A young M15 BB hockey player from the Outaouais region says he was the victim of racist remarks on several occasions during the last season and, despite numerous complaints, no sanction was imposed on the offenders, deplores the mother of the young David Godwin, Vicky Deselliers.
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The first incident occurred at the start of the season. During a game of his formation, the Voiliers d’Aylmer, the young David, 14, was treated with the “word in N”. Being confronted with this kind of insult for the first time, the young hockey player and his mother decided to let it pass.
However, a similar incident happened again on November 23, against the same team. During the traditional handshake at the end of a match, a youngster from the opposing team again addressed David with the same “N-word”, in addition to “jackal”.
“In the car after the game, he was shaking,” recalls the mother. With the help of the team’s coach, Sean Hunter, an official complaint is filed with the Aylmer Hockey Association.
In the email sent to the Association, the situation is explained in addition to adding the testimony of a teammate of David who was close to him during the handshake and who heard the racist remarks directed at his place.
“We were then told that they couldn’t do anything because no one heard,” explains the mother. However, a young man heard it but it seems that it must come from the referee. At the same time, young people are not stupid. They will not treat another player of n** in front of a referee”, criticizes Mme Deselliers.
The drop too much
Nothing is done then. On March 8, the Voiliers again face the team against which the first two incidents occurred.
During the match, the player who had made the racist remarks on November 23, then launched to David Godwin: “patina criss de n ***”.
The young man has had enough. He moves towards the player in question and serves him a dangerous and illegal check.
David is then ejected from the meeting.
After the match, the manager of the opposing team goes to the Sailboats locker room. He wants to warn them: the father of the player hit illegally by David Godwin is waiting outside the arena.
“He had been expelled because he had argued with the coach of his son’s team. The manager came to see us to tell us to wait before going out because he was afraid that the father would do something dangerous.
Worried, the coach of the Sailboats therefore decides to get all the players of his team out of the back door of the arena, in order to avoid overflows.
“I can tell you that it’s not pleasant to have to take your son out the back door of the arena because a father wants to beat him.”
Another futile complaint
Mme Deselliers and coach Hunter are therefore preparing another complaint to the Aylmer Hockey Association.
“More substantial actions are required. I would like this file to be settled by Hockey Outaouais and Hockey Quebec. This is the third time this has happened. There is a culture of inappropriate behavior in our league towards minorities and people whose last name gives a clue to their origins. The situation is escalating and it becomes serious when adults are waiting outside the arena to attack young people”, can we read in the email sent to the Association and of which The newspaper got a copy.
Again, nothing. Joined by The newspaperthe vice-president of Hockey Aylmer, Grégoire Meguerditchian explained that this type of complaint is automatically sent to Hockey Outaouais and its president Pierre Montreuil.
The newspaper made several attempts to speak with him on Wednesday but at press time he had still not returned our calls.
The day before, on Radio-Canada, he had mentioned: “we understand that [le jeu] is intense, but you have to understand that they are young people. Sometimes it has no direct link to racism, it’s just to provoke. But even if it’s just provocation, it’s not acceptable. There are reprisals at all times for this kind of attitude.
However, no sanction had been imposed following the incidents of March 8, except against David Godwin for his illegal check.
As if that wasn’t enough already, on March 23, the two teams faced off again. During this match, no racist remarks were sent to David, but the father of the youngster, who was viciously struck on March 8, made his own again. During a penalty to Godwin, he headed to the penalty box to shout at the 14-year-old.
Scalded, Mme Deselliers therefore decided to go to the media to tell his story. On Saturday, for the first time since the start of the season, league officials attended the game between the Aylmer Voiliers and the team against which the majority of the incidents occurred. The young man who made the comments was not there, nor was his father.
“It was a show. A referee even said he heard a discriminatory remark during the match but there was only a note written on the score sheet, not even a penalty. Nobody wants to lose face.”
Reference-www.journaldequebec.com