Hockey Canada's reckoning was heralded three years ago. Instead, its crisis mushroomed
But the pattern of a team learning about sexual allegations involving players and looking the other way is a familiar one to anyone who follows sports.
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Kobe Bryant, the late basketball legend, was accused in 2003 of raping a teenage hotel employee in Colorado. Criminal charges were filed, but later dropped when the alleged victim, whose identity had been leaked, refused to participate in a trial. A civil suit against Bryant was settled, but the 18-time All-Star was never disciplined by the NBA or the Los Angeles Lakers. Former NBA commissioner David Stern said at the time that the league would withhold punishment pending the resolution of the criminal case, and Bryant, then 26 years old, travelled from Lakers games to Colorado to attend court during the 2003 NBA season.
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DeShaun Watson, the former All-Pro quarterback with the Houston Texans, was suspended for 11 games in 2022 and fined US$5 million (after the NFL and NFLPA reached an agreement) after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct during massage sessions. The Texans decided to trade him, and after interest from multiple teams, sent him to the Cleveland Browns for a haul of draft picks. The Browns quickly gave him a contract for five years and US$230 million, the largest guaranteed contract in NFL history at the time.
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Last month, the NFL suspended former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker for 10 games after 16 massage therapists accused him of improper behaviour during sessions that took place between 2012 and 2016. He denies wrongdoing, and when the Ravens released him in May, with an NFL investigation ongoing, general manager Eric DeCosta said it was a 'tough decision' and thanked him for his contributions to the team. He did not mention the allegations.
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And earlier this month, police in London, England, announced sexual assault charges against Thomas Partey, formerly a midfielder for Arsenal in the Premier League, involving three alleged victims. Partey was first arrested in 2022, but his name was not made public because U.K. laws prohibit the identification of someone who has not been criminally charged. Arsenal, however, knew of the allegations, through multiple arrests, and he played more than 100 matches for the club until his contract expired at the end of June. Partey denies the allegations. Arsenal has said it will not comment on the case because it is before the courts.
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The tendency towards a hands-off approach can even be the case when the athlete is an alleged victim. In the spring of 2021, a former member of the Chicago Blackhawks sued the team over allegations that it had failed to properly respond when alerted to an alleged sexual assault perpetrated by a former assistant coach in 2010. A team-ordered investigation found that the Blackhawks let the coach resign after the season concluded, though he took part in Stanley Cup celebrations, otherwise the complaint was ignored. (The former coach was later convicted of sexual assault related to a high-school coaching job.) General manager Stan Bowman resigned, and Joel Quenneville, who was Chicago's head coach in 2010 but was coaching the Florida Panthers in 2021, also resigned after a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
The NHL declared Bowman and Quenneville eligible to be reinstated last year. Weeks later, Bowman was hired to be the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. He said at the time that his 'response was inadequate in 2010,' and that he had spent time reflecting on his mistakes and learning from them. Quenneville was hired to coach the Anaheim Ducks last month. He said he 'owned (his) mistakes' and that he had educated himself on 'the realities of abuse.'
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