OPINION: Sexism In Sports Still Rears Its Ugly Head

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 is a federal law which states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." The term "Title IX" has almost become synonymous with equality in sports, both at the scholastic and college levels. Unfortunately, a recent snafu at Kent State University in Ohio involving Division I female athletes became just the latest example of how sexism, whether blatant or unintended, continues to creep into the sporting landscape.

A three-day field hockey event at Kent State last Saturday has generated a storm of controversy which has included stories in national publications, including People magazine, and renewed equality arguments which, despite Title IX, have been ongoing for decades.

Temple University and the University of Maine were locked in a scoreless duel through regulation time, then neither team scored in the first overtime period. Prior to the start of the second overtime session, a Kent State employee came onto the field and informed the teams their game was over. The reason? The field hockey playing surface, located adjacent to Dix Stadium, was needed to be prepped as the launching site for a fireworks display planned for the noon start of a football game between the Golden Flashes and visiting Kennesaw State.

Yes, in 2019, pregame fireworks (in mid-day, mind you) took precedence over completion of a women's Division I game, involving scholarship student-athletes who had traveled hundreds of miles (867 for Maine, a mere 399 for Temple).

Backlash to the situation was instant. The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) issued a public statement on its web site, denouncing the decision to cut short the contest.

• "It is our understanding that while both programs were made aware of the 10:30 a.m. stoppage of play via a May 2019 email, Kent State University failed to communicate the steps that would be taken should the 10:30 a.m. hard stop be reached. The NFHCA Office has reviewed the game contract and cannot find any reference to the 10:30 a.m. hard stop nor can we find any information regarding what would happen if the game was not completed prior to reaching the "drop dead" time. While we are aware of the fact that Kent State officials offered to complete the game at 5:30 p.m. and pay hotel costs for the Temple team, we find their lack of preparedness and the timing of their response to be unacceptable."
• "While we understand that the fireworks were deemed to be an important part of Kent State University's Family Weekend festivities which featured the home football contest, we cannot understand why the university would seemingly prioritize a daytime fireworks display over the completion of a Division I Women's Field Hockey contest. The optics and the messaging to every field hockey program and to every field hockey player are that while they matter, they don't matter more than pre-game football festivities. We see this as a terrible message being communicated to female student-athletes in this year of 2019."

The NFHCA statement was signed by President Andy Whitcomb and Executive Director Jenn Goodrich, who is a Kent State alumnae and served as the university's head field hockey coach from 1994 to 1996. Read the complete statement here.

Dr. Patrick Kraft, director of athletics at Temple, issued a statement on the Owls' athletic web site, writing, "The circumstances that prevented the completion of our field hockey contest against Maine on Saturday are simply unacceptable and our student athletes and coaches deserved better. Fairness and equality are essential in the mission of college sports and I am disappointed for the student athletes at Maine and Temple whose competition was not deemed worthy to finish. I am so very proud of our head coach, Susan Ciufo, her staff and our student-athletes for the way they handled the disappointment of not being able to complete this hard-fought match."

Maine coach Josette Babineau and Bear seniors Brianna Ricker and Riley Field spoke at a news conference Monday upon the team's arrival back in Orono.

"On one level, we should be shocked and surprised but, on another level, it’s pretty sad it’s not so shocking," Field said. The full news conference is displayed below.

Kent State athletic director Joel Nielson issued an apology to both schools on behalf of the athletic department, which read in part, "In hindsight, a different decision should have been made to ultimately ensure the game reached its conclusion. We hold ourselves to a very high standard, and in this situation, we failed. I realize that my statement does not undo the negative impact on the student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans who deserve to see their teams compete in a full contest. Also, we let down the field hockey community and its supporters as a whole."

USA Field Hockey Executive Director Simon Hoskins said, "As the National Governing Body for the sport of field hockey, we at USA Field Hockey are passionate that all who participate in this sport are given a fair opportunity to compete. Not allowing the teams to continue the contest following a single overtime and scoreless game hinders that chance and diminishes acceptance of field hockey. As we continue to grow this sport in the United States, this situation makes it even more difficult to empower our athletes and field hockey community. We take pride in our representation of the sport at the collegiate level and rely on it for the furthering our success on the national and international stage. We at USA Field Hockey applaud both the University of Maine and Temple University for their handling of the situation and will continue to support the idea that all student-athletes have equal access to the right to compete."

Several renowned Connecticut sports personalities weighed in on the situation via social media.

Award-winning sportscaster Leah Secondo, an Enfield native who became Connecticut's first female sports anchor at WTNH-TV in the early 1990s, wrote on Facebook, "The fact that this happened in 2019 is mind boggling." In response, former UConn star and current Northwestern University head coach Tracey Fuchs wrote, "A visionary may have just have saved the 1 minute firework show until the first touchdown, first timeout, or well, until it was dark enough to see them."

Unfortunately, these situations seem to crop up all too often. In 2015, the state girls ice hockey championship game between Simsbury and the East Catholic/Glastonbury/South Windsor co-op team was declared a 2-2 tie after two overtimes, despite neither coach being informed of that potential scenario prior to the contest.

Four years earlier, Simsbury had been involved in a similar playoff game, losing 3-2 in five overtimes to Ridgefield in a first-round matchup. Certainly, the Trojans expected a championship contest to be played to its conclusion, but tournament officials apparently had other ideas.

The title game at the Terry Conners Rink in Stamford was ended shortly after 3:30 p.m., which had been the scheduled starting time of a Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference tournament game between Greenwich and Darien. Speculation about the motivation for ending the girls contest early ran rampant at the time, and persists to this day.

Old-school mentality has recently cropped up twice in my hometown of Enfield, though not on the scale of the aforementioned incidents.

A sign posted on the lower level parking lot fence at Enfield High School instructs residents on the rules of using the artificial turf playing surface, installed in the late 2000s. One segment told readers to contact the Building and Grounds Department to reserve use of "the football field."

As a parent of an athlete who plays her home games on that field, I found the sign to be offensive. It is not a football field; it is a playing field. It serves as home turf to boys and girls soccer, boys and girls lacrosse and field hockey, as well as football. In fact, football is the sport which plays the fewest games on that field - just five per year. In contrast, the other sports each host eight games per season, in addition to state tournament contests.

After several complaints were made to town council members, the sign has now been altered to read "synthetic field."

As recently as last Tuesday, two seemingly innocent comments were made at an Enfield Town Council meeting which further perpetuated the mistaken notion that football is a bigger deal than everything else. During public communication, a nice young man who is running for the Board of Education said, "I want to give the town a reminder that Sept. 13 is the first football game at Enfield High. It would be great if the town came out. Let's get some support for our team's first football game."

Shortly thereafter, the school board chairman also briefly addressed the council, adding information that "the game next Friday is at 7 p.m."

Why single out football? Because it is a high-profile sport in most parts of the country? Why ignore the other six fall sports offered at the school? Their first games are coming up as well; they work hard in practice every day as well; and they make their school community proud. In fact, Enfield has won five state championships in team sports in autumns past, all of them in field hockey.

I may be nitpicking on these last two issues, but nevertheless it is infuriating as an athlete's parent, as a sportswriter and as an American to see this type of favoritism, intentional or not, shown toward one allegedly "glamorous" sport over all others, especially from those holding or seeking elected office. All student-athletes deserve equal consideration, even those playing sports which may not be as popular in contemporary society as others.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Patch Media Corp. Opposing viewpoints are welcomed.