The Ontario Hockey League has suspended Greg Betzold of the Petersborough Petes & Jake Marchment of the Belleville Bulls for abusive, sexist comments made on the “dating” app Tinder recently. Both players were given 15 game bans each after screenshots of their comments went viral this week.
Prior to league’s sanctions, both Betzold and Marchment apologized for their comments via Twitter:
I apologize for my unacceptable private comments that were recently publicized – they do not reflect my true values or views.
— Greg Betzold (@Betztrick) November 3, 2014
Even though it was a private conversation, my comments were inaproriate, disrespectful, and I accept full responsibility for my actions.
— Jake Marchment (@JMarch11) November 4, 2014
I have embarrassed myself, my teammates, the Belleville Bulls organization and the city of Belleville. I truly apologize for my actions.
— Jake Marchment (@JMarch11) November 4, 2014
Apparently, the OHL quickly determined that those apologies weren’t nearly enough & the players’ actions warranted significant suspensions. Here is the league’s official statement on the matter:
These suspensions follow recent social networking activity that has come to the League’s attention. This most inappropriate and concerning activity contravenes the League’s social networking policy and a number of other policies including Respect in Sport (Harassment and Abuse) and diversity.
The OHL takes issues related to respect, diversity and harassment very seriously. The social networking conduct displayed by these players goes against what the League stands for and serves to highlight a sense of entitlement that we, as a League, have worked hard to try to eliminate. We believe these suspensions, going forward, will reinforce to our players that all activity, be it in person, on the ice or online, must be in keeping with our policies. These events further illustrate that the League and our teams must continually work with our players to ensure they understand and appreciate our social networking policy. The League will also look to our current programs, outlined in our Players First Guide, to see where improvements may be made in terms of communications and respect for others.
It’s certainly not a great look for two 19-year old NHL prospects, that’s for sure. Betzold is a prospect for the St. Louis Blues, while Marchment was a sixth round pick of the Los Angeles Kings this past summer.
