Left-handed hockey
by Mike Crowl
| The problem with hearing information secondhand is you can’t easily
track down the source.
Consequently I have no idea which talk-back show discussed a ban on left-handed hockey players. Nor can I find any information about who banned them. My secondhand informant (she wasn’t secondhand, just her information) told me the ban was on lefthanded hockey players playing in what was claimed to be a righthanded game. It isn’t true of course. Lefthanded hockey players play lefthanded in other parts of the world, notably the USA, where lefthanded equipment, including sticks and gloves are available. Not readily, but certainly available. It strikes me as just one more example of the ongoing bias against lefthanders that has to be overcome in order for these normal human beings to live in what most of us regard (not entirely rightly) as a righthanded world. Polo is another sport that has a ban on lefthanders, so I’m told. Seems in this case it’s the horses that would get upset. The horses? It’s only some sports that have this attitude towards lefthanded players. What’s their concern? Do they think lefthanders will somehow undermine the team spirit? Do they think righthanders will be caught short by a lefthanded swing? I’m not sure why these sportspeople can’t cope with the occasional lefthander in the game. Surely it would make the whole thing a bit more interesting. It can’t be just that there’s a bias towards lefthanders in games where bats are concerned, otherwise the much-lamented Bert Sutcliffe wouldn’t be noted for his left-handedness, along with a large number of other cricketers. In baseball, lefthandedness is considered an advantage – though I haven’t noticed too many righthanders being forced to change their natural hand inclination. And in NZ’s most popular sport (no, I don’t mean soccer or netball), rugby players seem to be extremely tolerant of lefthanders. And left-footers. As long as they can carry the ball, it doesn’t make any difference which hand it’s in. And as long as they can kick it into the right part of the goalpost, who cares which foot gets it there? Lefthanders have had a bad press for most of history. If women can play rugby and blokes can play netball, then surely lefthanders playing hockey widdershins isn’t really going to upset the world. |
This column first appeared on Society and Culture section of www.soapbox.co.nz on 12th May 2001
© Mike Crowl 2001