Man who threw banana at Simmonds gets fine

From the Toronto Sun

LONDON, ONT. - Christopher Moorhouse is guilty of trespassing -- but he's not guilty of racism.

Moorhouse, 26, was fined $200 on Monday for throwing a banana on the ice at the John Labatt Centre during an NHL exhibition game on Sept. 22 -- an event that sparked international outrage because of the assumption his actions were racially motivated against a black NHL player.

But Justice of the Peace Robert Seneshen, in accepting the joint submission from the Crown and the defence, said Moorhouse was wrongly tried in the public without all the facts that led to, "ramifications beyond the simple charge before the court."

"It was a single, silly act not racially motivated and he has already paid a tremendous price."

He described Moorhouse as "a thoughtful young man who is not a racist or a bigot in any way."

Moorhouse wasn't in the courtroom, but had his defence lawyer Faisal Joseph enter his guilty plea on his behalf. Joseph said Moorhouse wasn't there because of the unrelenting and negative attention given to the incident that Moorhouse didn't realize would be considered racist until he had it explained to him.

Crown attorney Geoff Beasley told Seneshen that the incident was exhaustively investigated by the London police and found there was "absolutely no basis to support a racially motivated act."

Moorhouse's only intent was to disrupt the shootout by throwing something on the ice, his lawyer said. And the only item available was the banana sold at a Tiki stand.

Moorhouse has since written letters of apology to the Flyers, Simmonds and the league.

His lawyer said the man and his family have received death threats, has lost weight, took time off work and remains mortified he was considered to be a racist.

Campbell addresses Avery-Simmonds incident; both players escape punishment

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

National Hockey League senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell on Tuesday issued a statement regarding an incident during a Monday preseason contest between Rangers forward Sean Avery and Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds.
 
Allegedly, anti-gay and racial slurs were exchanged in heated discussions between both players.
 
Campbell's statement said the league has looked into the allegations but has not been able to substantiate what was said and by whom. His statement said Simmonds "expressly" denied using the homophobic slur he's alleged to have said, and none of the on-ice officials close to the altercations heard what was said.
 
Campbell said the league is unable to take disciplinary action because of the lack of information, but reserves the right to revisit the issue.
 
"All players, coaches and officials in the National Hockey League deserve the respect of their peers, and have the absolute right to function in a work environment that is free from racially or sexually based innuendo or derision," the statement, issued Tuesday, said. "This is the National Hockey League's policy and it will remain so going forward.
 
"It also is important to emphasize that the National Hockey League holds, and will continue to hold, our players to higher standards with respect to their conduct both on and off the ice. While we recognize that the emotion involved in certain on-ice confrontations may lead to the use of highly charged and sometimes offensive language and commentary, certain lines cannot be crossed. Specifically, we have for many years emphasized to our clubs and players that commentary directed at the race or ethnicity of other participants in the game (or even non-participants), or that is otherwise socially or morally inappropriate or potentially hurtful -- including as it may relate to sexual orientation -- is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
 
Read the full release here.
 
Despite the fact that neither player will be penalized, Avery still appears to come out on the winning end because Simmonds refused to divulge what slur was directed towards him, along with the video evidence (whose offending word has been either bleeped or blanked out upon repeated televised replays) of Simmonds' rant towards the perennial pest.
 
The Flyers won the game by a 5-3 count. The clubs will have plenty of time to either whip up the rancor or tone down the discord, as they do not meet again until November 26 at Madison Square Garden.

Simmonds issues statement on banana incident

A Phanatic Editorial

On Friday morning, Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds issued a statement regarding an incident at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontatrio, where an unidentified fan threw a banana onto the ice while Simmonds took his turn in the shootout.

“It was unfortunate that this incident happened but I am above this sort of stuff. This is something that is out of my control. Moving forward, this incident is something I will no longer comment on so I can just focus on playing hockey for the Philadelphia Flyers.”

Simmonds scored on a nifty backhand as if nothing really happened, but the Flyers dropped a 4-3 decision to the Detroit Red Wings.

On Friday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman issued his "condemnation" of the incident.

"We have millions of great fans who show tremendous respect for our players and for the game. The obviously stupid and ignorant action by one individual is in no way representative of our fans or the people of London, Ontario."

What Bettman misses in his obvious attempt to merely smooth things over, is that when you're dealing with something like racism, the actions of one person are simply going to taint everyone around that individual.

While it's a given he'll defend hockey fans as a whole to stem the tide of media hyperbole, who cares if the people of London, Ontario are or aren't racists? It's a minor-league town with a long and proud tradition of junior hockey, but after what happened last night, really not worth courting its fans to buy into the NHL product.

Time to move on, Mr. Bettman. Plenty of other towns to stage a preseason exhibition. 

As far as Simmonds is concerned, it's his life and his career, but I am disappointed that he's not taking a stronger stand. Nobody's expecting the young man to be hockey's version of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, but some pointed words on the 23-year-old's end will absolutely be crucial in not letting this incident pass. 

Perhaps his quick dismissal -- mistaken for being classy and taking the high road -- and hopes that life will return to normal without further discussion is an implicit reminder that speaking out may not be the best choice for him to be able to continue his career.

If his own teammates, including James van Riemsdyk, who said "we've got his back" in reference to the Ontario native, truly want to make an impact, they should not simply circle the wagons. That's convenient against an attack by an opposing player or outside threat, like the media or the public away from the rink.

But for an internal threat such as fan behavior inside an arena during play, they're better served to band together and suggest a boycott of London outright -- even though it's going to cause a problem high up since Global Spectrum -- a cousin entity to Comcast, which owns the Flyers, also owns and operates the Labatt Centre.

There are nearly 30 players of at least part-African descent in the NHL, and they are not on the margins.

Try telling that to Winnipeg's imposing Dustin Byfuglien, or Colorado's slick-skating forward Chris Stewart, or Trevor Daley of the Dallas Stars, who rose above an ugly name-calling incident in juniors by John Vanbiesbrouck to become an impact defenseman on his club.

It would be easy to use that collective influence from the team reps to the NHLPA leaders and so on up the chain, to let the real power-brokers know that nothing of this sort should be tolerated anywhere and for any reason.

Flyers drop shootout to Red Wings; Simmonds target of racist prank

The Flyers lost a 4-3 shootout decision to the Detroit Red Wings in the club's annual game at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario on Thursday night.

But that wasn't the most surprising outcome in a game which saw Philly rally from a late 3-1 deficit to force extra time.

New forward Wayne Simmonds, a Canadian of African descent, was the target of a racist prank when an unidentified fan threw what was later confirmed to be a banana at the player while he skated in on his shootout chance.

Simmonds scored. And the outrage has begun. More on this story tomorrow, when everyone under the sun will chime in with an opinion.