Parents of players on a Surrey minor hockey team are outraged their coach was fired, after they say he acted in the best interests of their kids’ mental health and wellbeing.
The controversy comes after Brian MacGillvray and his coaching staff pulled his U-11 rep team from the ice before the end of the game, after the players reported being the subject of racial slurs.
The majority of the players on the team are of South Asian heritage.
Justin Sayson, an assistant coach with the team and parent of one of the players, told Global News the incident took place during a tournament on the Family Day weekend in February, as the squad faced off against a team from Maple Ridge.
Sayson said players on the other team began to refer to one of the best players on the Surrey team as “banana,” using it as a code word for when he was on the ice.
Players with the Surrey team then reported hearing opposing players also using the N-word and the word “monkey,” he said.
“Putting all these things together, we knew it wasn’t just a word anymore, there was some intent, maliciousness behind it, they were trying to intimidate our player,” he said.
Sayson said the Surrey coaches first approached the referees about the issue. He said the officials hadn’t heard the words, and were themselves just kids and unequipped to handle the situation.
The Surrey coaches say they then tried to raise the issue with the opposing team’s coach, MacGillvray told CKNW’s Jas Johal Show.
“The coaches said that that was their codeword for our player because he was their best player. I stated to him, along with the other coaches on our team, that, you know, that’s like not making them feel good,” he said.
“I truly believe that there was no, I don’t think that he had any racial intention of being racist. I think that he he made an error in judgment and that it was just more ignorance than than racism. But unfortunately, kids are kids. And it escalated from banana to those other words.”
MacGillvray told Johal the other coach did apologize, but the Surrey coaching staff was left with a tough decision.
Sayson said they opted to pull out of the game and head back to the dressing room rather than resume the game.
“We looked back on our bench, our kids were crying, some of the kids had tears in their eyes, super stressful situation for them, they didn’t know if they were doing the right thing bringing it to us, because now the game had been stopped for four or five minutes,” he said.
“They don’t know how to handle it, kids at nine of 10 don’t have the tools to deal with that type of situation, so for that reason we thought it wasn’t safe for them.”
According to BC Hockey rules, if a team refuses to take the ice, its head coach faces an automatic suspension and investigation.
MacGillvray was ultimately suspended for 30 days, which amounted to the remainder of the season. But when the suspension was up, he was informed by Surrey hockey officials he wouldn’t be back next season.
“I received an email stating that they were going to go in a different direction and that my services were no longer needed,” he said. “They thanked me for the two years that I coach there, and then that was that was all the communication.”
In a statement, the Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey Association president Nick Davis said the association was aware of the allegations, and cooperating with BC Hockey, the Surrey Minor Hockey Association and a third-party investigation process implemented by Hockey Canada.
“We deny allegations that our nine and 10 year old children used racial slurs, or knowingly made comments that could be inferred as racist, to or about the opposing team,” he said.
“We have completed an internal review and believe that this incident was a misunderstanding. We look forward to the results of the third party investigation.”
The Surrey Minor Hockey Association, meanwhile, told Global News the decision to let MacGillvray go was unrelated to the incident at the tournament.
“The two incidences are separate issues,” Surrey Minor Hockey Association president Jeff Shelton said. “We’re all in support of what Mr. MacGillvray did over the family day long tournament.”
“Now, when Surrey Minor looks back on the past season, we bring up concerns and stuff from our membership, and we’re deciding to go another route.”
Shelton said one issue related to MacGillvray’s approach to player development, and that the association had concerns that some players were regularly only getting a few shifts per period.
Sayson said players families are united in calling for the coach’s return, adding that MacGillvray had been named coach of the year in the previous season.
He said he still feels that MacGillvray was let go over the incident.
“The only reason I can think of is he created some problems for the association by getting suspended and they don’t want to deal with that headache, so they’ve swept him under the rug,” he told Global News.
“Because there is no other reason you wouldn’t bring back a great coach.”
The incident remains under investigation by both BC Hockey and Hockey Canada.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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