginla showed that this is not always true. These guys paved the way for black players in todays game. Now the NHL is filled with skilled black players who are not on the ice to fight. Examples of this are Wayne Simmons, P.K. Subban, Dustin Byfuglien, and Evander Kane. These players are highly respectable and are key examples of the game changing and removing any past stereotypes of black hockey players.
ReplyDeleteWithout having specific statistics to reference, I would say that the prevalence of black players in professional hockey has risen signifigantly in the past decade or so. As previously mentioned, players like Simmonds and Subban have followed in the footsteps of players like Jerome Iginla to become stars in the league. I think that the number of black players will continue to rise as more and more young black people adopt the sport of hockey after seeing others have success in the NHL. I know Simmonds is active in the Philadelphia communities and personally goes into black communities to encourage them to try the sport. This is a very positive thing and I'm sure it will lead to others doing the same and increasing the relevance of black athletes in hockey.
ReplyDelete- Marc Rodriguez