LONDON, UK -Streatham IHC aim to become the first team to use Pride Tape in a competitive fixture this weekend and as a former player and now journalist covering the National Ice Hockey League I was pleased to see the club adopt the idea.
Advert for the game
I have to confess, when I first saw the tape mentioned I thought it looked cool, but was probably another gimmick aimed at making cash with another ‘politically correct’ campaign. We live in a world now where we are constantly bombarded with sanctimonious waffle, especially on Twitter, and I don’t mind admitting I have a cynical mind at times.Tiresome dullards telling you what you can and cannot say, does wear thin at times.
Maybe it’s because I like rainbows (true story), or maybe it was simply because I have a number of gay friends, but I thought I would do a little reading about the Pride Tape and its associated campaigns. I have always believed that a person’s sexuality is their own business and a private matter but what I liked about the ethos behind the tape most, was that it made me think and reflect.
As a straight man I cannot put myself in a gay persons shoes and truly understand what it’s like to suffer from homophobia. When I grew up there was not one openly gay kid at school, nor have I played hockey with anyone who has admitted to being gay. I have to confess I think it would have been almost impossible for someone to do so without taking a kicking, especially in school.
Since 1989 when I first signed up to the under 12 team in Durham until this day, not one person on my hockey team has ever confided he was gay with me or the squad. That is 28 years of non-stop hockey!
I have played with lots of teams and hundreds, probably thousands of hockey players and not one has ever shared the fact they are gay. I guess that’s part of the reasoning behind Pride Tape, but isn’t it astonishing that no one has ever felt comfortable enough to share that they are gay to their team mates in all the teams I have played on? These are guys happy to share personal information in great detail, from STD’s to criminal behaviour, yet being gay is still a taboo.
A Streatham player tests out the tape in training
I don’t know the answers, but it made me sad to think there are gay teens who might feel uncomfortable playing this great sport, or players who realise they are gay in later life and would then feel uncomfortable in a locker room or at an arena. I must have had team mates in that position.
The main message that struck me from the Pride Tape information was the use of language.
It’s not about some clamour for players to ‘come out’ (as I mentioned earlier everyone has their privacy) but more an acknowledgement that there has to be a fair number of gay hockey players at all levels and having words like ‘gay’ and ‘faggot’ flying about the rink in negative aggressive tones isn’t likely to make them feel welcome. Players who don’t fight called ‘fags’ or anyone who may be a little quiet labelled ‘gay’ may not seem a big issue until you stop and think about it.
Why would any hockey player or supporter feel comfortable listening to that, especially if they are gay? And more importantly how would it affect them away from the rink? The ice rink has always been a place of comfort and somewhere to feel welcome and enjoy. That’s what we all love about it. That’s why language matters.
I honestly don’t think these words are regularly used at ice rinks, and hockey players and fans are probably one of the friendliest sets of people you will ever meet. Don’t get me wrong, I know on Sunday that the colourful stick tape on display is a small gesture and also ripe for shaft puns, but if at the very least it makes fans and players consider their language on the ice, in the locker room, in the stands and even outside it will be a worthwhile exercise.
The game between Streatham IHC and Milton Keynes Thunder takes place this Sunday 8 October at Streatham Arena, South London and tickets are available HERE
Contact the author:Â david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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