[ARETE] Sport and Society - Another Harassment Story

[richard crepeau]

SPORT AND SOCIETY FOR ARETE

NOVEMBER 4, 2021



“The breakdown of authority is often cited as a primary
cause of the disorders and maladies of society. The loss of
respect for authority is seen as a major problem among the
young. Many of the symbols of authority have lost their
luster and seem no longer capable of evoking deference.

“Authority, most would agree, is a good thing, a necessary
thing. As with all good things, however, in excess or when
abused, it can have horrible consequences. At times authority abused can be the most exploitative of forces and approaches the essence of evil.

“Last week out of the world of hockey came a story of the
abuse of authority so disgusting and so evil that it seems,

as it often does in all cases like it, nearly beyond belief.”

These words appeared in a “Sport and Society” column in January of 1997 following revelations in a Canadian court room that Graham James, a junior league coach, had sexually abused one of his players, Sheldon Kennedy 300 times over a six-year period. This began when Kennedy was fourteen and James was in his early thirties.

What followed were more reports of a similar nature, and six months later in a study sponsored by Sport Canada, twenty per cent of the athletes responding said that they had been sexually
involved with their coaches while playing on national teams.
Nearly ten per cent experienced "forced sexual intercourse," and
some of them were under the age of sixteen when it happened.

Two years ago, a nearly identical report came out of youth football in Britain. Two weeks ago, the subject of this column was the sexual harassment and abuse scandal in the National Women’s Soccer League(NWSL).

Over the past ten days, reports from an investigation of the Chicago Blackhawk organization in the National Hockey League produced yet another set of revelations involving sexual assault of a young player by someone in authority. In this case the player was Kyle Beach, a 20-year-old player, and the team video coach Brad Aldrich. Beach was an extra player travelling with the team as a potential substitute in case of injury. He reported the assault to the team during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Team authorities, including the President of Hockey Operations and the Head Coach, were part of the group that decided they needed to sit on the allegations until after the playoffs so as not to disrupt or distract the team from the business at hand.

Aldridge would be let go at the end of the season after taking part in the Stanley Cup celebrations and collecting his bonus money. Aldrich was also charged with making a sexual advance on a team interim at the celebration. He went on to several jobs in hockey over the next few years. In Michigan in 2016 while volunteering in a youth hockey program he was convicted of assaulting a 16-year-old player.

As for Beach, a former number one draft choice, his confidence was shattered, his NHL career ended, and he went to Europe to play. He was dubbed a failure in the NHL.

The Chicago Blackhawks have been fined $2 million by the NHL, or one million less than the New Jersey Devils were fined for breaking the salary cap. Gary Bettman said that what happened was “inappropriate and wrong on every level” and that the Blackhawks had not handled the case well. Bettman told reporters, “This certainly has been a disturbing week for all of us.”

It has indeed been a disturbing week for all of us in hockey fandom as well.

There have been numerous other allegations and cases across the NHL over the past decade. All of this has happened on Gary Bettman’s watch as Commissioner. He assumed the post in February of 1993, and case after case has crossed his desk. He has become a master at hand wringing and passing the responsibility to others. As Commissioner, the buck should stop at Bettman’s desk. Seldom has that happened.

The culture of hockey with its emphasis on toughness and manliness, its ingrained misogyny and racism, and its rigid power lines offers an atmosphere with considerable potential for abuse. Coaches wielding unchecked and total power over young men makes change an extremely difficult thing. It certainly takes much more than a Commissioner who is averse to active leadership. Sheldon Kennedy and others have made this point again and again.

Beyond these factors, most abuse cases across Sportsworld are marked by institutional failure. In most recent cases, one common characteristic has been present. Organizations and power figures within organizations have moved quickly to protect the organization, not the victim. In the Blackhawk scandal and the NWSL scandal, when charges of abuse were made, leaders moved to suppress or hide the charges from public view. Blackhawk leadership worried about the team and its quest for the Stanley Cup.

Other common reactions have been: to quietly deal with the accusations after some time has passed; a failure to report cases to the leagues; and to allow the abuser to move on to another position without any warning to potential employers. Quite often, as in the Aldrich case, the pattern of behavior is repeated.

Has anything changed? Well, yes.

Lorreta Merritt, a Canadian lawyer who represents abuse victims says that when she started taking these cases thirty years ago, the accusers were not believed. That has changed, as has been demonstrated in the response to Kyle Beach. This may not be great progress, but it is something; although, it should be noted that no apologies came to Beach from the Blackhawk organization or those involved in the cover-up of Aldrich’s behavior.

On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don’t have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.



Copyright 2021 by Richard C. Crepeau

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ku.edu/pipermail/sport_literature_association/attachments/20211105/5e794d8f/attachment-0001.html>