Black player enters the game, Finnish team plays racist song called “We wanted to be n******”

According to a report from Finnish language media outlet Ilta Sanomat, a junior player in Finland took to the ice while a racist and offensive Finnish folk song blared over the speakers. The title of that song? “We wanted to be n******.” I’ll let you fill in the blanks on your own…

While we don't know the names of the teams or players involved, you dan below for the report from Ilta Sanomat translated from Finnish to English:

His team's dark-skinned player was on the ice as Kake Singers' old hit song, We Wanted to Be N******, began to sound on the hall speakers.

- I don't know if the clerk played it purposefully, but it was a very sad event. Fortunately, the song was cut off fairly quickly, the coach tells Ilta-Sanomat.

- Boys are getting out of their way. They cannot understand why this is happening. They are sad and angry at the same time. Tears come to my eyes.

The coach emphasizes that in this senior junior match everything went well this time. The opponent's players, coaches and other officials regretted what had happened after the match and behaved very well.

The coach no longer wants to keep silent about his experience. He has been following the racism of his players for too long and wants to raise the issue in public debate. However, he does not want to disclose the name of his club, which, according to the coach, could lead to worse audience behavior.

- In such situations, I become completely powerless. I'm trying my best to comfort the boys, but it's not easy, the coach says.

Awful. Who thought this was a good idea?!

According to the report from Ilta Sanomat, the team's manager has come forward condemning the in-house DJ for playing the song and made it clear that it was a rogue act that's not in-line with the team's values.

Again, from Ilta Sanomat:

The club managing director confirms that the inappropriate song was played in the match in question.

- This is in no way an activity that complies with the values of the club. One person has played the song. The matter is handled and taken very seriously. We will not accept this in any case, says the CEO.

At the time of the first interview, the CEO was not yet able to say how the song ended up on the playlist to be played at the match.

He later said it was a song played by an individual on his own phone.

Here's hoping that the person responsible was held accountable. At the same time, it's somewhat of a relief that the player names and team names were not released by Ilta Sanomat. Cancel Culture is alive and well in hockey and it sounds like this isolated incident was the doing of just one individual. Again, here's hoping that individual gets their comeuppance and that other members of the organization aren't painted with the same brush. Racism is disgusting and has no place in our sport.