The decline of Canadian society can be directly attributed to a decreasing registration in minor hockey. The barometer of the collective community conscience can be directly traced to the number of kids in the area that play minor Hockey. In Toronto, it is reported that some hockey centres are seeing a decrease in registration by 10% per year. Some are dangerously close to folding. Some of the once mighty hockey areas, are gone. Case in point, Wexford Hockey in Scarborough. Gone....not enough interest anymore.
Tell you what, youth crime in Scarborough sure isn’t gone.
(Ironically, girls Hockey registration is growing exponentially. Maybe they know something we don’t, are smarter...or likely....both.)
Canada has become so diverse that we have no convergent interests anymore, which range from community, to sports, to education. We are all living in these insular cocoons, trying to preserve our vision of what the community is. The same can largely be said for our great country. The collective love of anything, is all but gone.
I am not saying that there is anything wrong with Cricket, Soccer, or Basketball. (a Canadian Dr. James Naismith invented the game of Basketball....the Americans HATE to be reminded of that.) What disturbs me is that we are starting to discard Hockey, in favour of other activities and viewing Hockey as “not as sophisticated”. Canadians have somehow, for some reason adopted this notion, that if it is from another country, it must be better.
I was speaking to a Soccer parent once about Hockey and their comment was “it’s too rough..” They scrunched their face up in disgust, as if the game was some type of social leper. It made me sad. Soccer is a great game, but is not devoid of “roughness”. Soccer has its hooligans...and you mean to tell me that parents have never gotten out of hand at a Soccer game? Ya, right....
It seems, at least to me, that everything that is collectively Canadian is endangered. People laugh at, or ridicule what we hold dear...some want to change the foundation of what we are, in favour of a new, fragmented self serving vision. Change is good, evolution is necessary...but do we have to abandon, or discard our history?
I think that it’s important to change with the new, but that it is even more important to recognize, preserve and respect history. Our history and identity (whether you like it or not) in recent times is largely identified with Hockey. Hockey transcends race, politics, gender and should be a part of our collective ideals.
Canada was largely united by Hockey and.... radio. Foster Hewitt once held the attention of almost all of Canada, as he broadcasted NHL games over the radio from the gondola at Maple Leaf Gardens. If you want a great read and some insight as to just how powerful the influence of Hockey was in uniting Canada, read his biography. A game...has done more to bring us together than any force in Canadian history.
So, stick up for Hockey. Play Hockey. Defend Hockey. Hockey is sophisticated, it’s fun and it’s who we are.
Hockey is Canada....and so it should be.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2008/11/30/7580846-sun.html
No comments:
Post a Comment