Winter Olympics In Sochi Russia

[StockholmRam]

I doubt that there are many black kids in Arizona wild about ice hockey. I don't care what colour the player are as long as they can play. The thing is that players from countries like Finland and Czech are bound to be white.

And who the heck are Mchale, Mikan, Maravich and Havlicek ?

Thats just daft mate..sorry but it is. Arizona? Why quote just black kids there!!

[dabber]

Why are they "bound' to be white? We have immigration in Finland and Sweden. These immingrants have been very fast to join in football, athletics, martial arts, boxing etc... Why not hockey?

In Canada it is the same, but as I said above the cost is nuts and puts a lot off, plus very few role models. Plus you need lots of equipment for hockey before you can even give it a try, the others you listed don't need much to give it a first go.

[Cisse]

Well everybody should follow any game they feel like there are enough players of right colour. I keep following games for other reasons.

[dabber]

Well everybody should follow any game they feel like there are enough players of right colour. I keep following games for other reasons.

It is one thing to follow Cisse, but another to have the chance to participate taken away cos the cost is prohibitive

[Cisse]

It is one thing to follow Cisse, but another to have the chance to participate taken away cos the cost is prohibitive

Most of the Finns can't afford to play tennis or compete with horses. Doesn't make the sport any less valuable.

[StockholmRam]

My point entirely Dabber. In Sweden ( and Finland I dare say) its very cost prohibitive for poorer families. Mainly only the upper echelons of Scandinavian society can afford their kids to play which is also mainly well educated mid/upper white.

You are so right mate. Its bleedin shameful that councils are govt are not doing more here to enable participation for the less fortunate.

And lets pray Iningla continues his fantastic rise in the game to be a role model. In the meantime Russia and Vlad can still kiss my jacksie.

[dabber]

It just seems to me that everything for kids these days needs to be organised. There is hardly any "pick up" games going on. The organised sport is too expensive as the parents over here all equate cost with quality, where the reality is far from it. I coached footy for a number of years and always got in trouble with the club for encouraging the kids to turn up to practices in whatever shirts they wanted rather than the bloody training top the club insisted that they buy. For what purpose? Same for hockey, they insist they all buy these fookin tracksuits just to arrive at the game in, to look like a team. I always argue I would rather that they look like a team on the ice than in the lobby, but the cheque book parents don't follow that logic I am afraid, so I end up being in the minority and common sense once again out the window!

[Cisse]

We have a team called Icehearts which is for kids whose parents cant afford to pay for the hockey. There are several teams in several cities. A lot of refugee kids also. One of my former players is actually coaching one of those teams.

That kind of thing should be in work in major sports everywhere.

[dabber]

We have a team called Icehearts which is for kids whose parents cant afford to pay for the hockey. There are several teams in several cities. A lot of refugee kids also. One of my former players is actually coaching one of those teams.

That kind of thing should be in work in major sports everywhere.

I think that is fantastic Cisse, hopefully that will pay off in the long run, with all having the opportunity to move on to play at a level your ability dictates and not your budget

[Cisse]

It works very well in ice hockey. The problem is we should have it in other sports too. Our economy is very poor at the moment and a lot of parents can't get their kids in any sport. And due to the economy the sponsors are withdrawing from any sports.

Like I said sports like tennis is out of reach for most of the kids which is a real shame.

[StockholmRam]

Well done Icehearts.. Sweden take note but I wont hold my breath.

[TigerTedd]

It just seems to me that everything for kids these days needs to be organised. There is hardly any "pick up" games going on. The organised sport is too expensive as the parents over here all equate cost with quality, where the reality is far from it. I coached footy for a number of years and always got in trouble with the club for encouraging the kids to turn up to practices in whatever shirts they wanted rather than the bloody training top the club insisted that they buy. For what purpose? Same for hockey, they insist they all buy these fookin tracksuits just to arrive at the game in, to look like a team. I always argue I would rather that they look like a team on the ice than in the lobby, but the cheque book parents don't follow that logic I am afraid, so I end up being in the minority and common sense once again out the window!

Interesting debate, mind if I put my tuppence width in?

Brazilian football. Best in the world, because kids in the streets without boots and barely a ball can pick it up and give it a go. That's probably why footy is such an accessible sport, and, but for the exception of America, universally popular.

I think the Americans might have missed the point somewhere along the line.

[TigerTedd]

My point entirely Dabber. In Sweden ( and Finland I dare say) its very cost prohibitive for poorer families. Mainly only the upper echelons of Scandinavian society can afford their kids to play which is also mainly well educated mid/upper white.

You are so right mate. Its bleedin shameful that councils are govt are not doing more here to enable participation for the less fortunate.

And lets pray Iningla continues his fantastic rise in the game to be a role model. In the meantime Russia and Vlad can still kiss my jacksie.

And I'm not so sure the lack if black people in hockey is so much a race thing as a cultural thing.

I know nothing about hockey, or black culture in Scandinavia, but I know about Asian culture in England.

