Hockey Diversity Alliance slams NHL/NHLPA announcement of Player Inclusion Coalition

[tarheelhockey]

Honestly all the HDA seems to do is cause problems and release statements when they disagree with something.

Have they even done anything on their own yet?

Per the press release, it seems they have been doing grassroots work:

"We've partnered with community organizations that make the game accessible to those long excluded. We've worked hand-in-hand with Youth Employment Services (YES) to find support and employment for volunteers. We've worked alongside the RISE Academy to to assist young people who fall behind with online credits and require tutoring.

"We at the HDA don't just lend our names to initiatives but also make a sincere effort to establish our presence in young people's lives. We directly engage them in the game, make them comfortable in their surroundings and help build their confidence. We work on the ground with them, take them to NHL and AHL games, to the Hockey Hall of Fame and to cultural activities that celebrate diversity.

"Last winter, 230 BIPOC youths from at-risk/underserved communities skated and played with equipment provided by HDA; coaching and ice time was provided and fully funded by the HDA. Through its membership and sponsors, the HDA has underwritten ball-hockey equipment for 240 young people. Both ice and ball hockey programs are part of the HDA Grassroots Original Hockey League (GOHL). Additionally, we worked with Sportsnet to create a three-part educational program directed to young audience previously overlooked."


I hadn't heard about a single one of these activities until this press release. Their activities are pretty much ignored by the media as far as I can tell -- unless they release a controversial statement, in which case the media swarms and they get ripped apart as a "grift" etc.

 

[Sol]

What are we upset about this time?

 

[rynryn]

i am extremely cynical when it comes to anything the NHL does at league or team level. Zero doubt this is motivated purely for PR reasons; if it's just lip service with no action it's worse than doing nothing but if there's actual action to go along with the posturing then i find it less objectionable.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

All is good. That's the problem, nobody can grift when everything is good, we need things to be upset about, things to call racist, then these groups can grift and attempt to coerce change towards their own values.


And nobody was ever excluded from this game, we had women leagues and different ethnic teams in the 1800's. We had Metis is the NHL in the 1920's, asian and Native and black players in the super-duper racist 1950's. One of the most beloved players of the past 20 years was a black guy named Jerome, who by his own admission had never faced an iota of prejudice in hockey, either growing up or in the pros. Hockey has never excluded, if you want it, it's there for you. If there are individuals in the game that are problematic than the problem is with the individual, not the game, and fans don't want to be coerced or shamed into accepting a BS notion that this game, which to Canadians mind you is a part of our culture, needs fixing - especially by those with an agenda and a script.

This is a straight up ignorant post that’s unaware of the players who were excluded because of their race.

Hockey has full on excluded no matter how much you want to over look it. Just a complete white wash of what hockey is. But that’s your motto.

I’d recommend reading a few books from former players who were minorities. Because maybe you’d actually concede that hockey HAS excluded people and racism has been rampant.

 

[Pink Mist]

All is good. That's the problem, nobody can grift when everything is good, we need things to be upset about, things to call racist, then these groups can grift and attempt to coerce change towards their own values.


And nobody was ever excluded from this game, we had women leagues and different ethnic teams in the 1800's. We had Metis is the NHL in the 1920's, asian and Native and black players in the super-duper racist 1950's. One of the most beloved players of the past 20 years was a black guy named Jerome, who by his own admission had never faced an iota of prejudice in hockey, either growing up or in the pros. Hockey has never excluded, if you want it, it's there for you. If there are individuals in the game that are problematic than the problem is with the individual, not the game, and fans don't want to be coerced or shamed into accepting a BS notion that this game, which to Canadians mind you is a part of our culture, needs fixing - especially by those with an agenda and a script.

Yikes. If you don't think hockey has had a history of exclusion you are clearly ignorant of the sports history. Just because the NHL didnt have an explicit policy of exclusion and discrimination doesnt mean that discrimination didnt occur and still occurs today.

Hell, the NHL used to exclude Europeans up until the 1970s and 80s thinking they were inferior to good ol' North American boys.

 

[DJJones]

huh, weird that the NHL doesn't want to work with these guys that just publicly shit on them haha

Guessing that just reaffirmed their decision.

 

[tailfins]

This is a straight up ignorant post that’s unaware of the players who were excluded because of their race.

Hockey has full on excluded no matter how much you want to over look it. Just a complete white wash of what hockey is. But that’s your motto.

I’d recommend reading a few books from former players who were minorities. Because maybe you’d actually concede that hockey HAS excluded people and racism has been rampant.

That person should also learn how to spell Jarome. Always a sign of respect when they can’t even bother to get your name right.

 

[kook10]

Am I missing something? It only seems logical that the NHLPA would be involved, as opposed to an antagonistic outside body. It seems to me a positive thing to coopt good ideas and work through the union to get things done. Nobody wants another jersey fiasco.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Am I missing something? It only seems logical that the NHLPA would be involved, as opposed to an antagonistic outside body. It seems to me a positive thing to coopt good ideas and work through the union to get things done. Nobody wants another jersey fiasco.

No, you’re not missing anything, you’re hitting it right on the head. They’re saying precisely that the NHL wants to work with a partner which will enhance their marketing angle while they do superficial “awareness” level work which maintains the status quo in substance.

