I mentioned it just briefly the other day, but this time I would like to express exactly how I feel about fighting in hockey. Fighting has no place in hockey, period.
Recently, a game between Niagara Falls Thunder och Duffield Devils, two Canadian teams of eight-year-old players, ended with all the kids fighting each other on the ice. To top it off, the grown-ups were also fighting. I think this incident says a lot about North Americans attitude toward the game, and it worries me. Of course the standard of the game is set by the NHL. What the kids see there is what they will learn to mimic. What worries me even more is when some people comment the incident by saying the eight-year-old kids were lame fighters and that they should learn to fight like ten-year-olds. Obviously, I realize the guy who wrote this in his blog (I won't mention the name of the blog, because I don't want to advertise this moron) is a complete idiot, but it is still alarming to hear that this is a lot of peoples' idea of what hockey should be.
Most people will claim that the fighting element in hockey dates back to the very birth of the game, which is probably true. That, however, doesn't make it right. The same people who worries and complain about the rise in violent crime in society can sit in the stands at a hockey game and cheer on as two or more players are pounding each other bloody. To me that is just crazy. The other night I was watching a game on TV (can't remember what game it was) and there was a fight. I happened to catch a glimpse of a woman behind the plexi who was applauding and cheering her guy on in the fight. She was so into the fight it was kind of scary. Is this how she releases her weekly frustration perhaps?
Hockey is the only non-fighting sport (unlike boxing and martial arts) that have rules for fighting. There are no rules about fighting in soccer, for example. If you fight, which is rare but it happens, you're simply ejected from the game. Players usually don't fight in basketball, baseball or football, because it's not needed. These games are exciting as they are. In my opinion hockey is exciting without fighting. It is a fast and tough game that demands skill, stamina, and teamwork. So why do people in America and Canada go to such great lengths to protect this "part" of the game? I have been told - "You don't understand", which of course is just a bullshit excuse, just like the tradition argument. We have been playing hockey in Sweden for a hundred odd years and fighting has never been a part of it.
The coaches for Niagara Falls Thunder och Duffield Devils were suspended from coaching hockey for three years. I think these people are terrible role models for young players that are setting an awful example of how to not only play the game with respect for the opponent, but also on how to behave in society regardless of hockey. They have proven they are not suitable to coach kids, and they should be banned for life. It is time for people to ask the question whether the entertainment value of fighting is worth sacrificing setting a good example for the kids in a time of so much violence, terror and war. Sports are supposed to be fun. Tough, but fun.
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