If you really want to bring an end to the
increasing violence and anger which is taking the fun out of hockey, all
you have to do is allow fighting! Sound like a bold statement being made
by a person who is out of his mind? Perhaps…but it is definitely
something to think about.
Each year I see more and more players
developing reckless and fearless habits. As soon as they step on the ice
they know that the Rules, Officials, and Equipment are there to protect
them. It is clear that many players have absolutely no respect for their
opponents’ physical or emotional well-being. And every year as we
institute new rules and come up with new safety features in playing
equipment, it is merely giving disrespectful players more incentive to
find ways to become even more violent in an effort to inflict pain on an
opponent.
Hockey administrators and organizations
have been unable to put an end to this growth in the violent trend that
the game has taken on. So perhaps it is time to let another group of
people have an opportunity to see what they can do. That group of people
may very well be the players themselves.
In the "old days" hockey players
had respect for each other. And if a player didn’t have respect for the
physical well-being of his opponents, it wasn’t long before someone on
the other side "beat a little respect into him" with his fists.
The old-timers didn’t whine and complain because the referees failed to
call a penalty on an opponent who slashed him on the head, or who speared
him in the back of the legs. He simply dropped his gloves and gave his
opponent a lesson in respect and fair play. Hockey was fun in the old
days. And fighting was an integral part of the game – not for aggressive
participants who were trying to prove how tough they were – but for
teaching players that the rules were to be obeyed and respect was
important.
Today the rules, the equipment and the
people who are actually trying to improve safety and fair-play are failing
to achieve their goals.
Every team has at least a few players who
think that they are the toughest players in the world. They are the ones
who would try to challenge the entire world to a fight if they could.
However, in reality, most of these players are really nothing more than
cowards who like to make a lot of noise, only as long as they know the
referee and linesmen are there to protect them. Only a select few of these
players are actually able to back up their reckless play with toughness,
and those players usually have enough respect to pick fights with other
players of similar status.
The cowards of hockey know that they can
use the rules and the equipment to protect themselves from being hurt or
punished by the other players. These are the players who will use their
sticks as weapons, and won’t even think of fighting until the Linesmen
get in between him and an opponent. They are the ones who throw punches
over the Linesmen’s shoulders and plainly have no respect for the other
players on the ice.
One of the main duties of a referee is to
ensure the safety of all players, coaches and fans while a game is taking
place. The referee is obligated to protect these reckless and
disrespectful players no matter how much it may upset them to do so, but
hockey leaders should be doing something else about these players instead
of relying on the referee to deal with them.
A lot of armchair hockey experts who played
themselves in the old days would like to see hockey go back to the old
ways of allowing fighting at the Minor Hockey level (at least at the
Bantam and Midget age groups). This would allow the players to police
themselves instead of always relying on the Referee to keep his eye on the
play at all times.
In almost every game played in minor hockey
today, you can see players skate around like they own the ice because they
know that there is no fighting allowed and that even if they do happen to
get into a fight, the equipment, such as the full face-mask will protect
their precious faces from getting bruised and cut up. Something has to be
done about these players and the responsibility of keeping players
accountable for their actions should not only rest with the Referee.
Hockey should give the other players on the ice an opportunity to bring a
little bit of respect back into the game. Fighting is arguably one way to
accomplish this!
For instance, what would you rather see -
two players fight or a player use a stick as a weapon? Most would rather
see two players drop the gloves and swing wildly or wrestle to the ground
for a couple of minutes instead of viciously swinging a stick. In the
average hockey fight, you are lucky if more than two punches actual land
on each other’s faces or helmets. On the other hand, a slash to the
ankle or wrist can put a player out of commission for weeks or even months
with a broken bone. A player knows that he may only sit out one or two
games for a slash to the wrist area and this is fine with them because
they may have injured the other player for months. The punishment
certainly doesn’t fit the crime If fighting were allowed, the player
about to slash an opponent across the wrist in the hopes of injuring him
would think twice if he knew that immediately after slashing this player,
there is a very good chance that he will have to protect himself with his
fists. He will think twice about slashing the opponent.
Most people, including myself, do not like
fighting, yet I am convinced that fighting will bring back some respect
into the game. It is very much like vaccinations for the flu. In order to
protect against a major illness, you have to accept a minor infection. The
end result is a much better "body".
The same is true with the situation today
in hockey. Everyone is trying to eliminate unnecessary violence, and this
is a good objective. However, it is my opinion that if we want to reduce
the overall amount of violence in the game, we may have to introduce a
little bit of violence first.
