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The history of the Coloured Hockey League

By
Peak Web
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photo of two players taking a faceoff.
PHOTO: Markus Spiske / Unsplash

By: Simran Sarai, Sports Writer

There’s hardly a Canadian who hasn’t heard of the National Hockey League (NHL) at least once in their life. Hockey, the official winter sport of Canada, has been popular across the country since its inception in the late 1800’s.

As sports do, the early rise of hockey brought communities and movements together. Perhaps one of the most important of these hockey movements was the Coloured Hockey League (CHL) — an all-Black hockey league founded by four Nova Scotian men in 1895. Despite its popularity and importance in the pursuit of equality for Black Canadians, many current-day Canadians might know little about the league and its significance. 

In 1895, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Pastor James Borden, James A.R. Kinney, James Robinson, and Henry Sylvester Williams founded the CHL. The group of four men were not just athletes or hockey players. They were some of the first Black academics in Nova Scotia. They were pathfinders.

When the CHL first started, teams could only play games between the end of January and the beginning of March. This was because Black players were not allowed to access the arena rinks until players on white teams had completed their season. There were no formal rules introduced to the game: just what was written in the Bible. This lack of “structured” play established CHL players to be talented, fast, and hard-hitting. They were the innovators of moves, like the slapshot, that would later be replicated by other professional hockey teams.

The CHL initially started as three teams. However, it grew fast, and quickly added teams from across the province. By the early 1900’s, the league was composed of 12+ teams with thousands of community members attending championship games. However, the league would face near extinction in the 1910’s, after conflict between government officials in Nova Scotia and families from Africville erupted when the government attempted to take over land in Africville. Africville was a vibrant African-Canadian community near Halifax, Nova Scotia, that would end up being razed by Halifax’s municipal government in the 1960’s. 

The CHL would make one final comeback in the 1920’s, but with a smaller number of teams competing, and a largely new makeup of players. The league would face significant challenges, including a lack of media coverage as the NHL gained notoriety, and constant turnover in players and leagues. The arrival of the Second World War would ultimately bring the league to a close. However, Black community members across Canada continued their push for equality across the nation, and the storied legacy of the CHL and contributing communities like Africville would be immortalized.

Thanks to the work of four Black men, a plethora of Black athletes have staked their claim in the NHL. Including Willie O’Ree, the first Black NHL player, and Grant Fuhr, the first Black player to be introduced into the Hockey Hall of Fame. As we reflect on the accomplishments and contributions of the trailblazers of the CHL, let’s not forget that the path towards meaningful inclusion and support in athletics is still long ahead. Honouring the work done by the founders and players of the CHL to break down social and racial injustice in Canada is just the first stepping stone in the continued pursuit of equity for all.

Toxic hockey culture starts young

By
Peak Web
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0
illustration of a sports fan opening a closet full of sports jerseys.
ILLUSTRATION: Andrea Choi / The Peak

By: Isabella Urbani, Sports Editor

In the last few years, it’s become progressively harder to call myself a hockey fan. My love for the game hasn’t faltered. If anything, it’s becoming a more significant part of my life. Checking statistics of National Hockey League (NHL) players went from something I did for fun to something I made a career out of.

Deep down, I’ve always known that hockey culture wasn’t as flawless as the rose-tinted glass it was portrayed through. I heard the distressing stories my brothers would tell about what goes on in the locker room, behind closed doors. Stealing gear and defacing it; hazing younger players; and appointing a team “bitch” to take the brunt of team duties. Everyone knows what’s going on — organizations, coaches, players — but no one says anything. 

From the moment you play hockey, you’re told that your team is your family. Through thick and thin, you stick by the family. No matter how bad it gets. If that means looking the other way, so be it. It’s “do or die,” just like the USA Hockey chant. 

Growing up, this is what hockey players hear. I’ve seen it firsthand. Some of the worst people on a hockey team are the best players. All their life, they’ve been told they’re the “man.” They aren’t told no. Their skill gives them a free pass to do whatever they want, and they’re told the team will take care of the rest. This is the foundation on which hockey culture lies. 

The true problems with hockey culture didn’t really start to get peeled back until last season when years upon years of secrets, buried accusations, and player testimonials were revealed. Hockey Canada, the same organization that supplied my earliest childhood memories of some of the best Canadian hockey players, had taken out a separate fund to silence sexual assault survivors from speaking out for years. 

