The Greater Toronto Hockey League is paddling hard to distance itself from the high-priced controversy that surrounds minor hockey operator, Stuart Hyman. "I want to assure you that our Board of Directors is very concerned about the issues presented in the (recent Toronto Star) articles. Many of our Board members have, or have had, children who play in the league and, as parents, they appreciate the issues presented in this series of articles," league president John Gardner wrote in an open letter to GTHL parents.
Excuse me if I'm not exactly buying in.
The guilt, if there is any, on the great minor hockey ripoff begins with the league itself and everything that comes after that is a byproduct of its own short-sightedness, its quest for expansion, and its longterm unwillingness to deal with any issues involving individual organizations.
Please let me explain further.
More than two years ago, I had a conversation with Gardner about the increasing influence of Stuart Hyman in minor hockey and the high costs that go along with that. Gardner told me at the time that the league had no business looking into the individual operations of teams and organizations and he was bullish in saying how enthusiatic Hyman was about minor hockey.
After not being impressed with Gardner's laissez-faire attitude about a potentially emerging problem, I then contacted some members of the GTHL board.
One of them is a man I had previously served with on the executive of another organization. I told him about the concerns I had regarding costs -- some of them fair, some of them questionable -- and he said he shared those concerns but there was little the league could about it.
Basically he shrugged and then said he would get back to me. He never did.
I e-mailed another board member. He didn't return the e-mail.
Only recently, when the heat got turned up, did Gardner and many other GTHL voices suddenly start showing public concern. Only when it became a problem for them to start answering questions did they have any kind of reasonable response. Isn't that nice?
Price gouging has been going on at the AAA level of the GTHL for years and hardly a word has been said about it. It even happens at the house league level: I know of one community house league, under the GTHL auspices, that has over $100,000 in the bank. Somehow, these not-for-profit organizations start making a profit. There is an awful lot more wrong than one man and one operator.
The league should have to open its books.
The organizations should have to open theirs.
No one man -- no individual -- should own children's sports. No one should make profit from registration fees or any other organizational fees. The system, not just with Stuart Hyman's teams, but with every operation, needs to revamped.
As a volunteer coach, I am in the middle of what is seemingly a mess. I coach a GTHL A team that operates on a $51,000 budget. I coach a North York Hockey League Select team that operates on a $10,000 budget.
How is it that one team plays twice as many games and practices twice as many times for five times the cost?
And nothing will change until the GTHL cleans up its own house, opens its books, and makes all operations open their books (including community groups).
Nothing will change so long as there are parents willing to pay almost anything to make sure their kids are playing in the GTHL.
