Anthony Duclair speaks up against the ban on Pride products by NHL!
In the USA, the NHL is the fifth-most popular sports league. Why does it lag behind? Canadian ice hockey player, Anthony Duclair feels that this issue is due to the league’s regressive behavior and action.
Anthony Duclair on NHL
A Statista survey has shown that in the USA, the NHL is not as popular as the NFL, NBA, MLB, or MLS. It comes after them and is thus, the fifth-most popular sports league. Canadian ice hockey player, Anthony Duclair, interviewed with San Jose Hockey Now and stated:
“Moves like this have contributed to the NHL’s slow growth among American audiences.”
He added:
“That’s why the NBA, NFL, leagues like that, they’re always growing year after year, always getting new fans, new viewership,”
Anthony was talking about the NHL’s move to ban Pride jerseys and Pride tapes.
Ban on Pride items
The NHL issued a circular to its team players earlier this month. It contained guidelines on how players should dress for theme night parties. The rules state that players have no right to modify their uniforms. Their gear such as helmets, jerseys, tapes, or other equipment cannot be changed for celebrations such as Pride Night or Black History Month.
NHL started Pride initiatives with league partner the You Can Play Project. The latter is a nonprofit organization that supports LGBTQ+ athletes.
But some players such as former Sharks goalie James Reimer had refused to wear pride-themed warm-up jerseys. And now the NHL has done a U-turn on it. You Can Play Project put up a statement that read:
“Making decisions to eradicate our visibility in hockey — by eliminating symbols like jerseys and now Pride Tape — immediately stunts the impact of bringing in more diverse fans and players into the sport,”
Will players comply with new rules?
Some ice hockey players such as Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Laughton refuse to follow the new rules. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“You’ll probably see me with the Pride Tape on that night. It’s not going to affect the way I go about it. If they want to say something, they can, but it’s not going to make a difference on what I do every night for the Pride community,”
Anthony said:
“It sucks that [Pride jerseys are] not going to be part of the league moving forward,”
“It’s a little weird to me, a little puzzling to me.”
He considers it a harmful and regressive move. He added:
“For me, you’re also banning Black History Month. I think we’re taking a step backwards, to be honest,”
In the past, Anthony, 28 had spoken about how he faced racism as a Black player in ice hockey which is a predominantly white sport.
A 2022 NHL survey revealed that 83.6% of the league’s workforce identified themselves as white whereas only 3.7% identified themselves as Black. Anthony had spoken about childhood racism in the 2022 documentary Black Ice. He was nine or ten years old at that time. He narrated in the film:
“Before the game, for some reason, there was opposing teams’ parents in the hallway, two or three of them. They were making monkey noises and calling me the N-bomb,”
Short bio on Anthony Duclair
Anthony Duclair is a Canadian ice hockey player. More bio…
