Surrey hockey parents outraged at firing of coach who pulled team from ice – BC | 24CA News
Parents of gamers on a Surrey minor hockey workforce are outraged their coach was fired, after they are saying he acted in the most effective pursuits of their youngsters’ psychological well being and wellbeing.
The controversy comes after Brian MacGillvray and his teaching employees pulled his U-11 rep workforce from the ice earlier than the top of the sport, after the gamers reported being the topic of racial slurs.
The majority of the gamers on the workforce are of South Asian heritage.
Justin Sayson, an assistant coach with the workforce and father or mother of one of many gamers, advised Global News the incident befell throughout a event on the Family Day weekend in February, because the squad confronted off towards a workforce from Maple Ridge.
Sayson stated gamers on the opposite workforce started to seek advice from probably the greatest gamers on the Surrey workforce as “banana,” utilizing it as a code phrase for when he was on the ice.
Players with the Surrey workforce then reported listening to opposing gamers additionally utilizing the N-word and the phrase “monkey,” he stated.
“Putting all these things together, we knew it wasn’t just a word anymore, there was some intent, maliciousness behind it, they were trying to intimidate our player,” he stated.
Sayson stated the Surrey coaches first approached the referees in regards to the concern. He stated the officers hadn’t heard the phrases, and had been themselves simply youngsters and unequipped to deal with the state of affairs.
The Surrey coaches say they then tried to lift the problem with the opposing workforce’s coach, MacGillvray advised CKNW’s Jas Johal Show.
“The coaches said that that was their codeword for our player because he was their best player. I stated to him, along with the other coaches on our team, that, you know, that’s like not making them feel good,” he stated.
“I truly believe that there was no, I don’t think that he had any racial intention of being racist. I think that he he made an error in judgment and that it was just more ignorance than than racism. But unfortunately, kids are kids. And it escalated from banana to those other words.”
MacGillvray advised Johal the opposite coach did apologize, however the Surrey teaching employees was left with a tricky determination.
Sayson stated they opted to tug out of the sport and head again to the dressing room relatively than resume the sport.
“We looked back on our bench, our kids were crying, some of the kids had tears in their eyes, super stressful situation for them, they didn’t know if they were doing the right thing bringing it to us, because now the game had been stopped for four or five minutes,” he stated.
“They don’t know how to handle it, kids at nine of 10 don’t have the tools to deal with that type of situation, so for that reason we thought it wasn’t safe for them.”
According to BC Hockey guidelines, if a workforce refuses to take the ice, its head coach faces an automated suspension and investigation.
MacGillvray was in the end suspended for 30 days, which amounted to the rest of the season. But when the suspension was up, he was knowledgeable by Surrey hockey officers he wouldn’t be again subsequent season.
“I received an email stating that they were going to go in a different direction and that my services were no longer needed,” he stated. “They thanked me for the two years that I coach there, and then that was that was all the communication.”
In an announcement, the Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey Association president Nick Davis stated the affiliation was conscious of the allegations, and cooperating with BC Hockey, the Surrey Minor Hockey Association and a third-party investigation course of applied by Hockey Canada.
“We deny allegations that our nine and 10 year old children used racial slurs, or knowingly made comments that could be inferred as racist, to or about the opposing team,” he stated.
“We have completed an internal review and believe that this incident was a misunderstanding. We look forward to the results of the third party investigation.”
The Surrey Minor Hockey Association, in the meantime, advised Global News the choice to let MacGillvray go was unrelated to the incident on the event.
“The two incidences are separate issues,” Surrey Minor Hockey Association president Jeff Shelton stated. “We’re all in support of what Mr. MacGillvray did over the family day long tournament.”
“Now, when Surrey Minor looks back on the past season, we bring up concerns and stuff from our membership, and we’re deciding to go another route.”
Shelton stated one concern associated to MacGillvray’s method to participant improvement, and that the affiliation had considerations that some gamers had been usually solely getting just a few shifts per interval.
Sayson stated gamers households are united in calling for the coach’s return, including that MacGillvray had been named coach of the yr within the earlier season.
He stated he nonetheless feels that MacGillvray was let go over the incident.
“The only reason I can think of is he created some problems for the association by getting suspended and they don’t want to deal with that headache, so they’ve swept him under the rug,” he advised Global News.
“Because there is no other reason you wouldn’t bring back a great coach.”
The incident stays underneath investigation by each BC Hockey and Hockey Canada.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
