The pass came from the NHL and Kyle Beach who were sexually abused. It was received and raised at the Swedish level by hockey expert Erik Granqvist.
It has created an awareness of harassment and bullying, insults and abuse and generally sunkissed culture.
The focus has been very much on ice hockey in general and Luleå where Granqvist was hit during a wedge in particular.
I am convinced that the spirit is being held and held in many places in sports Sweden right now. I am sure that in unions and associations the thoughts are:
“Luckily the focus is not on us.”
A person who was in Luleå at the same time as Erik Granqvist calls. He suspects that others who were in the club then wonder:
“Why should Erik keep pulling that up?”
The great reaction in sports Sweden after Erik Granqvist’s shocking story can otherwise be summed up in two other words.
Confirmation and silence.
“Everyone” has heard of or been affected or exposed to others. It can be about weddings where people have been forced to drink too much alcohol, bullying of younger players, leadership style that is characterized by “management by fear”.
It could be fun when Percy Nilegård ran that leadership style. In reality, it is neither fun nor successful.
Yes, but, Mike Babcock, then? He had that style, did he win Olympic gold with Canada?
With those players, a hockey illiterate could have dug gold.
– Erik Granqvist’s story about the abuse he was subjected to during a wedge has shaken ice hockey and Swedish sports.
Photo: Jonas Lindkvist
Confirmations about different kinds of wedges and unhealthy culture have come in emails and text messages and conversations in something that feels like a whisper.
There is a striking silence in public. Not least from football.
It can only be because it has been there for a long time and in many places there is a culture where it is difficult for many to know what is wrong and what is as it has always been.
It’s a bit like: “I was beaten as a child but it was not something I was hurt by.”
Football has an old ingrained culture where practical jokes are mixed with sick penalism. The line between what is fun and what is a way to push people towards success with tough jargon is as fragile as it is difficult to see.
Even the old people of Gothenburg apparently thought it was fun to cut each other’s underpants. I never understood the fun. Always wondered if all players thought it was so fun.
And how the formal or informal leader is sets the mood and openness of an entire group. During Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s first national team period, there was no talk about who led the group.
In their Summer Program said Kim Källström about Zlatan:
“He ruled over himself, the team, the leaders and the union. If you do not follow the leader, you will phase yourself out. It is political suicide to drive solo against the leader. The group will push you out clearly or freeze you out slowly. But out, you go. ”
There has only been one like Zlatan.
But there have been lots of characters who have figured out that they should control their teams like Zlatan.
Another area where it is echoed quietly is women’s football. Considering that women’s players have taken after much of the worst from the men on the pitch – filming, masking, whining at the referees – it’s a big bang if it has not also happened outside.
Australian football legend Lisa De Vanna has this year told:
At one point, two girls asked me if I wanted to shower with them and ‘soap each other in’. I asked them to go to hell, they laughed and said, ‘You know you want to be with us.’ “
– Lisa De Vanna has told about various abuses she has been subjected to by other players.
Photo: Adam Ihse / TT
She also told me about an experience in a youth national team:
“Some teammates pulled me down and ‘dry itched’ me from behind. I tore myself away, kicked and screamed. They thought it was fun. I dropped it and wanted to hit them. But then they thought I was the problem and I was isolated from the rest of the team in a separate room. “
Other stars went out and lamented Lisa De Vanna’s experiences. Of course, they themselves had not seen, heard or experienced anything.
That stories like De Vannas would not exist in Swedish women’s football feels too good to be true.
Finally: The culture of silence influenced Erik Granqvist in several ways.
When the goalkeeper had joined the A-team, he played a match at home against Modo. It went well. Until he got a player over him. Granqvist played clearly and the team won, but his knee hurt so much that he could hardly walk.
A few days later it was match again. Djurgården away in the Globe. Granqvist could not really play but did not dare to say:
– The masseur taped my knee rock hard, I bit together but could barely move in the goal. Pucks rattled in but I had to stay in the cage because we had a very young junior as a backup, Granqvist says.
– It was a big loss and afterwards I was asked not to say anything about the injury.
– The next day, our team doctor did a proper examination with arthroscopy. The message came that the cruciate ligament was off and the joint capsule was broken. I was gone for six months.
– That is an example of what it is like when you oppress and offend people in the macho and silence culture. The risk is that you are not even able to say anything properly when it hurts so much that you can barely stand on your feet. The same thing happens when players get slapped on the head and not mild concussions are taken seriously. It is a leadership issue that doctors do thorough examinations and say stop. Biting, being quiet and driving works on some types of injuries but certainly not on others.
When the news of how serious the injury was came out, the leaders said that Erik Granqvist had shown good character in that match.
Read more: “When we flew I thought: Hope the plane crashes”
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