Read on Twitter
As my very smart VP coworker pointed out on their
, there's a through line here. "The NWHL repeatedly failed when it comes to player safety, that's why so many players refused to play in the league before the pandemic. Players cannot trust this league to care about their safety" https://twitter.com/kmtwhelan/status/1259490946368012294
, there's a through line here. "The NWHL repeatedly failed when it comes to player safety, that's why so many players refused to play in the league before the pandemic. Players cannot trust this league to care about their safety" https://twitter.com/kmtwhelan/status/1259490946368012294
It's always been ridiculous to act as though players should move on from feeling endangered and experiencing trauma and just go back to the league because that was all supposedly "before" and "fixed."
Even if this hadn't happened, it's absurd and cruel to expect people who've been traumatized to go back to the place it happened and believe that it wouldn't happen again. We don't expect it in other instances and no one should have advocated for it here.
Shouldn't be particularly surprising to learn that things haven't actually changed and that the players aren't the priority. But there's probably a decent number of folks who feel relieved and justified in having left when they did.
This from a Sportico article two weeks ago definitely reads differently today.
It's now clear the league never grappled with any of this in any real way. Which I suppose was really clear with the statement the providing in response to former player experiences.
The general tone has been "but look it's better now" as though that somehow excuses things. There's never been any real atonement or acceptance of responsibility. In that way, we probably should have seen this coming and should be ashamed to have given them any benefit of doubt
IMO there needs to be some very critical thinking among fans and the league about labor. Understanding and defining labor and how to treat laborers is honestly the foundational schism in women's hockey.
Zoe is always smarter than me, but particularly on labor and Capitalism. https://twitter.com/zoeclaire_/status/1357099928183599109?s=19
