Hockey, and its fans, need to do a lot more to combat racism
When it comes to matters of inclusion, hockey has come a long way since Willie O’Ree became the first black player in the NHL in 1958, but a couple of ugly incidents in St-Jérôme indicate there’s still work to be done. The first occurred last weekend during a Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey game between the Marquis de Jonquière and the hometown Pétroliers du Nord. The trouble started late in the second period when Jonquière player Jonathan-Ismaël Diaby took a high-sticking penalty. As Diaby, who is black, skated to the penalty box, a number of fans yelled at him and several used the N-word. One fan leaned over the glass, mimicked the actions of a monkey and showed Diaby a picture of a baboon on his phone. At the same time, Diaby’s parents were subjected to abuse as they sat in the stands. A video of the incident shows the parents being jostled by a crowd as they attempted to leave the arena. Three days later, there was another incident in St-Jérôme. This involved racial taunts hurled at a black player by parents during a game between two of the top high school teams in the province. The reaction to these incidents was predictable. There was condemnation from the powers that be and promises that measures would be taken to prevent trouble in the future. But the pressing question is why these incidents are allowed to take place. There were close to 500 spectators at the LNAH game and nobody seemed concerned enough to chastise the miscreants. Nor was there any response from the security on site. Nobody was asked to leave and only two spectators, including the jerk with the phone, were barred from the arena after the fact. It would be easy to dismiss these events as isolated incidents, the irrational actions of a handful of ignorant people. But this is 2019 and we should have evolved beyond such behaviour. The reality is that bigotry still exists. There isn’t a black hockey player in the NHL who hasn’t heard the N-word on the ice or from fans. Players should be judged on their performance, their work ethic, their talent and not on the colour of their skin. When P.K. Subban scored the winning goal in a playoff against the Bruins in 2014, Boston fans had a right to be upset with him, but they had no right to spew the hate-filled racial invective that filled the twittersphere. Revisionist history: February was Black History Month and the National Hockey League chimed in with lots of appearances by Hockey Hall of Famer O’Ree, who is the ambassador for the league’s Hockey is for Everyone program. It’s an admirable program and O’Ree is an enthusiastic and articulate spokesman for the game. The NHL used its website to chronicle the accomplishment of black players throughout the month and accorded special recognition to O’Ree, women’s hockey pioneer Angela James and Grant Fuhr, the first black player selected for the Hall of Fame. But there are a couple of misconceptions and one glaring omission in the NHL’s historical look at black athletes. O’Ree deserves credit for being the first black NHL player, no mean feat at a time when there were only six teams. He had a long professional career, but he was limited to 45 games in two NHL seasons. Comparisons have been made with Jackie Robinson, who broke the colour barrier in major league baseball, but there are some differences. Robinson was a star at the highest level and there was a steady parade of black players into the majors after his debut in 1947. O’Ree was a very good minor-leaguer and, after he played his first NHL game, it was another 16 years before Mike Marson became the NHL’s second black player. While the number of black players in the NHL has risen steadily over the years, there is an economic barrier that limits participation for youngsters regardless of colour. The cost of equipment, travel, summer camps and specialty coaching has put hockey out of the reach for many families. While the NHL and the NHLPA, with its Goals and Dreams program, have encouraged participation in underserved communities, the majority of black players — like their white counterparts — are from solidly middle-class backgrounds. I also wish that the NHL’s lookback included some mention of Herb Carnegie, who could have — and should have — been the first black player in the NHL. O’Ree mentioned him in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, but the NHL has ignored him, perhaps because he was a victim of an era when colour mattered. Conn Smythe, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, recognized Carnegie’s talent, but also felt the NHL wasn’t ready for a black player during the early 1940s. Smythe allegedly said he would pay $10,000 to anyone who could make Carnegie white. Carnegie was a three-time MVP in the Quebec Senior League during the 1940s and skated alongside Jean Béliveau for three seasons with the Quebec Aces. He later started a youth program and his Future Aces even made an appearance in two Spider-Man comic books.