Vice-Regal Saint: Hockey without the Queen
I have an intense dislike for the new modern hockey arenas slowly sprouting up all across Canada. And this is why:
When the last Ontario Hockey League game is played at the Memorial Centre, those in attendance will have to give a royal wave goodbye to the portrait of the Queen, which won't move to the new Kingston Regional Sports and Entertainment Centre.
The portrait of Queen Elizabeth II will remain inside the Memorial Centre and loom regally over the ice surface. The building won't close and the Queen will stay with it.
In the new facility, the city has plans for plaques along the main concourse to recognize all those who donated to the facility.
There will also be plaques near the donor's wall to commemorate the $4-million provincial contribution to the building and city council members who took an active role in the project.
The sports hall of fame will have plaques of its inductees, but the layout and look of the wall won't be the same as in the Memorial Centre.
"That's about it as far as plaques and portraits," said project manager Lanie Hurdle.
When standing to sing the national anthem, a regular occurrence before sporting events, those in attendance will be able to face the Canadian flag, but no longer the Queen.
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8 comments:
One by one, bit by bit, the battle is joined.
Creeping republicanism, or at least inadvertently preparing the groundwork: so that well-meaning, but ignorant subjects, particularly younger ones, can come along and assume an a priori irrelevance and pointlessness in the Crown.
But that irrelevance is being achieved right now. It has been determinedly and ideologically wrought these past 100 years. It must stop. Many sympathetic to republicanism are so because they feel an urge for coherent identity, belonging, national loyalty, etc. People like JJ say you cannot have this with the Monarchy. But the fact is we once did, and in many ways still do. The choice to get rid of it IS a choice.
What a shame, especially given the long and deep connection of the Crown with hockey in Canada. Not only the Stanley Cup, but portraits like this one. I think my loyalty was fostered, in part, by standing in Brampton's chilly Memorial Arena singing the anthem while facing the portrait of Her Majesty.
It's sad to lose this culture, and this connection to tradition, but most of all it's, as Scott says, tragic to see these managers are already assuming "an a priori irrelevance and pointlessness in the Crown," thinking the change means nothing at all.
Any chance of a letter-writing campaign or similar programme of public pressure?
If you read between the lines in the article you'll see that it shows where the real loyalty lies these days: with money, those who made donations to build the new stadium are given pride of place over our Sovereign Lady
Fact of the Day:
On 30 January 1606 Sir Everard Digby, Thomas Winter, John Grant and Thomas Bates were hanged, drawn and quartered for their part in Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot.
heritage.scotsman.com
Bingo, Anonymous hits it. No more Queen, just boring plaques and corporate boxes to Ted Rogers and Rupert Murdoch and the other grubby republicans with pockets stuffed with cash. The oh-so generous, using their wealth to de-commission our heritage.
"The oh-so generous, using their wealth to de-commission our heritage."
Sounds familiar.
Remember when the Lords in The House of Lords were chosen via that mysterious lottery called birth. Well, it has now been suggested that you can have a Seat in the Lords if you make a rather large donation to one of our political parties. The ultimate decommissioning of our heritage but also with a warning - to those who think a president won't be bought in a rather similar way.
Creeping republicanism in the Loyalist City? Former capital of the Loyal British Province of the United Canadas (1841-1844)?
And you ask me why I am despondent about the future.
Mark my words, I will be interred under a Red Ensign. A final statement that I have long had as my final wish.
I was doubly dismayed after the Jets unceremoniously left the NHL that the refurbished home of the 'Manitoba Moose' did away with the huge portrait of The Queen that evoked such nostalgia in an antiquated stadium for the smallest North American professional sports team where one could see moments that will always live on in the heart of a fan.
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