Kyle Beach, a former NHL player for the Chicago Blackhawks, sued the Blackhawks in 2021 after he was sexually assaulted by the team’s former assistant coach during his time with the organization in 2010. Multiple players on the team knew, according to Beach. One of them being captain Jonathan Toews. Toews said he thought the firing of the assistant coach was how the organization was dealing with the situation. He had heard of rumours about what had transpired, but didn’t intervene at the time.

As players put on fronts, so do organizations. The NHL prides itself on being inclusive for all, establishing the tagline, “Hockey is for Everyone.” This would be the case if “everyone” was a straight, cisgender white man. The NHL is homophobic. Ivan Provorov, a hockey player for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, skipped the team’s warm-up skate just last month to avoid wearing the team’s pride jerseys. He cited his religious beliefs as a Russian Orthodox Christian for refusing to put on the sweater. A day later, the NHL released a statement that said “Players are free to decide which initiatives to support.” 

Being a member or ally of the LGBTQIA2S+ community isn’t an agenda you can subscribe to. Discerning sexual orientation as an initiative, much like religion, is incredibly belittling. What message does this send Luke Prokop who became the first openly gay professional NHL athlete just two years ago? Prokop took to social media to voice his displeasure about the situation saying, “There is a place for every [LGBTQIA2S+] athlete, fan, coach, [and] team staff member in sports, as well as hockey. We shall continue to break barriers and show hockey is truly for everyone. I can’t wait to see what our community and allies are capable of in the future.” 

Knowing what I know, seeing what I’ve seen, how can I take the bitter with the sweet? I can’t help but be reminded of the toxicity embedded in hockey as I tell people about the sport I love the most in the world. 

How can I support the young athletes chosen by Hockey Canada without supporting the organization? It’s something I’ve thought long and hard about. I decided to draw a line in the sand.

 The NHL has hardly backed up their words with meaningful actions. They’ll say that hockey is inclusive, but make sure to cater to homophobic athletes and fans to keep their revenue moving. I, however, can decide not to support them. In the grand scheme of things, it won’t do much. But the more people refuse to let the NHL get away with it, the more the culture will have to change. Hockey Canada’s board of directors only resigned once some of the organization’s biggest sponsors pulled out, including Bell Media. 

While the actions of companies may pressure teams to make changes faster, the real change needs to come from the type of culture encouraged in locker rooms. Fredrik Backman, who wrote a book about how a small Swedish City relies on its junior hockey team, says that “culture is as much about what we encourage as what we actually permit.

“It takes a culture of silence to foster a culture of winning.” 

Change the narrative. Stop putting athletes on a pedestal and letting what they bring to the ice justify the way they behave in their private lives. 

Celebrity biopics are exploitative

By
Peak Web
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0
dimly lit shot of a large movie camera
PHOTO: Jeremy Yap / Unsplash

By: Petra Chase, Arts & Culture Editor

Content warning: mentions of death and substance use.

You don’t need to look too far to notice the recent rise in biopics about dead celebrities. A biopic is a film that portrays the life of a real person, usually a famous person. From Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) to Elvis (2022), and Blonde (2022), films that dramatize the tragic lives and deaths of famous icons are appearing at the box office one after another. It makes sense why these films are so popular; there’s a sense of nostalgia and mysticism attached to cultural icons who died young in the public eye. Biopics offer a glimpse into the “darker” parts of their lives, satisfying our curiosity. But is there a way to dramatize someone’s tragedy without turning them into a spectacle? And is it right to tell someone else’s story when they’re not around anymore?

Entertainment media exploits celebrities by scrutinizing them relentlessly and portraying them in a patronizing light to the public. The media especially tends to target women, creating a narrative that blames them for being objectified. Britney Spears, a well-known example, endured constant harassment from paparazzi determined to provoke her mental state. Photos taken of her in private moments were broadcast to the world without her consent. Images of her shaving her head in defiance became a defining viral pop-culture moment in tabloids — one she never consented to share publicly. 

