8 Year Old Banned from LEAGUE?

[TCsnipes9 0]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=joyce/070418

Hmmm... interesting i suppose. Sounds like this town and the rest of the province have some underlying issues as well. What are you guy's thoughts?

Is this getting a lot of press in Quebec?

[Zamboni 6]

Story got lots of press coverage in Ontario including interviews with Shawville orgs execs on radio sports talk shows ......thats first time I've personally seen language being suggested as a/the reason.

[GH_ID 0]

The language issue in this article is a big load of BS in my opinion. Really need to be from Quebec to fully understand the full story. Of course the government has to regulate our language if a city in our own province doesn`t even have the will to learn our damn language. In Montreal almost everyone speaks both languages and I don`t see no one unhappy about that. Our culture and our language is so important to us, but has nothing to do with this kid being banned, but still I find the league`s decision ridiculous.

[chk hrd 164]

reading the article it seemed like the real issue is the kids team is playing in the wrong division. If his team is beating everyone by 8-10 goals then they are just cherry pickin to win a trophy.

As for the language issue, I can see adults using a youth team as leverage.

[KBO25 0]

The language issue in this article is a big load of BS in my opinion. Really need to be from Quebec to fully understand the full story. Of course the government has to regulate our language if a city in our own province doesn`t even have the will to learn our damn language. In Montreal almost everyone speaks both languages and I don`t see no one unhappy about that. Our culture and our language is so important to us, but has nothing to do with this kid being banned, but still I find the league`s decision ridiculous.

I wish the US government would regulate OUR language, so people here would have to learn it...lol

[GH_ID 0]

Of course, imagine waking up one morning in your own city and going to get a cup of coffee and the person working there is not even available to serve you in your own language. The government really has to regulate it or else we would loose our culture, being one of the only french speaking communities in North America. Here as mentionned before, I really think it`s the adults using 8 year olds as leverage. You win every game by 10 goals, just change divisions... simple? I don`t know.

Just wanted to add that french communities in other Canadian provinces like Ontario and Alberta also know the province`s main language, english...

Hope I haven`t bored you too much, it`s just a very serious issue for me and I hate it when people take advantage of it as well as 8 year olds.

[Chadd 916]

It's never a good thing when kids get caught up in the politics of adults, but it would appear that there is a lot of information missing from the story.

As for the language issue, it's the problem you have when you bend over backwards for ethnic groups. Pick one as the official language and you don't have these problems.

[bheidepr 0]

It's never a good thing when kids get caught up in the politics of adults, but it would appear that there is a lot of information missing from the story.

I agree....instead of banning him, they should move the team to another division, or force the player to a higher division (if he is truely at that level), etc... but let the kid play

[chippa13 1844]

The language issue in this article is a big load of BS in my opinion. Really need to be from Quebec to fully understand the full story. Of course the government has to regulate our language if a city in our own province doesn`t even have the will to learn our damn language. In Montreal almost everyone speaks both languages and I don`t see no one unhappy about that. Our culture and our language is so important to us, but has nothing to do with this kid being banned, but still I find the league`s decision ridiculous.

Last I checked Canada was an English speaking nation.

[Zamboni 6]

I may be wrong but recall the team improved greatly as season went on, but still only finished around 3rd place? Should have been allowed to play out season, then move players or kids to higher division if one exists.

Kids hockey-gotta love it. Tryouts going on here, its far more important to the parents than kids....pretty sure I saw an unfocused kid smile yesterday.

[pwrfwd26 0]

It's never a good thing when kids get caught up in the politics of adults, but it would appear that there is a lot of information missing from the story.

like chadd said. i think the right thing 2 do would have been to bump the team up during the yr if they were beating teams that bad.

[ktang 34]

Kids hockey-gotta love it. Tryouts going on here, its far more important to the parents than kids....pretty sure I saw an unfocused kid smile yesterday.

Maybe that unfocused kid is lucky enough to have parents who "get it"... or else s/he will have to start "bearing down" and "focusing"... :(

[Zamboni 6]

Kids hockey-gotta love it. Tryouts going on here, its far more important to the parents than kids....pretty sure I saw an unfocused kid smile yesterday.

Maybe that unfocused kid is lucky enough to have parents who "get it"... or else s/he will have to start "bearing down" and "focusing"... :(

Still-he has a lot of nerve enjoying himself-doesn't he realize the gravity of the situation :D

[opus22 0]

The language issue in this article is a big load of BS in my opinion. Really need to be from Quebec to fully understand the full story. Of course the government has to regulate our language if a city in our own province doesn`t even have the will to learn our damn language. In Montreal almost everyone speaks both languages and I don`t see no one unhappy about that. Our culture and our language is so important to us, but has nothing to do with this kid being banned, but still I find the league`s decision ridiculous.

