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So, is hockey an inherently violent sport? Body checks, slams and fisticuffs are seen as a part of the sport, players like Tie Domi are fondly remembered for being more than abrasive and creating something unpredictable and albeit sometimes gruesome, entertaining scenes in the rink.
On September 1st, teams Jokerit and HIFK from the Finnish Hockey League participated in a cup event for the European Trophy. As a whole, 277 minutes of penalties were given during the match, with the most gruesome bout happening when Jokerit player Semir Ben-Amor checked HIFK captain Ville Peltonen from behind and began brutally beating him without remorse, hitting him six times without gloves and continuing to bang his head into the ice even after Peltonen had lost consciousness in the middle of the attack.
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This caused quite an uproar in Finland, and now 1½ weeks later, the FHL has given Ben-Amor, among others, an 18-game suspension, along with fines to both teams' fight participants and coaches. However, there is still an ongoing police investigation, the first in nearly 20 years about a hockey fight - Ben-Amor is being suspected of brutal assault and the Jokerit coaches are suspected of instigating Ben-Amor to attack the other team's captain, which is an even more serious charge under Finnish law. This is still inconclusive, but while the attacker claims it was "a spontaneous reaction" in the rink, there is much evidence that claims otherwise, saying that the coaches had urged and consulted the player to "kill the fucker". The coaches received only 8 games suspension as a result.
Now, what bothers me about this thing. I don't dislike hockey, used to like playing and watching as a kid, waking up on Saturday mornings to watch Hockey Night, but in the end it just wasn't for me. What bothers me in this particular fight, which you can see in the video is not the attack itself or the brutality of it, but the crowd. Look at them. All those people standing up, cheering, clapping their hands, oh yeah, a fight! Finally some action! Shouting on in applause at someone else getting their fucking head bashed in ice. Is this really modern day gladiator shit or what? It disgusts me to see so many people yell "kill the bitch", "rip his head off" and other banalities. A lot of people say that a part of hockey is aggression because of the close drills, hits and the constant adrenaline. Then why the hell don't we see so many fights breaking out in other high-level contact sports? It's just an embedded culture of violence that I don't think really belongs in the rink.
