July 14, 1999 - It's important to realize that virtually all OUA football players are still just kids. Many rookies are away from home for the first time while others continue to return home in the summer. They exist in the sheltered world of university protected from many real world concerns. This is all painfully obvious from the adolescent and often immature conversation being carried out by current and former Mustang players on the discussion pages of other web sites.

While perusing one such site recently the ugly issue of hazing and initiation reared its head yet again. And with training camp slated to open in just a few weeks, perhaps it's an opportune time to comment.

The issue is whether hazing rituals are necessary and important parts of the development of a winning team. Keeping in mind that they will now be the hazers and not the hazees, the feeling amongst a number of team players is that they are. Words such as team building, bonding, unity, rite of passage and rookie ego deflating are commonly used.

The reality is that hazing is a simple way for veteran players to exact revenge for having suffered through the degrading rituals themselves and have a good time at the expense of others. It's intimidation, a power trip and a way to threaten younger players in an attempt to protect their own positions within the team, both on and off the field. Team building and bonding comes on the field. It develops after long practices in the cold mud on rainy fall afternoons. It comes after the gut wrenching victory against a tough opponent. And it comes from the guy who gets up off the field, bells ringing and muscles aching and runs back to the huddle ready for more.

When the hazing issue first appeared in the London media during last season, stories arose of rookie players leaving the team either before or after the hazing-filled "rookie night" took place. I imagine that the talk amongst the hazers in the locker room regarding these players was not complimentary. However, these young men showed a level of courage and dignity far above those who wished to inflict the hazing. They had the strength of character to stand up for their beliefs and convictions. It's a shame we had to lose them; hearts like that are hard to come by.

Fortunately not all Mustangs feel that the hazing ritual has value. Known as "Former Stang" on the discussion group, one former player, in response to a current player's defence of the ritual, had this to say:

"I always found that the guys who weren't secure in their football ability, and felt challenged by rookies, were the biggest hazers, by far. Most of the good players stayed out of it, for the most part. I'm also not so sure that hazing builds rookie unity and promotes bonding. I believe it was the shared experience of a harsh training camp, of challenging ourselves to the max, and being successful together is what promotes unity, not some hazing ritual. In regards to cocky rookies, most of that cockiness was erased on the field when the got their asses handed to them.

Watching the events this year, [as a guest] I thought the whole scene looked ridiculous ... the initiation night is a tired, old ritual simply that has lasted this long only because its "tradition." "

Thank you Former Stang. Well said.

And now to the issue of responsibility. Head Coach Larry Haylor and his staff have a duty of care to the players greater than that found in professional sports coaching and in many other areas of the university. They also have a duty to respect and uphold the University's various policies and standards of conduct. By failing to prevent these rituals from happening, they have failed in this duty. Every day that they are dealing with players, the coaches are dealing with a group of people that are hovering between adolescence and adulthood. For some, the level of maturity is already high, for others it has a long way to go and for most it lies somewhere between. Like it or not, the coaching staff needs to be not only on-field coaches but off-field mentors and role models. Through their childish boycott of the 1998 athletic awards banquet, in this role they have also failed.

In the future, any player that is involved in hazing practices should be thrown off the team, regardless of position or ability. Any player who ostracizes a rookie for failure to participate in hazing rituals should be thrown off the team.

And if any hazing rituals are carried out, Coach Haylor, as the Head Coach, should be held responsible.