When I heard about the planned Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black, I was livid. Similar to Spears, Winehouse was aggressively bullied by the press throughout her career. She struggled with addiction and substance use throughout her life. As writer Bailey Agbai pointed out, the media used this to their advantage by deliberately publicizing “unflattering pictures and sensationalized stories” of Winehouse to tarnish her image through a misogynistic lens. Making a biopic about her life would mean that her tragedies, which were captured without her consent, will be broadcast to a large audience once again.

There’s a fine line between portraying someone’s life on film for educational purposes and the sensationalization of their story for the sole purpose of entertainment. Biopics tend to cross that line. Blonde’s depiction of Marilyn Monroe was criticized for fetishizing her and reducing her experiences to the trauma she endured. Whoopi Goldberg is setting an example by legally preventing a biopic of her life from ever happening. I wonder if Winehouse or Monroe would’ve done the same if they were given the chance. 

No one should tell someone else’s life story when their motive involves box office returns and film awards. Consent is crucial in this process. For example, the 1997 Selena biopic was released two years after the death of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla Pérez, and was produced in “close collaboration” with her family. The film genuinely immortalized her legacy in a way that few biopics have managed to achieve. 

When looking at how celebrities have no control over their own representation in the media while they’re alive, it isn’t a far stretch to say that there’s little difference when they’re no longer here. Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in 2011 at 27 years old. While we can’t say the media is to blame for her death, the way that she was constantly treated like a public spectacle to gawk at undoubtedly contributed to her difficult life. 

Others might argue that biopics have the potential to re-tell someone’s story in a more positive fashion than was portrayed during that person’s life. This is what Back to Black is claiming to set out to do. But even though the director claims to be determined to portray “what Amy saw,” I think there comes a point when a celebrity’s story should rest in peace with them. Winehouse made it clear she didn’t want to be in the public eye. “If I could give it all back just to walk down the street with no hassle, I would,” she said in one of her final conversations. Her legacy lives in her music; her words and her voice carries her truth. Maybe it’s time to take a step back from biopics. We need to respect the lives and deaths of influential people. 

Fitness should be fueled by the desire for health, not beauty standards

By
Peak Web
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a rack of large dumbbells in a gym
PHOTO: Aria Amirmoini / The Peak

By: Sangwoong Choi, SFU Student

Content warning: mentions of eating disorders.

On Instagram and TikTok, workout videos are uploaded countless times a day. If you watch enough of them, you’ll likely feel guilty about your body image. It’s almost as if countless influencers are looking at you through the screen saying, “Hey, you there! How long are you going to sit there on your phone without exercising?” Many of these posts advance a narrow set of standards our bodies should supposedly meet to be accepted in society. This is damaging, and it prevents us from accepting our individuality.

With the recent rise of discussions about self-care and well-being, exercise has become a piece of content for views. Workout videos have turned into a means of being validated by others for your appearance. Displaying your so-called “perfect” body online is a common yet superficial way of being recognized. Ironically, the purpose of the self-care movement, which began with the genuine purpose of living well and accepting yourself, gradually shifted into a means of satisfying the desire to be admired.

People on social media make posts reflect the ever-changing standards held by countless users. If you build your body according to this set manual, your posts will be promoted on social media. In many fitness spaces, it doesn’t matter whether or not you are truly healthy. There’s this idea that it’s okay to wear yourself down as long as others view you as beautiful. The meaning of health has been extinguished, and it’s been replaced with showmanship and competition. Furthermore, a problematic belief is rising that says someone with a socially acceptable body is hardworking and diligent, while others are “unmotivated.” 

This phenomenon explains why social media’s diet culture has fallen into an obsession with fitness. People preoccupy their minds with attempts to meet other people’s standards, and as a result often suffer from eating disorders. Studies have found a relationship between too much high-intensity exercise and poor health: the stress of excessive exercise can harm one’s body and lead to serious health complications. You can see how dangerous the results of fitness obsession can be when an activity that should be health-oriented turns into an act to please others, rather than yourself. Fitness culture often overlooks the fact that everyone’s body is different, regardless of how often they may work out. 

It’s natural for us humans, who use digital technology daily, to participate in society and engage in exchanges through social media. After all, adapting to a new environment is an important part of human survival. However, the idea that we need to accept body standards that exclude or bring down members of society puts our health and well-beings at risk. We need to reconsider what the goals of exercise should be. Mental and physical health should be what drives our desire to be active, not superficial concepts of beauty.

