Sexual crimes, including rape, are an elephant in the china shop of hockey culture of such size that no one wants to be released. Even though sexual crimes have undeniably decades of tradition in sports culture, even with the mandate of the sports federations, the subject is kept silent until the very end.
Talking about the subject has been taboo.
However, too much is too much. It is absolutely undeniable that hockey still hasn’t learned its lesson. No, even though we live in the 2020s. As a result, the elephant is loose and the mark in the porcelain shop is accordingly.
As far as Finland is concerned, there is probably no point in recounting the events of recent times. In Canada, the mark is only ugly.
In 2022, it emerged that a then 24-year-old woman accused eight Canadian youth national team players of sexual violence.
The under-20 World Cup gold team had been celebrated in the summer of 2018 in London, Ontario. At the end of the evening, the woman had gone to the hotel room with one of the players, where they were supposed to have sex with the consent of both.
However, according to the woman’s story, seven more players entered the room after this, and they forced the woman to perform sexual acts. The woman is seeking $3.5 million in damages from the Canadian Hockey Association, the Canadian Junior League (CHL) and the players.
Read more: A scandal in Canadian ice hockey – the youth world champions were accused of a sexual crime, the prime minister intervened in the case
Now the London police have ordered the five players to report and appear at London’s main police station. They will likely be charged with sexual crimes.
The names of the players have not been made public, but in the near future, five players who appeared in Canada’s World Youth Championship team in 2018 have been left out of the composition of their current teams.
As ugly and disgusting as all of the above is, to the detriment of the culture of the sport, it is only the tip of the iceberg.
This culture of sexual violence has been maintained with the mandate of the sports association. In Canada, the union’s personnel has been completely changed, many partners have also left, and state subsidies have been frozen after it was discovered that the union had covered up sexual crimes by players between 1989 and 2022 in nine cases for nearly nine million dollars.
Read more: The Canadian puck scandal swells, the settlement money was paid from the union’s coffers – NHL players deny their involvement
The union had its own fund for sexual crime cases. In addition to the nine cases mentioned above, twelve other cases were settled with insurance compensation.
So the way of the house is to commit a sexual offense and then cover it up.
Read more: The management of the Canadian Hockey Association took the final account because of the scandal – even the prime minister demanded that the ice bosses resign
Halifax police also have a case related to Canada’s junior national team on their desk. In it, more than half a dozen of the team’s players are suspected of sexually assaulting a woman during the Junior World Championships in 2003. According to TSN’s reports, there is a video recording of the incident.
It’s unbelievable how the Canadian Hockey Association has let things slide this far. It has been 21 years since the Halifax incident, five years since the London incident. The association has not been able to investigate cases, sanction players, nothing has been done once and for all. Apparently, some of the accused have even played in the NHL until now as if nothing had happened.
Only ruthless investigative journalism in Canada has offered the victim a chance to get justice. The cases have only been brought under investigation through the media.
This speaks of a sick sport culture in every way, where sexual harassment and abuse of women has been an acceptable norm for decades. In the end, is it any wonder that the new generations have grown up crooked in this culture?
And what does or does the NHL say?
For two years, the NHL, known as an immoral organization, has practically not uttered a word on the subject. Suspected sex offenders have been allowed to appear in rinks as other men as role models for all children.
Just a few minutes after the media reported on Wednesday night that the London police had ordered the players to surrender, the NHL came out with a statement about the league’s expansion talks to Salt Lake City.
Coincidence?
Under no circumstances. In the case of the NHL, it is clear that the announcement was intended to silence the unpleasant news. This is how the NHL works, for which business puts everything before humanity and humanity. It has no morals or ethics to protect its cash flow and the players who feed it.
The operation is harsh, arrogant and underestimates the intelligence of consumers with incredible arrogance.
Wednesday night offered another hard hit to the side of hockey culture. The public image of ice hockey is starting to get a little dented after the last few years. Few decent people admit it, few want to talk about it or be talked about, but the truth and repeated scandals do not burn even in fire.
For too long, ice hockey has been run by corrupt guys, real men, who you wouldn’t imagine would fall into the acts that are constantly coming to light. The surface is hard and shiny, but the bottom got wet decades ago and is therefore moldy.
In the case of the London case, the presumption of innocence must of course be remembered. A person is innocent until proven otherwise.
All in all, there is too much crap on the table for too long – especially in Canada.
Now Finland should finally take a spoon into a beautiful hand, because hope always rests in children and young people. The pain points of the ice hockey culture must be openly admitted and we must start raising children more and more strongly in a new healthy culture. We don’t have it yet, and if anyone claims otherwise, they are either lying to themselves or to their listeners.