For all the Asians in England, there are only a handful playing professional football. This is not so much because they're not welcomed to a team. It's just not part if their culture. Their parents don't follow it, so they don't follow it, they go to Asian schools, so their mates don't follow it. There us no football jungle de in their lives and no reason for them to ever want to play it.

That's a very sweeping statement, and if course their are exceptions which is why you get that handful who are playing professionally.

Instead it us in their culture to follow and play cricket. So you get loads if Asians playing cricket. It's not because football, or in your case hockey, is inherently racist. It's just the cultural influences dictate what we do and don't like. Hence the earlier example of a black guy in Arizona, isn't likely to seek out the nearest NHL team.

Having said that, there are programmes in England trying to bring football to the Asian communities. But I would be more worried if Asians weren't able to engage in any sport. But they are able to engage, so why try to force something on the community that it doesn't have any particular interest in?

[dabber]

Tis true Tedd. When are we ever going to see a Pele or Maradona come out of America? Though tbf "soccer" is probably the 4th or 5th ranked sport there, whereas in Brazil it is number one. Sort of related to that was what amazed me when reading Gascoigne's autobiography was how excited he was to get his own football at age 7. It blew my mind that he hadn't had his own ball until then.

[dabber]

And I'm not so sure the lack if black people in hockey is so much a race thing as a cultural thing.

I know nothing about hockey, or black culture in Scandinavia, but I know about Asian culture in England.

For all the Asians in England, there are only a handful playing professional football. This is not so much because they're not welcomed to a team. It's just not part if their culture. Their parents don't follow it, so they don't follow it, they go to Asian schools, so their mates don't follow it. There us no football jungle de in their lives and no reason for them to ever want to play it.

That's a very sweeping statement, and if course their are exceptions which is why you get that handful who are playing professionally.

Instead it us in their culture to follow and play cricket. So you get loads if Asians playing cricket. It's not because football, or in your case hockey, is inherently racist. It's just the cultural influences dictate what we do and don't like. Hence the earlier example of a black guy in Arizona, isn't likely to seek out the nearest NHL team.

Having said that, there are programmes in England trying to bring football to the Asian communities. But I would be more worried if Asians weren't able to engage in any sport. But they are able to engage, so why try to force something on the community that it doesn't have any particular interest in?

No fair point, I think my concern with hockey and perhaps a lot of sports these days is that a large percentage of kids who might be interested in playing are priced out of it.

[TigerTedd]

No fair point, I think my concern with hockey and perhaps a lot of sports these days is that a large percentage of kids who might be interested in playing are priced out of it.

That's true. And you never know, there might be done prodigious kid sat in a run down part if town, of even a Delhi shanty town or something that might be amazing and no one will ever have any idea.

So I do support programmes that give every kid a chance to have a go, and see how they get on with a sport. Even if it's really niche stuff like curling (see how I brought it back on topic there )

But I disagree with a bunch of white guys in the fa saying 'there aren't enough Asians in football these days, that doesn't make us look very politically correct. Quick get Muzzy Izzet and Micheal Chopra on the phone, and let's run some community football workshops in Belgrave (that's in Leicester, I've lived in Leicester most of my life)'

If I lived in Belgrave is tell then to **** off.

[StockholmRam]

Do you think it will change Tedd? I see quite a few asians going to watch games these days and they are certainly playing a bit of parks

[TigerTedd]

Do you think it will change Tedd? I see quite a few asians going to watch games these days and they are certainly playing a bit of parks

Absolutely it will. Eventually the cultures merge. Immigrant populations merge with indefinite populations, until it's all just one indefinite culture.

I'm very idealistic and optimistic, but I realise it's not as easy as that. It takes a few battles along the way. It takes several generations, but eventually it's just normal.

I hope a good quite the other day from a strange lady who had herself bricked into a church in the Middle Ages so that she could contemplate God. She said, 'All shall be well, and all manner if thing shall be well.'

Only took years in a cell to come up with that little gem.

[Grimbeard]

.

I was quoted at above as " have i seen NBA?" which alude to the poster Mr Grimbeard suggestion that the numbers are similar in Basketball to Ice Hockey in being almost totally one colour dominated. Its not anywhere near the same.

Even in amatuer basketball in Europe there is a decent mixture of white kids playing alongside blacks, yellow. Come to Stockholm and look at our kids outdoor hockey facilities and see the ratio!!

So if the lack of black players in ice hockey is due to a white supremacist plot, then I suggest that we will have to add tennis, swimming, skiing, show jumping, darts, snooker, motor cycle racing and any number of other racist sports to the list.

Or, we could just consider the possibility that different groups of people play different sports due to a whole range of factors like culture, economics and physical attributes.

[eddie]

Do you think it will change Tedd? I see quite a few asians going to watch games these days and they are certainly playing a bit of parks

 

I look forward to the day when we chant "Yuwonli Singh-Wenuwinin" to our brilliant Indian winger.