Only you can define yourself — not others. Our lives are not meant to be lived according to other people’s body standards. Life is a long process of getting to know yourself. When you look in the mirror, you must have a conversation with yourself to find the true “you,” which others can’t discover on your behalf. Instagram is not a mirror. Starting today, rather than looking at others, why not find your true beauty that is different from others through conversation with yourself?

SFU alum named Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25

By
Peak Web
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0
This is a photo of a trail on Burnaby Mountain. The trail is a dirt path with think forest on either side
PHOTO: Amirul Anirban / The Peak

By: Nathaniel Tok, SFU Student

Mireta Strandberg-Salmon, a recent graduate of SFU’s resource and environmental management and dialogue program was recently awarded as a Top 25 Environmentalists under 25. The Peak reached out to Strandberg-Salmon to discuss her time at SFU and what the award means to her.

Strandberg-Salmon began her environmental work in high school working to stop the sales of single-use plastic water bottles from vending machines. She continued her initiative at SFU while leading the Ban the Bottle campaign. The group successfully helped to set up 168 water bottle refill stations across the SFU campuses and campaigned for the phasing out of bottled drinks and single-use plastic in 2021. This prevents the sale of roughly 260,000 plastic bottles at SFU each year.

“Pursuing environmental studies and an environmental career didn’t necessarily feel like a choice to me, given the state of the planet,” said Strandberg-Salmon. However, she noted the work “hasn’t felt like a burden. I love working with others to develop and implement creative solutions for a healthy, just, and resilient future for all.”

Strandberg-Salmon said, “My proudest environmental accomplishment to date is the role I played in catalysing a grassroots campaign to scale up my original Ban the Bottle campaign.” Her Ban the Bottle campaign has now expanded to 12 highschools in Greater Vancouver and in the United States. 

Today, Strandberg-Salmon works in the environment sector both personally and professionally. As a policy analyst in the circular economy team at Environment and Climate Change Canada within the Canadian federal government, she does research and policy analysis to advance the circular economy in Canada. A circular economy is described by the Canadian government as an economy where nothing becomes waste by reusing, refurbishing, and recycling the goods we consume.

As a board director with the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, she works to create climate justice and environmental protection at both the local and national scale through behaviour change and community cohesion. Strandberg-Salmon said being involved in both national and local contexts excites her the most. She is able to learn about implementing change at different scales. 

Mireta credits her education at SFU with shaping her into the activist she is today. She said, “My education gave me the confidence and belief that I can, and should, challenge the status quo.” She noted she is learning “the facilitation skills necessary to bring people together to build a better future.

“The key to being successful is really to find a network of support [ . . . ] People want to get involved, they want to help, and they will be drawn into your vision for a better future.”

For her, winning the Top 25 award is a reminder to celebrate the small wins because every step forward can lead to a big future impact. “It’s easy to feel like your work is just a drop in the bucket, but this type of recognition is really important, validating, and encouraging for youth.”

Ultimately, Strandberg-Salmon believes activism is for everyone. As Strandberg-Salmon said, everyone can create their own impact with their “3 Vs: voice, voting, and volunteer.” She added, “Your voice is one of the most powerful tools you have to make a difference, so use it as much as you can in whatever form speaks to you.”

This week at SFU

By
Peak Web
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photo of an SFU swimmer in the water.
PHOTO: Wilson Wong / SFU Athletics

By: Isabella Urbani, Sports Editor

Home Games 

Thursday, February 9: men’s basketball vs Alaska Anchorage at 7:00 p.m. (West Gym)

  • 0–1 against Alaska Anchorage this season

Saturday, February 11: men’s basketball vs Alaska Fairbanks at 7:00 p.m. (West Gym)

  • Senior Night
  • Last home game of the season 

Saturday, February 11: hockey vs Okanagan Lakers at 3:45 p.m. (Bill Copeland Sports Centre)

  • Won last game 7–0 against the Logan Lake Miners 
  • Forward Nick Wicks leads the team with 35 points (13G, 22A) in 14 games

Away Games

Thursday, February 9: women’s basketball vs Saint Martin’s (Wash.) at 5:15 p.m. 

Friday, February 10 until Saturday, February 11: track and field at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. respectively 

  • Second meet this season at Boston University

Friday, February 10 until Saturday, February 11: track and field at Husky Invitational (all day)

  • Third trip to the University of Washington this season

Saturday, February 11: women’s basketball vs Western Oregon at 2:00 p.m. 

