If you ask any Canadian what the greatest sport in the world is, you might be hard pressed to find an answer other than hockey. However, as beautiful as the sport is, it can also be very, very ugly at times.
This past weekend, during a Quebec-league game between the Jonquiere Marquis and the Sorel-Tracy Sparrowhawks, forward Francis Verreault-Paul took to the ice with Marquis, skating toward the sin bin to start the third.
The crowd in attendance began raining down a series of racial taunts at the indigenous player, a teammate and his family in an absolutely reprehensible and classless act.
The taunts came following an altercation with two Sorel-Tracy players, who allegedly insulted Verreault-Paul - who is of an indigenous background - leading to the Marquis player striking one of the Sparrowhawks players, resulting in a 4-minute roughing call to end the second frame.
With Verreault-Paul in the box to start the third frame, the situation began to escalate. In order to defuse the hate-fueled and potentially explosive situation, Verreault-Paul was forced to exit the game, in what was a very sad state of affairs. Hockey is supposed to be a sport that is safe for anyone to play. The ignorance on display over the weekend was simply unacceptable.
Verreault-Paul chose to share his story with CBC, in hopes to shine a spotlight on the racially motivated hate that still exists in hockey. Here is the English translation of the story:
Two players from the Sorel-Tracy Sparrowhawks are said to have insulted the native player of the Marquess of Jonquière, Francis Verreault-Paul, during a match on Saturday at the Palais des sports de Jonquière. These words ignited the powder and Francis Verreault-Paul struck a player of the Sparrowhawks.
Francis Verreault-Paul obtained a four-minute punishment for roughness at the start of the third period. Reached on the phone, the Marquis player refused to comment publicly on the incident, but still agreed to give his version of the facts.
According to him, the Sparrowhawks player Marc-André Huot made malicious and insulting remarks by referring to the fact that he is indigenous. He saw this incident as a bullying tactic.
In the second half, another Sparrowhawk player would also have made racist comments.
The insults struck Francis Verreault-Paul to the point that he left the match angry to prevent it from escalating, he said. The player regrets that racist remarks can still be held on the ice. Last February, his teammate Jonathan-Ismaël Diaby and his family were victims of racist comments and gestures.
Jonathan-Ismaël Diaby and his family were victims of racist comments and gestures by spectators, which had caused an uproar.
Both the team and the league are yet to comment on the allegations.
Source: Hockeyfeed.com
