Gav on Sports
By Terry Gavan
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| Greg Walsh is back! Where he belongs. Behind the bench after duking it out against OMHA and Hockey Canada! |
Here’s what we know about Greg Walsh, an erstwhile minor league hockey coach from Peterborough
Greg Walsh runs a NAPA auto parts dealership and boy is his district supervisor happy that Greg loves wearing that NAPA
Talk about an unplanned advertising windfall. Walsh has been wearing that jacket nonstop since he went viral in early December and we are hoping that the NAPA
Who the hell is Greg Walsh?
Greg Walsh has been on the National with Carol MacNeil.
He’s been a featured story on front pages across Canada
Greg is a cause célèbre.
Because Greg Walsh stood up to the jacked-up patriarchal bureaucrats that run minor hockey here in Canada
The Peterborough Minor Hockey association in conjunction with the OMHA and Hockey Canada rules, told him to take a seat in the stands while the hordes of bored governors settled into the decision making process.
Last week the Ontario Minor Hockey Association ruled that Walsh must sit - yes in that walking advertisement that his boss loves so much – in the stands at the Evinrude Arena for the rest of the season.
Refresher course is in order.
Walsh’s suspension came after he forfeited a Nov. 15 game after he heard a player on the opposing team, Austin Trophies, call one of his players, 16-year-old Andrew McCullum, the “N-word” during an on-ice confrontation.
The referee said he did not hear the racial slur. Walsh was punished with an indefinite suspension.
The referee said he did not hear the racial slur. Walsh was punished with an indefinite suspension.
Walsh said he didn’t mind, that it was more important to stand for ethics and on principle. Then the real ruling came down, suspending Walsh for the year.
The OMHA originally said that it had no choice, but to suspend Walsh because it had to follow Hockey Canada
Here’s the rub.
In its ruling the OMHA said that it treated the two infractions – the racist slur and the removal of tem in protest – as two separate actions. A ruling so patently ludicrous that we needn’t comment further.
So the OMHA suspended the offending coach and player three games; and Walsh was nailed to the cross.
It’s bunk, bupkis and balderdash all rolled into the narrow crevice of an organizational noodle befuddled by a collective case of nebulous nepotism.
The move prompted a public outcry across the country.
And guess what?
After both Walsh and McCullum – target of the n-word slur - appeared on national television, the gentle rodents that power the treadmills that run the Borgian brain of the OMHA apparently jogged into action.
They pedaled so mightily over the weekend that the OMHA, in a meeting behind closed doors - presumably to protect a prying public from the loud squeaking of those seldom used treadmills – decided to reverse their decision on Monday.
“It was terminated as of today,” said Richard Ropchan, executive director of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association. “He’s back behind the bench as of today.”
Ropchan said the reversal came after a closed-door board meeting over the weekend.
“I’m not prepared to make any comment on that (the reasons),” he said. “There was a review of the situation via the board and that was the decision.”
I’ve been privy to a few suggestions via CBC and the Toronto Star, who broke the story, that there was more going on behind the scenes than just national outrage.
The CBC morning program on Tuesday suggested that some coaches from across the province were starting to withdraw teams from Peterborough
Nothing will get the OMHA’s attention like a grass roots rebellion. And the possible loss of revenue or heaven forfend, advertising revenue.
I bless all of the coaches who pressured the OMHA with class action, because the suspension of Walsh was hooey when it started and it’s hooey today.
Here’s the thing.
Walsh was near tears on Tuesday because of two words spoken by McCullum in a televised interview. Young Andrew told the interviewer: “I’m sorry.”
That’s right.
The kid who was called the n-word was apologizing on national television.
That moved Walsh and it moved me.
A 16 year old hockey player should never have to apologize for being black.
There’s a lesson here.
Teach your children people.
Teach ‘em well.
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