  • Won 70–44 against Western Oregon earlier this season 
  • SFU guard Grace Killins racked up a game-high 20 points, while going 6–8 at the three-point line

Saturday, February 11 until Sunday, February 12: swimming at UVIC for the BC Tri-meet (all day)

  • Last meet ahead of the NCAA Division II Championships 

Sunday, February 12: women’s wrestling at Menlo Open (all day)

  • Final competition before championships

Sports quiz: Weird Olympic facts

By
Peak Web
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photo of the Olympic rings.
PHOTO: Bryan Turner / The Peak

By: Simran Sarai, Sports Writer

1.) True or false: The Tokyo 2020 Men’s High Jump competition had two winners take home gold medals instead of one. 

Answer: True. Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi both took home gold medals after completing matching jumps of 2.37 m. 

2.) What do the Olympic rings symbolize?

  1. A rainbow
  2. They’re just colourful circles
  3. Unity, peace, and the never-ending spirit of competition
  4. Five continents

Answer: d. Five continents. No, you’re not the only one who’s scratching their head. While there are now seven continents, the five rings symbolize what was considered the five continents in 1912: Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas. 

3.) Which Olympic games were the first to ensure women could compete in all sports, and had a woman competitor representing each nation? 

  1. 1956
  2. 2012
  3. 1998
  4. 2004

Answer: b. 2012. Only 11 years ago!

4.) What happened to Olympians who broke rules in ancient Greece? 

  1. They had to undertake corporal punishment 
  2. They were exiled from their homes 
  3. Bending the rules was encouraged and demonstrated intelligence 
  4. There were no rules to break

Answer: a. Corporal punishment. The ancient Greeks appointed “Alytes,” who were in charge of catching cheating athletes and giving out their punishments. Fines were even given out to competitors who withdrew from competitions.

5.) True or false: During the 2000 Olympics in Australia, 450,000 condoms were ordered for athletes.

Answer: False. 450,000 condoms is actually the number ordered by Brazilian officials for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In comparison, the Australians ordered a tame 90,000 condoms 16 years earlier.

6.) How much water is there in an Olympic-sized swimming pool? (Measured in bathtubs).

  1. 50,000 bathtubs
  2. 8,200 bathtubs
  3. 500 bathtubs
  4. 15,547 bathtubs

Answer: b. 8,200 bathtubs. Where would you even put 8,200 bathtubs?!

7.) True or false: McDonald’s ran out of hamburger buns during the 1984 LA Olympics after offering free meals each time a US athlete made the podium. 

Answer: True. This is probably the single most likely reason why the price of a McDonald’s Big Mac has increased 40% over the years. 

8.) Which of these items was adopted as a marketing scheme after being introduced during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia? 

  1. Mascots 
  2. Slogans 
  3. Inflatables 
  4. Spokespeople 

Answer: c. Inflatables. Yes, the same inflatables at car dealerships first appeared at the 1996 Olympics, and were inspired by the “loose” dancing style of the inventors’ country, Trinidad and Tobago.

SFU women’s basketball star Emma Kramer named chair of NCAA Division II SAAC

By
Peak Web
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photo of Emma Kramer during practice.
PHOTO: Ethan Cairns / SFU Athletics

By: Simran Sarai, Sports Writer

SFU women’s basketball standout Emma Kramer was named chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in early January. 

The honour is just another accomplishment for the senior guard, who takes on the role as she prepares to both graduate and complete her collegiate basketball career later this spring. Kramer sat down with The Peak in the midst of her, now even busier, schedule to chat about her new role as chair and what the future holds for her.

The athlete from Surrey, BC has been involved in student athlete advocacy work long before her appointment to chair. She spent years on the SFU student athlete committee and as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) representative to the NCAA Division II student-athlete committee. In the leadup to the election — which occurs annually in January at the NCAA convention — Kramer received multiple nominations for the position of chair from her peers on the Division II committee.

“It was a little bit shocking, but I’m very happy and blessed to have that opportunity,” said Kramer.

Kramer embodied the hectic back-and-forth schedule of a student athlete on election day in San Antonio, Texas. While the voting period began, Kramer was jetting off to make it back in time for SFU’s next two home games. Her speech was pre-recorded and played to voting members. Kramer found out she beat out the other candidate in the airport, as she grappled with flight delays caused by a system outage.

