A Long Time Coming

In a move today that seems long overdue, the IIHF finally came to its senses in handing down a stiff punishment to Russia and its ally, Belarus, after the former invaded Ukraine with the latter pledging its allegiance to the invading forces. I mentioned last week that something like this had to happen as politics and sports can and do intersect thanks to sports being a microcosm of society, but the biggest question mark was always whether the IIHF had the teeth and the fortitude to come down heavily on one of the sports' premiere nations when it comes to medals and results. The IIHF answered the call today with the ruling they made, and it's about time they held Russia accountable for its actions.

We need to frame this properly because this should have happened long ago once the depth and extent of the state-sponsored doping was revealed following the 2014 Sochi Olympiad. The IOC was overseeing those situations, though, and they ruled that not all Russian athletes were involved, allowing the clean Russian athletes to continue to participate in Olympiads under the Russian Olympic Committee guise.

The reality is that the Russians should have been suspended as a nation from future competitions since they participated as a nation under their flag, not as individual athletes. The IOC, who has only given Russia stern looks and slaps on the wrists, allowed them to continue to compete despite the bans imposed, and that was followed by Russia's celebration as the doping bans were overturned for 28 athletes who competed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"This, of course, cannot but give us joy," Vladimir Putin said on February 1, 2018. "It confirms our position on the fact that the vast majority of our athletes are clean."

Except they weren't. They still got caught. Again and again and again. If this had been in one sport, you could understand that the Russians may have a doping problem in that sport while justifying the inclusion of other athletes, but this doping happened in virtually every winter sport featured on the international stage. That's not a coincidence.

Based on how poorly the governing bodies for sport had held Russia accountable for its abhorrent behaviour in the sports world, should we have been expecting a tougher decision for any of them when it came to the political landscape on the planet?

FIFA, soccer's governing body, ruled on Sunday that Russia could continue to compete in FIFA-backed events under the name of its federation - the Football Union of Russia - while playing without its flag and anthem at neutral venues. This immediately drew fire from Poland who objected to the decision and maintained their stance in not playing against Russia at any point as the team next scheduled to play the Russians while potential future opponents Sweden and Czechia both reiterated that they will not play Russia either. Again, Russia somehow eluded real punishment for their actions.

However, FIFA announced on Monday that they had reconsidered their position following the complaints of the member nations above, and, along with UEFA, announced that Russia had been expelled from the 2022 World Cup and its teams suspended from all international football competitions "until further notice". Rarely do I cheer for the likes of Poland, Sweden, and Czechia, but they forced FIFA and UEFA to be accountable when it comes to issuing proper punishments for abhorrent actions on the world stage and they deserve some kudos for making that happen.

In seeing FIFA and UEFA come to their senses over the mess caused by Russia, the hockey world waited on the IIHF to do the right thing as well, and we finally got the announcement earlier today. I recommend clicking the image below to read the IIHF's statement.

Starting from this day, not only are all Russian teams banned from international competition, but teams from Belarus are banned as well for supporting Russia's invasion into Ukraine. That, folks, is the kind of response that the hockey world has been seeking for some time, and with FIFA's and UEFA's decisions to ban Russia, we're finally seeing Russia get what has been coming to it for so long in the sports world - real punishment for inexcusable behaviour.

I need to tack a caveat on this as well because I know that some people are going to start the what-about-isms when it comes to Russian players in the NHL, Russians playing elsewhere outside of the KHL, and foreign-born players playing in the KHL. To that, I say that each team has a right to do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of those players. At no time do I feel that individual players should lose their jobs unless a team has the necessary evidence to terminate the contract of those individual players, and those players deserve the opportunity to pursue their dreams and aspirations without feeling like their safety is in jeopardy at any time.

However, if a player has been vocal with public comments about the political situation in Russia, Belarus, or Ukraine, I do feel that those comments can and should be questioned based upon the evolving situation in Europe depending on team rules. Each team's public relations department is responsible for setting the expectations at press conferences when it comes to what can and cannot be asked, so it will be up to that team and those players who have spoken publicly in the past to deal with those individual situations. And they should be forced to deal with their statements in light of what has happened on the world stage.

What is clear is that, for the first time in long, long time, the IIHF has shown its teeth and done the right thing in preventing Russia and its ally, Belarus, from using the international hockey stage as a prop to unite the people of those countries while they commit atrocities against other peoples and other countries. As we know, Vladimir Putin routinely celebrated Russia's hockey legacy and achievements whenever possible, and the IIHF made it impossible with this ruling for him to celebrate anything. As it should be.

I'm of the thought at this point that even if this invasion ends in the coming days, Russia should still be punished to the fullest extent of the IIHF's ruling. This is a chance to make an example out of this situation where any future tyrant-dictator-warlord who believes that no harm will come to his country's national prominence on any international sports stage will have to think twice before imposing his desires on others.

The line in the sand has been drawn, and the IIHF deserves some applause for taking a stand. It was a long time coming, but the major governing sports organizations finally did right in handing down tough punishments to a country that has long needed to be punished. Kudos to the IIHF, and here's hoping that Ukraine's people stay safe in this very scary time for their country.

Until next time, keep the people of Ukraine in your thoughts!