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Ball Hockey Fight Is Embarrassing

I didn’t know ball hockey was a real sport, and not just something you do for fun on a tennis court, but evidently it is, and there are even World Championships held every couple of years. Who knew? Lots of people evidently!

The crowd at this recent Canada Vs Czech Republic ball hockey game is pretty darn serious, but it’s got nothing on this out of control fight, which starts at the 2:10 mark of the video:

Now I’m sure that this fight is not typical of ball hockey games or sport in Canada, just like fights are not common to all ice hockey or box lacrosse games, but it does bring up a couple of interesting questions/issues for box lacrosse, from a somewhat fresh perspective:

If fighting is allowed to help “self-police” the game, are the fights that result from taunting and blow outs also part of the deal? Is the self-policing worth it, if this is the kind of publicity the sports ends up receiving?

The argument can be made that I wouldn’t know that Ball Hockey is a real organized sport without this video, and that is definitely true. The other side of the coin is that my only interaction with ball hockey is the above fight, and from the looks of things, I’m not initially impressed.

For box lacrosse, the exact same issue exists. If we allow fights to continue as they have, will that remain the calling card of our sport to outsiders who may be interested in the game? I can dial back the idea that fighting is rampant in lacrosse, or hockey, or ball hockey, but if this is what new people are likely to first find, are we doing ourselves any favors?

Want to see an example of someone doing something RIGHT for their sport?

Kelly Slater, killing it in Fiji, but in a purely positive way.

For more on the story, check out Yahoo.