“I had no idea I had won until I got text messages from people, who were like, ‘Can you answer your phone?’ And I was like, ‘No I can’t, I don’t have an American data plan — I’m in airplane mode!’”

In her new role as chair of the NCAA Division II student athlete council, Kramer will act as the leadership team’s spokesperson and media representative. She will represent all Division II NCAA student athletes, and holds voting rights which allow her to contribute to decisions on convention legislation. Additionally, she will facilitate the leadership teams’ meetings and ensure their goals for the year are met.

Kramer and her team will focus on three big high-priority areas identified by the student-athlete representatives making up the Division II committee. 

“Student-athlete mental health, which is a huge one; life after the game, so focusing on the transition from moving out of being a student athlete; and then diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

In addition to completing her studies in criminology and psychology, come late spring, Kramer will also be bidding farewell to SFU’s women’s basketball program. Kramer will continue to serve out the remainder of her NCAA Division II chair term and SFU student athlete committee president role until the end of 2023. 

Although one chapter of her life is drawing to a close, Kramer reflects on how the last few years of her work as a part of student athlete committees have created opportunities for her future. 

“One of my favourite parts of being on [the] national SAAC has been the connections I’ve made,” said Kramer. “It’s a great way to kind of get a foot in the door if I want to continue to work in athletics once I’m done.” 

Letter to a Legend: Markus Naslund and Nathan MacKinnon

By
Peak Web
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photo of a father and daughter watching a hockey game live together.
ILLUSTRATION: Hailey Gil / The Peak

By: Izzy Cheung, SFU Student

Markus Naslund, 

My dad was the reason I first learned about you. He was like you, in a way, having been brought to Vancouver at a young age and not knowing anyone in the area. Unlike you, he hadn’t been traded here for Alex Stojanov. Being a recent immigrant from Kowloon, Hong Kong, money wasn’t the easiest to come by for him. The only way my dad could show support for the Canucks was by searching for jerseys to wear at the Salvation Army on East Hastings. 

He didn’t go to his first Canucks game until he was in his 20s. It was a matchup between the hometown team and prolific skater Petr Klima of the Detroit Red Wings. What stood out to my dad the most wasn’t the game itself, but the fact that he could hear Klima’s skates cutting into the ice like a saw into wood for the first time in person.

My dad was the biggest fan of the 1994 Canucks team, and in his eyes, the greatest Canuck of all time was Trevor Linden. Not to say that he didn’t like you — after all, he still has your jersey — but it was only natural that his favourite player was the captain of his favourite era of Canucks hockey. In a way, he passed the habit of gravitating towards captains onto me. 

I was born during the league domination of the West Coast Express: the line of you, Brendan Morrison, and Todd Bertuzzi. When I look back, even though my memories of watching you play are fuzzy, I can still visualize myself sitting in my dad’s lap, on those maroon, movie-theatre-style arena seats, with that orca-blimp floating over our heads. 

Through middle and high school, I became less interested in sports, and geared towards arts instead. By this time, the more my dad’s role increased within his company’s branch, the harder it became to find ways to bond with him. 

This is where you came in. 

Nathan MacKinnon, 

In grade 11, I tried watching hockey again; although, by “watching,” I mean only attempting to memorize players and their jersey numbers. Hockey as a sport didn’t really fascinate me until the night the Colorado Avalanche rolled into town. I use “rolled” as the verb knowing fully well that, after the Canucks climbed back to tie that game 4–4, you completely “rolled” over us in overtime. 

My dad and I watched, starstruck, as you blew past all three Canucks, before burying the puck top-shelf against Thatcher Demko. Not to sound dramatic, but you earned both my dad and I’s respect that night. Since then, the Avalanche have become a team I follow and support closely, and I’ve even managed to get my dad to do the same. Although, he was already a big fan of Colorado Avalanche royalty and hometown kid Joe Sakic, so it wasn’t hard to get him on board.

At the end of the day, I don’t think the beauty of sports is MacKinnon’s single-handed overtime efforts to win his team the game, nor was it Naslund’s deke to bury the puck behind Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph. The beauty of sports is the relationships they can create and sustain. Hockey helped me grow closer to my dad, and brought me to this wonderful position where I can write about the things I enjoy.

