A championship lacrosse game in Whitby, Ont., earlier this month was marred by violence during the game and one of the Whitby team’s coaches raising his middle finger to an eight-year-old player on the opposing team.
A team from Six Nations, a Haudenosaunee community near Hamilton, faced the Whitby Warriors in the U9 box lacrosse provincial championships (for players ages seven and eight) Aug. 8 in Whitby, 40 kilometres east of Toronto.
The Warriors received two travesty of game penalties and a Whitby player and fan were ejected from the game. The team was also handed four other major penalties not counting the travesty of game calls. The team from Six Nations was handed two major penalties, one an equipment violation.
Now, instead of celebrating their gold medal win at the game, players and parents from Six Nations are wondering if there will be consequences at an upcoming hearing by the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) to determine whether disciplinary actions are necessary.
“There’s kids that didn’t even want to play anymore,” said Brooke Simon, whose eight-year-old son Grayson Powless, plays defence on the Six Nations team.
“That shouldn’t happen for our kids.”
Simon shared a video with CBC Indigenous of one incident, which was also posted to social media. In the third quarter, her son was tackled to the floor and kicked while he was down.
An eight-year-old lacrosse player from Six Nations gets kicked by the opposing team during the provincial championship game in August.
She said the Whitby player involved was eventually ejected from the game after a major penalty in the third quarter — but not when her son was kicked.
Powless, who’s played lacrosse for four years, said he was sad about what happened.
“You don’t kick, you play with your heart,” he said.
In an emailed statement to CBC Indigenous, Whitby Minor Lacrosse Association president Donelle Latimer apologized to the Six Nations U9 team and everyone who witnessed the “detrimental conduct of these individuals.”
“Whitby Minor Lacrosse Association is extremely disappointed by the conduct of its members involved in the incidents in the U9 gold medal game,” the statement said.
“We do not condone this behaviour and the actions of these individuals do not reflect the expected attitudes and behaviours of our association or the sport as a whole.”
In an emailed statement, OLA executive director Jeramie Bailey said the league was aware of the incidents caught on video and of “additional situations occurring throughout the match which created a hostile environment for children participating in our sport.”
OLA’s statement said its representatives were notified of concerns at the championship game and immediately attended the arena, and were situated throughout the arena for the remainder of the game.
Making a travesty of the game
Powless said one of those additional situations happened to his cousin Takota Monture, who just turned eight. He was confronted by a Whitby coach.
“This guy went up to him, like yelling at him, and he gave [Takota] the middle finger,” Powless said.
“Then [Takota] started crying.”
Tiffany Racette, Takota’s mother, also witnessed the incident that also took place in the third quarter and what led up to it. She said her son was carrying the ball when two Whitby players “jumped him on the floor.” The referee whistled to end the play.
The Whitby players then got up and one of them hit Monture in the head with his stick, Racette said. Her son retaliated by hitting one of the Whitby players with his stick and was given a five-minute major penalty, she said, while the Whitby players weren’t penalized.
That’s when she said a Whitby coach — who she said was the father of the boy Monture hit — came at her son while he walked to the penalty box, yelling, calling him names and “giving him the finger.”
She said the door to the penalty box had to be closed and several members of the coaching staff were needed to stop the Whitby coach from being able to physically reach her son.
“Takota’s dad had to go and run over there because he thought [the coach] was going to hit [Takota],” Racette said.
The incident left her son in tears, she said. He didn’t want to continue playing and his dad needed to stay with him in the penalty box to calm him down.
The coach received a “making a travesty of the game” penalty, which falls under gross misconduct and is the most severe in lacrosse.
CBC Indigenous reviewed video of the altercation, which was also posted to social media. In the video, which starts off showing players on the floor, a man is heard yelling before the camera pans over to an area between the Six Nations and Whitby benches.
A referee directs a man off the floor following a penalty call.
A man wearing a blue shirt walks a Whitby player to the team’s bench, then the man appears to get into an altercation with an official and is directed off the floor.
CBC Indigenous has been unable to confirm the identity of the Whitby coach involved in the altercation with Racette’s son. Attempts to contact coaches listed on the Whitby Minor Lacrosse Association’s website were not responded to.
The statement from Whitby Minor Lacrosse Association did not identify any of the coaching staff nor did it disclose any potential repercussions for those involved; follow-up questions were directed back to the organization’s statement.
Whitby’s U9 team was prohibited from attending the official medal ceremony; their silver medals were delivered in a separate area of the event.
In a statement emailed to CBC Indigenous, Lacrosse Canada, the governing body of OLA, said it “has no tolerance for the behaviour witnessed in the videos of the Whitby and Six Nations U9 Championship game.”
“LC will closely monitor the results of the review and investigation into this incident by the OLA,” the statement said.
Complaints throughout the season
Simon said tensions were high from the start. She said upon entering the arena, Six Nations players were taunted and booed.
“There’s things like that that our kids should not have to listen to,” she said.
“It’s not even about winning. It’s about the kids going out there trying their best and doing what they love to do, play lacrosse.”
The sport originated with the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) people and it is still played for ceremonial purposes in their communities. One of the guiding principles young players are first taught is that lacrosse is played for Creator’s enjoyment and therefore must be played fairly.
One of several incidents during the U9 provincial championship game between Whitby and Six Nations.
She said she felt the Six Nations team dealt with unfair treatment all season and called on OLA to enforce policies around its code of conduct.
The OLA Code of Conduct says all members “shall refrain from actions, comments or behaviours, which are disrespectful, offensive, abusive, racist or sexist. In particular, behaviour which constitutes harassment or abuse will not be tolerated.”
Karennotakies Barnes, the Six Nations’ U9 team manager, said teams from Six Nations, Akwesasne and Kahnawà:ke filed petitions and emailed complaints to OLA throughout the season about taunting, unfair referee calls and racism their players have faced.
Requests from CBC Indigenous to OLA to discuss the teams’ petitions and how the organization addresses racism or discrimination on the floor were not responded to.
Barnes said there needs to be more Indigenous representation within the OLA, better cultural sensitivity training, and officials need to be more aware about alcohol consumption at games.
OLA has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 9.