After The Whistle: Tim Gmeinweser Gives His Opinion On Suspension

Drawing The Line When It Comes To
Safety Of Players

COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS

With all of the controversy over the suspension of a coach by the Alberta Hockey Association over the fact that he pulled his team from the ice during a tournament game during the Christmas Holidays (See the original story here), After The Whistle is pleased to provide our readers with a letter written to us from the coach himself. See what Tim Gmeinweser has to say about the situation and find out his reasons for taking such a drastic measure to protect his players.

To: After The Whistle, CHA
From: Tim Gmeinweser
Date: Feb. 9, 2003

My name is Tim Gmeinweser. I have been suspended from coaching my Bantam hockey team for pulling my team off the ice during a Christmas tournament game. You may have heard about my situation. I had a hearing at the EMHA office and was suspended for the rest of the year. I appealed the decision, with the backing from my association, the Knights of Columbus, with Alberta Hockey Assoc. They upheld the suspension.

I pulled my team off the ice due to safety concerns. The game was turning violent. The parent’s were getting upset. I had four injured players. The young official did nothing and did not respond to my calls for a conference with him. After I had parents coming down to the bench and asked me what I was going to do about this, I pulled my team. What concerns me the most about the EMHA hearing and the following appeal is the committee did not acknowledge our injured players but rather they seemed to focus on the point that I was unhappy with the officiating. I was unhappy, because the lack of penalties called, resulted in the game getting out of control and players were getting hurt. It appears to me that the two governing bodies of the EMHA and AHA do not have the best interest of the kids at heart, instead they were more intent of teaching a volunteer coach a lesson for breaking a rule. I sat through the EMHA hearing, listening to one of the judicial committee members refer to our situation as garbage. During the appeal with AHA I had to listen to a committee member call our parents names. If this is what minor hockey has come to I do not want to be part of it.

I am thankful for the support I received from every parent of my team. They wrote letters of support that were included in the appeal package. In the end, I did as the parents wanted. It should not matter what the other team says or does, which the appeal committee seemed to take at face value. The point is the parents from my team agreed with my position and my decision, they didn’t want to see their kids seriously hurt, in what is just a game.

As a volunteer coach I have taking all sorts of courses dealing with children’s safety. As a coach I am responsible for these kids whenever they are involved in a hockey activity with the team. However, as I have realized, I apparently am not responsible during a game situation, this doesn’t make sense. A coaches responsibility should not end in a game situation and be relinquished to a young official. If I was to let a young man run a practice and one of my players got hurt I would be negligent. How does the game situation change this? I was told I broke a rule and therefore I should be punished. The only people being punished here are the children playing on my team, they do not have a coach. As stated, I have the support of the parents and that is the most important factor because at the end of the day they are who I have to answer to. A rule should not be more important than the children’s safety which I have found out IS.

Sincerely,
Tim Gmeinweser

Publisher's Comment:
First of all, I would like to thank Tim Gmeinweser for providing us with this letter. It gives our readers insight into the situation and also clears up any misunderstandings as to why the action was taken.

The safety of players is a real concern for all people involved in a hockey game. Coaches, officials, convenors, the players themselves, and most of all, parents are concerned about safe play. However, once the contest begins, the rules of the game do not seem to provide a reasonable way for a coach to make a judgement call with respect to the safety of his players. This is obviously a serious issue. The question that it begs is, "Can a coach be found negligent in a court of law for failing to protect his players if it is proven that the safety of his players was in jeopardy?"

On the other hand, if players are seriously injured in a game, and the referee must defend his handling of the contest, can a judge rule that the referee was negligent in his duties to enforce the rules? Or will the judge rule that both the coach and the referee were equally negligent?

Another thing to consider is whether players are left completely on their own during the course of a game with respect to safety. If their safety is in jeopardy, and if the coach and the referee both fail to do anything to remove players from this inherent danger, is the responsibility then shifted to the player to remove himself from the game and leave the ice surface? If so, at what age can a player be expected to take on this responsibility from his coach? What is the age of reason in hockey? When does a player have the ability to realize he is in a dangerous situation?

We are not blaming the other team in this case. The other team may have been physically more dominant. The rules do not penalize a player for being stronger than his opponents. But if you find yourself completely "out of your league" and completely over matched, what can you do? If you know your players are in jeopardy, and if you do nothing, are you not being negligent? If the reason you do nothing is because you do not want to be suspended from the league for the rest of the year, is that rule going to protect you from a verdict of negligence if a player is seriously injured?

These are questions which must be addressed. Safety of players is not a small responsibility. It is huge! It cannot be taken lightly. In the meantime, with the rules as they are, the only advice that makes any sense must be given to referees. In order to protect yourself from possible charges of negligence, use the the rule book. When in doubt, penalize. If a player argues, give him a ten minute misconduct. If a coach complains, explain that it is for his own good and then give him a game misconduct. Give out enough penalties and the game will have to be called anyway because of a lack of players.

I'm not sure if this is the answer, but until the responsibility for the safety of the players is clearly defined, and unless it is shared by all parties, the referee is the only one legally in control according to the rule book. It's no longer worth the risk to "let the kids play the game" if the game is going to get violent and there is a question of safety. It won't make for very exciting games, but it will sure allow the referee to sleep well at night and to prove that they did everything possible to maintain a safe environment on the ice.

After The Whistle would like to hear you comments on this matter.

Robert Kirwan
Publisher - After The Whistle