WHY I'M NOW PROUD TO BE A CAPS FAN
A couple of years ago, not long after I started this blog, I posted this piece explaining why I never became a football fan, that I never really 'got' the tribal nature of giving lifelong support to a particular club, and relating an incident that shaped my attitude towards sport and the notion of fair play. A year later I posted about my new found love for ice hockey and how, to my surprise, I was exhibiting signs of becoming one of those fans I'd derided twelve months before....
Another twelve months on and those subjects have collided into one event which now allows me to say I Am Proud To Be A Caps Fan. Without, I hope, more than the merest glimpse of hypocrisy.
The move back to Edinburgh has meant, for the first time, becoming a regular match goer at Murrayfield ice rink. I've got the supporter's scarf, a regular place where we sit for each game, membership of the Supporter's Club. I follow away games as best I can, I frequently find myself thinking about how injuries will affect the team line ups. I'm well on my way to becoming that kind of sad git. Even whilst recognising that I still feel very much the new boy and there are still so many aspects of the game I find hard to follow. I'm not sure I've even fully got my head around the offside rule yet.
And yet. There's always that 'fair play' reservation at the back of my mind. Could I still support 'my' team if they started to play dirty? If you haven't seen ice hockey (why not?) I should explain that as well as being extremely fast it is also very physical. Heavy man on man contacts are commonplace. Occasionally fist fights break out in the heat of the game and, within controlled limits, are, for good or ill, accepted as part of the culture of the sport. But there are strict laws designed to prevent serious physical damage to opponents. And there are clearly some teams who ride the boundary between legal and illegal more carelessly than others. Even my inexpert eyes could see that the Coventry squad of last season, and the Braehead team in this, overdid the physical aspects of their play (yes, that is a euphemism for 'a bit thuggish').
Not the Edinburgh Capitals are a bunch of angels. These are professional sportsmen playing in a tough sport and they have to be able to stand up for themselves. Inevitably they will cross the line from time to time. But I've seen no sign of that being endemic, of there being a culture of violence. Even this season when the Caps team has included a lot more big guys than in recent years. Of course, I would say that, wouldn't I? I'm fully aware of what confirmation bias is....
But there's a also a lot to be said for being the underdog. It forces supporters towards a much more realistic, at times cynical, view of the team they love. And Edinburgh is, financially, one of the poorest teams in the league. So their place in the standings generally reflects that. They probably aren't going to win any big trophies, and our fourteen game losing streak before November was a convincing reminder of that fact. But there's a lot to be said for seeing the little guy getting one over on their richer neighbours, and it wasn't just the Caps faithful, but many of the wider hockey community, who enjoyed seeing them notch up some unlikely victories in the weeks before Xmas. That wouldn't be the case if we were a dirty team, would it?
And so to last night's incident. Joe Grimaldi, one of our American defencemen, was thrown out of the game for unacceptable violence. He had speared at an opponent with his stick, then took of his helmet and threw it point blank into the other guy's face. Way over the top by any standards. And that certainly didn't make me proud of my team. But what happened in the following twenty fours certainly did.
The club swiftly issued a statement saying that Grimaldi had been released from his contract. Nothing more was said, but there seems a clear implication that they did not wanted to be associated with that kind of behaviour. Top marks to the club. Even better was the reaction, on Twitter and Facebook, of the fans. Young and old, newbies or lifelong supporters, all seem agreed that getting rid of Joe was the right thing to do and they had no place for actions of that sort in their (our!) club. And that, even more than anything I've seen on the ice, makes me proud to be a Caps fan.
Of course there's more to it than that, these situations are never pure black and white. Joe has had his detractors for much of the season. Both for the flaring of his temper, and some of his other on-ice antics. A very skilful, at times flamboyant, player, but one whose flashy moves rarely seemed to benefit the team. Yet we shouldn't forget he played a leading role in the collection of toys for a children's hospital ward just before Xmas, and he was the only player who got along on the day and handed out presents to the kids. Underneath that volatile skin there's a very decent human being. I hope he can find a way to let the latter take control and make a decent career for himself.
So, football fans, feel free to scoff. I have become one of the faithful at The Fridge of Dreams. We might not win much. But we'll be decent about it.
Finally, and with apologies to non-Scots readers, I think if the club is looking for a new slogan then there are no three words more obvious then these :
"Nae Bawbaggery Here!"
#MonTheCaps
No comments:
Post a Comment