Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - [KHL/IIHF] Jokerit Boycotts a Game in Belarus, What About the World Championships?

Itse · 09-03-2020, 01:41 PM

Obviously distant and somewhat minor news, but what the heck, I think the story is pretty interesting, and has some pretty significant implications.

So as those who follow foreign news probably know, Belarus has seen long and massive protests against their local dictator (and hockey fan) Lukasenko, after he quite blatantly faked an election result to keep himself in power.

The prostest have been mostly peaceful, but have been met with brutal violence by the local security forces and mass arrests of thousands that included severe beatings and other forms of torture. In short, Lukashenko looks like absolute dogsh** right now.

A somewhat minor sidestory, but with big implications, is that our local hockey team Jokerit from Helsinki refused to travel to Belarus to play their scheduled KHL game in Minsk. Being Russian owned (although Jari Kurri serves as a front for the actual owners) it's quite obvious this was a decision Jokerit didn't do willingly, and previous comments from the club made it clear they were planning to go play the game.

What turned the issue was their own fan club, who after a unanimous meeting told the club that if they go to Minsk to play, their own fan club will boycott Jokerit home games in protest, "until further notice". This essentially forced Jokerit to back down and make a very neutral statement that they would not be traveling to Minsk to play. KHL responded by calling the game a 0-5 loss for Jokerit.

The next looming hockey related issue is that the IIHF 2021 World Championships are supposed to be played in Latvia and Belarus, which at this point is making IIHF look absolutely terrible. The IIHFWC of course has already been held in Belarus under Lukashenko in 2014, which did raise some eyebrows but ultimately most people didn't care much back then. This time however is starting to look very different.

It's extremely rare for a fan club to demand their own club to boycott a country for something like this, so I think that in itself is a fairly interesting story. If the Jokerit situation is an indicator of just how badly Lukashenkos reputation has been tarnished around Europe, it's going to be really difficult for IIHF to hold the games in Belarus, if Lukashenko manages to hold on to his power or the protests turn into a full blown uprising.

The IIHF of course are a bunch of spineless weasels (I think a fairly neutral factual observation

), and they don't want to upset the Russians. (Putin obviously supports Lukashenko because hey, fellow hockey loving dictator and everything.)

However, I think there's a good chance the European hockey fans will simply force IIHFs hands in the matter.

It will be interesting to see how this thing develops. Hockey and politics haven't been this intertwined in a while.

Obviously I personally hope that Lukashenko just takes the hint, packs his stuff and retires somewhere warm.

09-03-2020, 01:41 PM	#1
Itse Franchise Player Join Date: May 2004 Location: Helsinki, Finland Exp:	[KHL/IIHF] Jokerit Boycotts a Game in Belarus, What About the World Championships? Obviously distant and somewhat minor news, but what the heck, I think the story is pretty interesting, and has some pretty significant implications. So as those who follow foreign news probably know, Belarus has seen long and massive protests against their local dictator (and hockey fan) Lukasenko, after he quite blatantly faked an election result to keep himself in power. The prostest have been mostly peaceful, but have been met with brutal violence by the local security forces and mass arrests of thousands that included severe beatings and other forms of torture. In short, Lukashenko looks like absolute dogsh right now. A somewhat minor sidestory, but with big implications, is that our local hockey team Jokerit from Helsinki refused to travel to Belarus to play their scheduled KHL game in Minsk. Being Russian owned (although Jari Kurri serves as a front for the actual owners) it's quite obvious this was a decision Jokerit didn't do willingly, and previous comments from the club made it clear they were planning to go play the game. What turned the issue was their own fan club, who after a unanimous meeting told the club that if they go to Minsk to play, their own fan club will boycott Jokerit home games in protest, "until further notice". This essentially forced Jokerit to back down and make a very neutral statement that they would not be traveling to Minsk to play. KHL responded by calling the game a 0-5 loss for Jokerit. The next looming hockey related issue is that the IIHF 2021 World Championships are supposed to be played in Latvia and Belarus**, which at this point is making IIHF look absolutely terrible. The IIHFWC of course has already been held in Belarus under Lukashenko in 2014, which did raise some eyebrows but ultimately most people didn't care much back then. This time however is starting to look very different. It's extremely rare for a fan club to demand their own club to boycott a country for something like this, so I think that in itself is a fairly interesting story. If the Jokerit situation is an indicator of just how badly Lukashenkos reputation has been tarnished around Europe, it's going to be really difficult for IIHF to hold the games in Belarus, if Lukashenko manages to hold on to his power or the protests turn into a full blown uprising. The IIHF of course are a bunch of spineless weasels (I think a fairly neutral factual observation ), and they don't want to upset the Russians. (Putin obviously supports Lukashenko because hey, fellow hockey loving dictator and everything.) However, I think there's a good chance the European hockey fans will simply force IIHFs hands in the matter. It will be interesting to see how this thing develops. Hockey and politics haven't been this intertwined in a while. Obviously I personally hope that Lukashenko just takes the hint, packs his stuff and retires somewhere warm.