The second class treatment of first class athletes

By
Peak Web
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photo of a Black women tennis athlete holding a racket.
PHOTO: Library of Congress / Unsplash

By: Saije Rusimovici, Staff Writer

In March 2019, members of the US women’s national soccer team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against their umbrella organization, US Soccer. The lawsuit speaks to the systemic underpaying of US women soccer players in comparison to the US men’s team. While it’s hard to estimate the total amount of money national soccer players make because of how much of a role bonuses play, women generally receive less money even when they do better in soccer competitions. 

Case in point, the US women’s soccer team received $4 million for their Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup victory, while the winner’s on the men’s side, France, pocketed $38 million. 

The lawsuit was eventually settled this past year with the plaintiffs, the US women’s team, receiving a settlement of $24 million — $2 million of which will go towards growing the game.

This issue is not only relevant in soccer. Daryl Watts is set to become the highest paid women’s hockey player after signing a $150,000 contract with the Toronto Six for next season. However, this pales in comparison to the minimum  $750,000 a  men’s hockey player can make in the National Hockey League. 

Women have to fight for recognition and the right to equal pay in primarily men-dominated sports. According to The Columbia Journal of Law and The Arts, one of the biggest reasons cited for the pay gap between men and women in professional sports is the tendency for men’s sports to generate more revenue. Author Shannon Morgan says this comes as a result of “consumer preferences rooted in internalized racism, sexism, and homophobia.”  

Because women are expected to conform to stereotypical norms, women who play sports are defying hegemonic femininity by not participating in the roles society expects them to play.

From a marketing perspective, the cards are also stacked against women athletes. A professor at Purdue University found that women’s sports television coverage hasn’t changed in the past 30 years. In fact, in 2019, the lowest women’s sports media coverage was reported at 5%.

Overall, there’s less accommodation for women’s sports. Teams in the Women’s National Basketball Association play 36 games, while 82 games are played during a National Basketball association season. While an NCAA golf regional was cancelled for the women due to poor conditions, the National Hockey League somehow manages to run outdoor games in California? 

Not to mention the added barriers faced by women athletes with intersecting identities such as being transgender or racialized. To this day, many sports still bar trangender women from competition. In 2021, “sports governing body” World Rugby prohibited trans women from participating in rugby at the Olympics or at the women’s World Rugby Cup. Transgender inclusion in sports is a highly politicized matter in the US. There are currently 18 states that have “enacted laws or issued statewide rules” to prevent transgender women from competing professionally in a women’s division. 

Sports physicist Joanna Harper says there’s no merit to the argument that “extra” testosterone levels present in transgender women helps to enhance performance. In fact, 94% of transgender women who underwent hormone therapy in a recent study had the same level of testosterone as cisgender women. Scientific American reported that hormone fluctuations from cisgender women athletes can also cause them to have “male” testosterone levels — and that high testosterone isn’t a good indicator of how an athlete will perform. 

There’s also a fair share of hate directed towards BIPOC athletes. In 2021, a women’s hockey player on the Red Deer Polytechnic team called an Indigenous member of the opposing team a racial slur. While the Red Deer player was required to participate in diversity workshops, they weren’t suspended from their team. In another case, multiple Black women on the Duke volleyball team were harassed, threatened, and called racial slurs by a fan at an away game versus Brigham Young. 

These are systemic issues that don’t end at equal pay for athletes. At the heart of this issue is the long overdue need to take actual steps to rework a system that has created inherent biases surrounding women, LGBTQIA2S+, and BIPOC athletes in sports. 

Organizations may refuse to acknowledge the ridiculous discrepancies in quality of treatment, but even athletes are calling it out, and highlighting the importance of athlete allyship. Will Allen, former National Football League player, says that it’s necessary for men’s athletes to “be advocates” in the fight for equal pay and gender equality. “It is important that women are not only paid equal, but treated with equal respect,” Allen told CNBC, with the hope that his daughter has a future where she will be “treated fairly.”

While this is appreciated, the reality is change refuses to happen for women athletes fighting on their own behalf. They have been for years, and while improvements have been made, it’s still minuscule to the luxuries afforded in income, media coverage, and treatment for white cisgender men. 

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024