Painful revelations of abuse and misconduct rocked the world of sport in 2021 as athletes from all levels of competition across the globe demanded greater accountability of trainers, coaches and the governing bodies that oversee them.
A report released in October sent shockwaves through the National Hockey League (NHL) after an investigation found that the Chicago Blackhawks failed to act on allegations made by player Kyle Beach that video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted him during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Aldrich stated that the encounter was consensual.
The report led to the resignation of Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville, who was coach of the Blackhawks when the allegations were made, and promises of reform from the upper echelons of the NHL.
“This has to serve as a wake-up call to all clubs that you need to make sure you understand what your organisation is doing because you are going to be held responsible,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters, promising change within the league while defending his own handling of the case.
The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) was forced into a reckoning of its own as The Athletic in September outlined allegations of sexual abuse by former North Carolina Courage head coach Paul Riley, after speaking to more than a dozen players he had coached since 2010.
The report and subsequent fallout engulfed the league, prompting the departure of former Commissioner Lisa Baird and demands for reform, as soccer’s world governing body FIFA launched its own investigation.
“(Everybody involved) didn’t have much of a choice than to kind of put their hands up and go ‘Okay, this needs to change,'” league MVP Jess Fishlock told Reuters.
“Do I think now that the league is sitting down going, ‘Ok, let’s have this conversation’ – rather than before where they were like ‘We don’t care what you think’? I think that has definitely changed.”
ACTION DEMANDED
Across the globe, athletes demanded action.
“Many of us still have trauma and mental wounds,” two dozen Venezuelan women’s soccer players wrote in an open letter accusing former national team coach Kenneth Zseremeta of abuse and harassment.
Zseremeta did not respond to a request for comment sent via Facebook message.
Trainers for the Swiss Gymnastics Federation’s women’s team resigned en masse in September after in investigation upheld athletes’ claims of psychological abuse.
Football Australia set up an independent complaints body in October after retired striker Lisa De Vanna said she had been the victim of sexual assault and harassment during her career.
Weeks after promoting fresh conversation around athletes’ mental health at the Tokyo Games, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to condemn USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and FBI for inaction in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case.
“I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse,” said Biles.
In July, the U.S. Center for SafeSport barred famed coach Alberto Salazar permanently from track and field, citing sexual and emotional misconduct, after American middle-distance runner Mary Cain in 2019 accused her former coach and the now-shuttered powerhouse Nike Oregon project of emotional and physical abuse.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an independent non-profit organisation that provides sports with guidelines on how to provide safe environments for athletes and training for coaches and administrators.
“Culture change is happening at all levels of sport,” U.S. Center for SafeSport CEO Ju’Riese Colon told Reuters.
“SafeSport accountability, training and policies are making athlete well-being sport’s top priority but to see it fully realized those resisting change need to get on board, or get out – it’s happening with or without them.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
