The Equality Commissioner proposed that the Ice Hockey Federation should apologize, correct practices and pay compensation for discrimination against a junior player and prohibited countermeasures against a junior coach.
According to Urheilu’s information, the Jääkiekkioliitto has rejected the equality commissioner’s reconciliation proposal related to suspected and reported cases of racism in junior hockey games.
Earlier this year, the Commissioner for Equality demanded an explanation of the cases from the Ice Hockey Association.
Last fall, a player of the Lahti Pelicans U13 junior team told his coach at the end of the match that he was the target of a racist insult.
Team coach Juha Sokka told about the incident in the Urheiluhullut program.
Sokka demanded the referees of the match to clarify the situation and ordered his team to the locker room. The game was not completed.
The Ice Hockey Federation banned Soka for three matches and fined Pelicans a thousand euros.
The Commissioner for Equality took a position on the case in January.
– Based on the information provided to the commissioner, the actions of the Jääkieksliitto arise from the assumption of indirect discrimination directed at the player and prohibited countermeasures directed at coach Juha Sokka, the statement stated.
At the same time, the equality commissioner also demanded an investigation into two other cases in which the same junior player from Lahti had faced racist behavior in a hockey match.
The first of these cases was dealt with an opponent on the spot in a tournament. The player’s guardian and the club report the second case to the Ice Hockey Association. The announcement did not lead to any action.
The equality commissioner finally made a settlement proposal in the case, which the junior hockey player in question, his guardian and coach Sokka accepted as reasonable.
The Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation rejected the proposal and referred the case to a law firm.
In the equality commissioner’s presentation, the Jääkieksliiotto should have issued an apology and committed to correcting the practices regarding the referees’ instructions and the development needs of discipline.
According to the settlement proposal, the Ice Hockey Federation should have reimbursed the legal fees of the club and the coach, which were around 5,000 euros. In addition to that, according to Article 27 of the Equality Act, the Ice Hockey Federation should pay 3,000 euros to the junior player for discrimination and 3,000 euros to Juha Soka for prohibited countermeasures.
Sokka told Urheilu that he will take legal action against the Jääkiekkoliitto either alone or together with the equality commissioner.