There is no doubt about it - Fighting is
violence. In a street fight people will get seriously hurt, but in a
hockey fight the Linesmen will only allow two players to fight until one
of the players is unable to protect himself anymore. Then the Linesmen
will split up the two players. Furthermore, as players start to develop
respect for one another they are unlikely to continue to pound on their
opponent when he can no longer protect himself. Once the lesson is taught,
it is time to get up, go to the penalty box and serve the time.
The only time players go out of control in
a fight is when they know they will be kicked out of the game. At that
point they will do everything they can to get in the last punch. In the
O.H.L. players break up from fights easily and quickly because they know
they are only going to the penalty box for five minutes and then they can
come out and play again.
In addition, fighting takes a lot of energy
out of a person and unless you are in tip-top shape, you will not be able
to cause much damage in a fight. Most players at the Minor Hockey Level
are not in tip-top shape. This limits the possible injury to a player who
loses a fight.
Furthermore, do not think for a second that
if fighting was brought back to the Minor Hockey level that all that would
happen is fight after fight. You will have your goal scorers who will not
fight and your fighters who will fight each other. The majority of the
players will not fight because getting punched in the face, although it
does not hurt as much as a slash on the bone, still stings a little bit.
It is my opinion that if fighting was
brought back into minor hockey, especially at the Bantam and Midget
levels, you would definitely see the game of hockey cleaned up. You would
see a lot less violent stick work being done. Of course, there would still
be the usual slash here and there throughout a game but the dirty slashes
or spears behind the legs or on the wrists and ankles would be eliminated.
This is because if a player receives a dirty, vicious slash in the back of
the legs, either he or his enforcer (team fighter) will fight the player
guilty of the slash or spear. The player will realize that he will not be
able to slash or spear an opponent without having to fight his way out of
it.
Let me tell you a true story about a game
which was played last season. The names of the teams are fictitious to
protect the identities of the players.
One of the players from the Leafs was
skating around taunting the players from the Flames during the warm-ups.
The officials knew that the player with the big mouth was really a coward
and would never get into a fight, but he was constantly trying to get
under the skin of his opponents.
Sure enough it wasn’t but two minutes
into the game before this player had his first slashing penalty and he had
the other team already mad at him. The player from the Leafs recognized
which player from the Flames was the best/most talented goal scorer and
this player went right after him. He slashed the Flames star across the
upper arm and then laughed as he was assessed the penalty. As soon as one
of the tough guys from the other Flames came to the defence of his top
goal scorer, the player who had just slashed the goal scorer skated away
and stood behind the referee. He literally stood behind the referee while
the linesmen had to hold back the tough guy from the Flames.
The Leafs player then had the nerve to
argue with the referee about why he did not assess the Flames’ player a
penalty for punching him in the head
The game went smoothly for the next couple
of minutes while this Leafs player was in the penalty box. But as soon as
the penalty had expired and this player was back on the ice, the play
started to get chippy and the Flames players were trying to get some
revenge on the cowardly Leafs player.
The Leafs player got out of the first
period with his life still in tact but half way through the second period,
the Leafs player slashed another Flames player across the shin pad with
enough force to send the Flames player to the ice. Once again the referee
signalled a delayed penalty by raising his arm in the air, but before he
could blow the whistle the Flames’ tough guy was already challenging the
Leafs’ player to a fight.
So, as expected the Leafs’ player kept
backing away until the Linesmen got in between the two players. As soon as
the Linesmen got between the two players, the Leafs’ player actually
threw a punch over one of the Linesman’s shoulders, just narrowly
missing his face.
It was at this point that the referee
yelled out, "Let them Fight!"
The Linesmen backed away from the two
players and now they were left standing toe to toe. No one will forget the
look on the Leaf player’s face when he heard the referee say those
words, "Let them Fight!". He no longer had the protection of the
Linesmen to hide behind and he knew that he was going to get what he had
coming to him.
His face dropped and a look of panic and
fear over took him. It was a look of sheer terror and you could tell that
he finally got the message that he could no longer hide behind the
officials any longer. Just before the Flames player was about to pummel
the Leaf player, the referee told the linesmen to split them up and they
both went to the penalty box for a couple of minutes. Of course the Leaf
player received the extra two minutes for the slash, thus giving the
Flames a power play.
For the rest of the game, the mouthy Leaf
player never touched a Flames’ player
In summary, I personally feel that if
players are going to gain respect for one another then the rules must be
changed to allow a bit of fighting back into the game. We have to get rid
of the cowards who hide behind the rules. Bring back fighting and watch
the stick work disappear.
After all, what do we have to lose? Nothing
else appears to be working and unless something is done soon, our
favourite winter pastime will continue to suffer and the next generation
will find other recreational pursuits instead.
It’s at least something to think about!