You couldn’t have said it better — nobody wants another jersey fiasco. Really think about what that means in substance, and you’ll understand HDA’s beef.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Things will evolve spontaneously with, in particular, the emergence of Asian-American and Hispano-American players from recent immigration. In the Brick Invitational, we see a lot of them.

Just people looking to get high-paying bullshit jobs.

The speech does not take into account a reality: the NHL is a world sports league and not strictly the North American civil society. If the players who win on the ice are Swedes, Czechs or Russians, that's how it is.

These are virtually invisible in organizations. Kekalainen is the only European to be G.M.

The absence of women on the ice is an evidence of nature.

I am afraid that NHL will be forced in a few years to follow the same path as SA Rugby : to apply racist and discriminatory policies in the name of the fight against discrimination.

The double standard with the NBA and the NFL, which are increasingly homogeneous leagues around a minority, and who are presented as examples of diversity is inconsistent too.

Patrik Allvin is also a GM.

Pretty sure he'd a GM and Rutherford is president.

But yeah, very small amount.

 

[Zach716]

No, you’re not missing anything, you’re hitting it right on the head. They’re saying precisely that the NHL wants to work with a partner which will enhance their marketing angle while they do superficial “awareness” level work which maintains the status quo in substance.

You couldn’t have said it better — nobody wants another jersey fiasco. Really think about what that means in substance, and you’ll understand HDA’s beef.

I’m genuinely curious, not being facetious, how you can say this without seeing how it actually plays out. There can be many reasons they weren’t interested in partnering, including both public information and private conversations that led to this.

 

[Buffdog]

The problems are with the organization. This is like saying you want to fix a car with a broken transmission without fixing or replacing the transmission.

No, it's like telling a mechanic you don't trust that you're going to fix your own transmission

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Appeals to acceptance, representation, and diversity tend to be more difficult than appeals towards hate or maintaining the status quo. It’s an unfortunate reality. Creating a utopia? Tough. Burning it all down? Easy.

 

[sxvnert]

The grift that keeps on giving

 

[kook10]

No, you’re not missing anything, you’re hitting it right on the head. They’re saying precisely that the NHL wants to work with a partner which will enhance their marketing angle while they do superficial “awareness” level work which maintains the status quo in substance.

You couldn’t have said it better — nobody wants another jersey fiasco. Really think about what that means in substance, and you’ll understand HDA’s beef.

Really there should be room for both entities. The Players Association needs to be on board for anything at the arena though, but there is plenty of outreach that can be done without them, with the help of third parties like the HDA.

 

[Devonator]

Hilarious!!!

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Wasn't this the group that wanted 100million and demanded the NHL change the blue line to black?

Surprised they weren't picked for this!

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

The NHL doesn't want to work with the HDA. How are you supposed to address systems racism/bigotry in the NHL...if you're not allowed to identify it?

It's pretty transparent the NHL wants its own D&I initiative for PR purposes, that they can control (and not have to actually do anything).

I'm skeptical that the HDA is making a huge impact, but the NHL-sponsored version will certainly be useless.

Exactly. I can understand the HDA being pissed. This looks very much looks like the NHL creating an HDA-lite that they can control.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I’m genuinely curious, not being facetious, how you can say this without seeing how it actually plays out. There can be many reasons they weren’t interested in partnering, including both public information and private conversations that led to this.

To put it simply, I don’t see any past history of activism by the NHLPA which would lead me to believe they’re competent to lead an initiative like this. I do see a past history of talking a big game about various subjects while doing nothing of substance to make a difference about them.

At the end of the day, the PA is a union which does union things. This whole topic is off-mission for them, and they have no particular incentive to push the owners on this matter. So they’re a perfect partner for the NHL, if the NHL wants a cheap marketing boost without doing any real work to change the status quo.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

It’s easy to mock these guys, and their approach invites mockery as it seems to be inflammatory at every turn.

That said… they’re kind of right about what they’re saying.

As I said in my previous post, I can understand why the organization is pissed. They get rejected by the NHL and then attempted to be replaced by the NHL version.

I don't think their approach is intentionally inflammatory as much as it's not sugarcoating things, which is often how things regarding race have to be presented to even be heard.

Look at how dismissive half the posts in this thread are.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Really there should be room for both entities. The Players Association needs to be on board for anything at the arena though, but there is plenty of outreach that can be done without them, with the help of third parties like the HDA.

There's going to have to be because the NHL is never going to work with the HDA. That should be okay with how pure the motives are of the HDA.

To put it simply, I don’t see any past history of activism by the NHLPA which would lead me to believe they’re competent to lead an initiative like this. I do see a past history of talking a big game about various subjects while doing nothing of substance to make a difference about them.

At the end of the day, the PA is a union which does union things. This whole topic is off-mission for them, and they have no particular incentive to push the owners on this matter. So they’re a perfect partner for the NHL, if the NHL wants a cheap marketing boost without doing any real work to change the status quo.

What is the status quo?

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Everyone knows the NHL is an old boys club...and hockey in general. Try playing in the GTA without connections, and whoa boy, is it hard. A lot of things do need to change in the game.

At the same time, it's way too easy these days for grifters to use progressive buzz words an causes to get their hands on the green. HDA is a perfect example of that.

 

[Super Hans]

Lol, this is like the Wounded Warriors Project getting mad about the VA getting better funding.

 

[tarheelhockey]

What is the status quo?

The current state of affairs.

*gestures at our surroundings*

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Both want the title. Neither will do a dammed thing to actually make a proper difference.