The National Hockey League (NHL) announced that it will ban pride jerseys and other special cause-based uniforms from its rinks.
This comes after several players refused to wear the rainbow jerseys during warm-ups – and amid a greater societal pushback against gender ideology.
In an interview with Sportsnet, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the decision was made following a board of governors meeting.
“I’ve suggested that it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warmups because it’s become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs, in some form or another, host nights in honour of various groups or causes.” said Bettman.
“We’d rather they continue to get the appropriate attention that they deserve and not be a distraction.”
Bettman added that “all of the efforts and emphasis on the importance of these various causes have been undermined by the distraction, in terms of which teams, which players. This way, we’re keeping the focus on the game and on these specialty nights, we’re going to be focused on the cause.”
The NHL commissioner noted that Pride Nights will be able to continue, just without the rainbow jerseys. Special jerseys are also expected to continue to be designed for autographing and selling purposes.
“32 of our clubs did Pride Nights, some do Heritage Nights, everybody does Hockey Fights Cancer. Some do military nights. All of those nights will continue,” said Bettman. “The only difference will be, we’re not going to change jerseys for warmup.”
As previously reported by True North, some Pride Nights hosted by Canadian hockey teams had pre-game all ages drag shows, in an effort to “celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.”
Several hockey players had refused to wear the pride jerseys, with some citing religious reasons.
Players who opted not to wear the jerseys include Vancouver Canucks star forward Andrei Kuzmenko, and Montreal Canadiens winger Denis Gurianov. Other players include San Jose Sharks goalie James Reimer, Florida Panthers players Eric Staal and Marc Staal and Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Ivan Provorov.
Provorov’s announcement back in January that he would not wear the rainbow jersey caused a fury among members of Canada’s legacy media.
“I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion. That’s all I’m going to say,” said Provorov.
Breakfast Television host Sid Seixeiro called on the NHL to give the Flyers a “million dollar” fine and to “attack” Provorov for his beliefs. Other Canadian sports journalists joined in on the conversation, including the Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur.
With files from True North’s Cosmin Dzsurdzsa.
