Ice Hockey: Fighting talk with zero substance on The Nolan Show

Ice hockey doesn’t get a lot of mainstream media coverage. After listening to The Nolan Show segment on fighting in the sport, maybe we should be grateful.

Two proper hockey enforcers going toe to toe - Chris Frank (Braehead Clan)
 and Matt Nickerson (Fife Flyers). Pic: Steve Gunn

The Irish broadcaster honed in on a fight in a recent Belfast Giants game - a normal, very brief toe to toe with spanned all of five punches before the players hit the ice and the officials stepped in.

The fact the match was sponsored by the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) and attended by  assistant chief constable, Alan Todd, gave host, Stephen Nolan, the hook into a ten-minute debate on violence within sport.

It was bewildering to watch as Nolan and his guests spoke from a basis of zero knowledge, but still managed to manufacture some outrage over the fact the country’s second most senior police officer was there and didn’t instruct instant arrests given it was witnessed and - shock! horror! - cheered by  seven year olds in the arena.

You could see the host desperately try to join the dots to create a picture of an incident, a break down in the rule of law and order so shocking that “Something Must Be Done!”

Panellist Jerry Hayes, a barrister and former MP, was able to declare, unchallenged, “a criminal offence has taken place in   full view of everyone” - isn't he aware all sports have their own rules, regulations and systems for dealing with incidents? - while the hosts wondered if Giants were “glorifying violence” by sending out a pic of the fight on social media with the message “the gloves are off.”

Nine minutes and 33 seconds this utter nonsense went on for.

The audience learned nothing of substance, got zero context, and Victoria Silverwood’s valiant efforts to provide both were constantly interrupted by Nolan, a man who clearly enjoys the sound of his own booming voice.

Nolan: “It’s not part of the game - isn’t in the rule book!”

Silverwood: “Yes it is. Rule 141 - fighting.”

He then  wondered aloud if his mum should deck her opponent midway through a game of bowls. Preposterous stuff.

I’m done with trying to explain that ice hockey is physical , not violent - and that there is a fundamental difference patently obvious to anyone willing to  sit rinkside, and watch a game from start to finish.

I’m guessing The Nolan Show is pretty big in Northern Ireland - the host has some 226,000 Twitter followers - so this was a great opportunity to look at the issue of fighting, by all means, but address it

with clarity.

The fight in question was so dull it probably wont even make the showreel at the end of the season.

Goodness knows what he’d have made of Danick Gauthier rag-dolling poor Nikolai Lemtyugov of Sheffield Steelers last weekend - and for the sake of his heart, please, please keep him well away from any old Mike Ware videos in the ISL !

Giants didn’t deserve this half-baked, witless, ill-informed debate which did nothing for the sport or their image.

There was a fleeting acknowledgement of the cross-community work they do in Belfast, but this was a debate so shallow and so skewed it must have left every Giants’ fan utterly deflated.

It pandered to the Rodney Dangerfield joke - “I went to a  fight the other night and a hockey game broke out” - which is as outdated as wooden sticks  and goalies not wearing helmets.

The Nolan Show had nothing of substance to add to a genuine debate on violence within the sport, and how the emphasis has shifted fundamentally away from strength to skill and speed, and  it failed to recognise the commitment or talent of the players.

Maybe this was more about the PSNI and the senior cop than hockey - I don’t know. Don’t care either.

But the Nolan Show owes this sport a right of reply and an opportunity to  actually showcase what it is all about and why it has a fanbase which spans the generations.