Red skate diaries

LONDON, UK – Feeling like I had walked on to the set of nineties semi erotica TV show ‘The Red Shoe Diaries’, I stood open mouthed as I saw a pretty young woman emerge from the steamy showers. She dried her hair with a towel leaving her petit naked body exposed to the cold locker room air. I clutched my towel tight to hide my modesty and wondered what the hell was going on. Is this what happens in London? For a teenager from County Durham this was certainly an awakening and I quickly asked one of my new team mates “Who is that and why is she showering with the team ?” “She is the back up goalie” was the reply from the nonplussed figure stood beside me. In true teenage fashion I struggled to contain my immaturity and therefore excitement and smiled “That’s quality, does she always shower with the lads?” The goalie concerned didn’t disappoint on the ice either as she was more than a match for her male competition on the Alexandra Palace ice. Since those days, there have been a number of woman goalies in the English National League who have excelled. Kelly Herring in particular stands out for me as she performed consistently well for Peterborough for a number of years. I know a number of women hockey players and they are all so enthusiastic about hockey it puts my interest to shame. This season has seen a marked increase in the number of women breaking in to the league, and they aren’t just having pucks fired at them. Unsurprisingly it is in the diverse capital of London where women hockey players are getting their chance. Many will say that this has happened as a matter of circumstance rather than any real push by clubs to give women roster spots. This would be hard to argue, especially in the case of Lee Valley Lions who have Ruth Catrell in goal and more remarkably Angela Taylor playing as a forward. The Lions recruitment problems are well documented this season and they took a short bench to their opening game of the season in Gosport. They need all the help they can get and it represents a great opportunity for GB international Taylor in particular, to dispel any scepticism of women skaters competing in the Senior leagues. She certainly has a good pedigree having played in the NCAA for New Hampshire (the highest level of women’s hockey in the States) and I hear from her team mates she can certainly handle herself. I would certainly be intrigued to see her face off against someone like Bristol’s Richie Hargreaves.

This leads nicely to the other side of the debate regarding women skaters in the ENL. The machismo and moral code of the male team mates and opposition is a big issue in my opinion. It throws up a number of scenarios that would really test supporters, players and ultimately the EIHA. Due to the raising of standards of the ENL we now have a number of players who are hard skating, hard hitting and paid a wage to win games in front of ticket buying supporters. Big strong 6ft plus men like Oxford’s Grant Bailey, Invicta’s Peter Vaisenan and MK’s Mike Knights are fierce competitors and it would be interesting to see how they approached a female opponent. Would they try to take the puck rather than the body and possibly short change their supporters and team mates? Would they target her for rough treatment to provoke a response from her team mates in an attempt to draw penalties? Or would they just play with the same intensity as normal? How would the fans and peers react if a male player injured a woman opponent? Would they have a stigma attached as the player ‘who broke a girls arm’, for simply playing their normal game? A more harrowing prospect would be a player killing a pregnant hockey player’s child inadvertently or being suspected of causing a miscarriage. Yes that’s bordering on the extreme but it’s a possibility, but then so is brain damage to any player from a check. All are difficult questions and for a few of them you could easily substitute the same concerns for young or small men players in the league. As a society though we don’t live in an age where men hurting women is accepted even within the parameters of sporting competition. It is certainly discriminating to assume a woman is not capable of looking after herself in physical competition against men, but that’s the consensus of many other sporting organisations and I would guess a sizeable percentage of the general population. My team, the Streatham Redskins have put talented youngster Laura Price on the bench for our opening two games. Both games against two tough teams with some big hitters. In the game against Wightlink Raiders I did ponder what my reaction would be to former Sheffield Steelers enforcer Jeremy Cornish launching her through the plexi glass, but then he did the same to our teenage defence man Cas Britton and I just saw it as part of the game. In essence there is no difference (aside from 2ft in height and better dress sense on Laura’s part) between Cas and Laura. Genitalia is irrelevant, they both wear the Redskins jersey and thus are players on the team rather than a particular sex. Many lament the introduction of player’s names on hockey jerseys as they say it can highlight individualism over team play. The jersey and the club badge is what is relevant, not the individual inside it. If a woman is good enough and tough enough she should play in the senior leagues. How good would it be if Laura or any other British woman could emulate the famous Hayley Wickenheiser (the first professional woman hockey player who didn’t play in goal) and then bring glory to the GB women’s team? If the ENL could facilitate that and somehow address some of the concerns raised then it would be an achievement the EIHA could rightly be proud of, along with the individual concerned. For the record I only saw the trailer for ‘The Red Shoe Diaries’ and was not a regular viewer.         Thanks for reading and stay safe. Carrsy Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com