#STEVE DOWNIE FIGHT FREE#

You only have to look at Downie's mentions to see this - in amongst the support are many breaking out the traditional defence of 'unmanliness' or parroting the kind of arguments that are fired at those involved in the concussion lawsuits. Hockey does not, traditionally, take well to being challenged-and Cherry and his ilk have the kind of platform that can be used to drown out and destroy players like Downie - particularly as the player himself has such a chequered history within the game - one that he clearly now regrets. It's one of the 'privileged' inner circle who has made it to the top of the game turning around and saying 'this is rotten'.ĭownie has taken a culture that simultaneously mourns the victims it creates and lionises those who continue to espouse it and held up a mirror to it from the inside. With his words Downie has taken a culture that simultaneously mourns the victims it creates and lionises those who continue to espouse it and holds up a mirror to it from the inside. What Steve Downie is saying is courageous for an active player to say, because it challenges one of the major foundations that the NHL is built on, sold on - a fiction that the violence inherent in the game is somehow noble and victimless. To look too much into the rotten underbelly of the game Cherry espouses would be to question everything that large sections of the hockey media spend their days passing on as gospel. It's surprising that the media coverage of Downie's comments has focused mainly on his criticism of the Arizona organisation rather than his condemnation of hockey culture.but it's not surprising at all.ĭownie's comments are huge because they're the first time an active NHL player has openly challenged the 'untouchables' in the conversation that shapes the gameĪs mentioned by Silver Seven, the position of Cherry in hockey culture makes him almost untouchable for many, and hockey media is a small world. In the past he's been allowed to get away with seemingly endless questionable comments - notably calling the players involved in the concussion lawsuit 'pukes' - in the defence of some idealized traditionalist view of hockey - not least because many within the game either overtly or covertly share them. Don Cherry is a media titan - to many around the hockey world, particularly traditionalists, he's almost a god and his opinion shapes conversations across the hockey world.

#STEVE DOWNIE FIGHT FREE#

This is also one of the foundations that the defenders of hockey culture as it is base their argument on.ĭownie's comments are huge because they're the first time an 'active' NHL player (Downie is currently a free agent, but is still on the open market and, one assumes, ready to take up a contract should the right one be offered) has openly challenged the 'untouchables' in the conversation that shapes the game. The comments for the article were in the main supportive, but there was a lot that argued that the players are playing of their own free will and 'know the risks', so to speak. That article argued that a lot of hockey culture was based on players being sold a lie by those around the game. Two weeks ago we at Chowder argued that hockey culture is killing players. This, in a nutshell, is why Steve Downie's comments are so important. As long as people like Cherry are untouchable, it’s going to be awfully hard to do so.'

' We’ve never had a serious conversation about the consequences of selling hockey through violence, be it fighting or the type of damaging head-shots Cherry and his ilk have long cheered on. Our SBN counterparts at Silver Seven Sens have done an excellent job writing about Downie's attack on Cherry and why it's so unprecedented here - they conclude with the paragraph that leads into this article: Wish I never played.- Steve Downie December 24, 2016ĭownie has since continued to sporadically tweet - most recently last night calling NHL executive Colin Campbell 'the biggest piece of **** the NHL has to offer'. But again, I did what don cherry said to do every Saturday night.

Steve downie fight