Last I checked Canada was an English speaking nation.

youre joking, right?

[GH_ID 0]

Last time I checked, both english and french are the official languages... and that's why I know both of them. People speak french not only in Québec but also New Brunswick, parts of Alberta and Ontario. English and french are also part of every Canadian's education. So last time I checked, Canada was a country with 2 official languages.

[Alias81 0]

The official languages of Canada are BOTH English and French.

[daca 0]

other parts of the world can get by with more than one official language. i don't see why it should be such an issue.

[jcp2 2]

Last time I checked, both english and french are the official languages... and that's why I know both of them. People speak french not only in Québec but also New Brunswick, parts of Alberta and Ontario. English and french are also part of every Canadian's education. So last time I checked, Canada was a country with 2 official languages.

Even though English and French are the official languages, I'm not so sure that they are part of every Canadian's education. I took French in high school, but it was an option. Spanish and German were other choices, and a second language wasn't required to get a diploma. Of course, this was many years ago in Calgary. Have things changed? Is French mandatory now?

I can still read a bit of French (nothing tricky please), but my accent is so bad I doubt anybody would even want me to try speaking anymore.

[TheBert 0]

English and French are almost required to get anywhere in the federal public service. However, most kids' exposure to French outside Quebec tails off as you get farther away from Quebec.

[hunterphfr 12]

Both French and English are the official languages of the Federal government. Just try and find something printed by any branch of the Feds that isn't in both official languages it can't exist. Look at any product sold on store shelves anywhere in Canada since the Trudeau era ie Corn Flakes both languages. The Quebecois are able to discriminate based on the pretext of protecting their Francophone language from the assimilation threat of the English majority. Try and find an english sign in Quebec, move to Quebec and try and send your kid to an English school... can't be done.

I would say get an attorney but Quebec has been violating peoples rights for decades and been getting away with it with very little repercussion.

Try and implement the same policies but instead of singling out english enforce them against native-americans, jewish, hindu or spanish people and the uproar would be instant.

[GSHL99 0]

I know quite a few Canadians, most of them know little (if any) French. I'm sure they did study it in school, a lot of Americans study French in school. When you haven't used the language in years you're going to forget it. I'm not sure what factor that is in this issue, but there are some legit concerns. The vast majority of youth contact sports leagues have limits on player size. There is a valid concern when a player is that much larger than the average player in terms of safety. Even at non-checking levels of youth hockey occassional contact is part of the game, when a player is so much larger it does pose a safety risk to other players. Even wrestling in high school the open or heavy weight class was limited, if you were over 270 you could practice but you couldn't take part it meets or tourny's. I've been involved with a number of youth football leagues, in all of them players over certain weights have to have marks on their jersey denoting that they cannot carry the ball. Occassionally it's been necessary to remove players that are simply too big and strong.

Futhermore, I agree that if you've got a kid that's averaging five goals a game in a B league he's obviously too talented to play in that leauge. Until I started playing Bantam's the association rule was that any player who hat tricked could not score again in the game. If a player hat tricked more than three times a season his/her status would fall to a review board which would decide if they were playing at the correct level for their skills. If a team is winning games by 8-10 goals it's pretty clear that the team is not playing where they should be.

[hunterphfr 12]

Language factors into EVERYTHING in Quebec.

[GSHL99 0]

Maybe it is time for Canadians to decide if allowing Quebec to continue operating as a French state within Canada instead of a Canadian providence benefits Canadian soceity or not. That's a bit outside the scope of the discussion. Whether language is a factor or not it's clear that there are legit concerns in youth sports regarding player size and those related to the skill level of the player/team.

[flip12 717]

I find the whole language issue very interesting. I'll be leaving the US for the first time soon, going to Ukraine and France. Ukraine I believe operates in both Russian and Ukrainian, a good number of French seem to be ok in another language. But how does it work I wonder in other officially multilingual countries like Switzerland or Belgium. Maybe the reason people operate in more than one language in those places is because the languages overlap a little more geographically. Canada, the US, and Mexico are physically very large countries, so there isn't as much of an overlap. Then again, there are people whose primary language is Spanish all over the US now. It's interesting, it's a testy issue. The Romantic side of me says preserve the different languages within countries. But look at the EU, every language they decide to officially recognize costs them a good deal of money in translation on top of all the interrelating political issues. Keep the French in Quebec, even if the accent does sound funny. PS, I can say that because I live in Minnesota.