Queerness and Sports: A Battle off the Ice
Melina Tavakoli Moghaddam, Sub-Editor, BA Politics and International Relations with a Year Abroad
***Spoilers ahead!
The cast and crew of the hit Canadian TV show Heated Rivalry had a small budget and a dream when heading into filming the adaptation of Rachel Reid’s book series, Game Changers. With only 36 days to shoot six episodes, the on-screen characters of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov have captured a pop culture moment that our generation has been missing. The portrayal of two gay men in ice hockey navigating their identities and relationships was not one that was expected, but has quickly become an essential gem of media that was needed.
Director of Photography, Jackson Parrell, was key to piecing together the cinema that episode five is. The series is notorious for the amount of sex scenes it represents, but Parrell ensures to capitalise on these intimate moments and display the realness of sex that TV has been missing. The close shots of slow, caressing hands and unspoken tears in the backdrop of dim lighting echo the very fear of connection in a heteronormative world; Parrell refuses to cater to rendering gay sex on screen as mere ‘smut.’
Hitherto, the audience first encounters the characters of Shane and Ilya as entangled within a hookup culture that they cannot escape. That is, until the artfully composed phone call scene where Ilya confesses his love to Shane in his mother tongue. The ten-minute Russian monologue sinks into the shot as the sound blends from that of a phone call to the very stairwell that Shane is listening to Ilya from; they are transported beyond the call through listening to one another, even when Shane does not understand what is being said. Even without subtitles, one does not need much to comprehend that the two characters are deeply in love, at battle with what this means for their careers.
This realisation is not new, and it exists for many queer people within sports, not least in ice hockey. First developed in Canada during the 19th century, ice hockey actively reinforces a culture of hyper-masculinity built around rules such as bodychecking (a defensive manoeuvre) against your opponent. Due to its full-contact nature with only six players per team on the ice at a time, the male version of the sport fosters such a tight-knit community that opinions of players can merge and seethe into homophobia, racism, and sexism. It has become increasingly difficult for LGBTQIA+ individuals to participate in Canadian sports without the fear of being assumed to be the target of derogatory language and discrimination. According to Hockey Canada, there has been a decline every year in the number of young, gay male players in youth hockey since 2014. Of course, this is not a surprise when one realises that it was only two years ago that a player refused to participate in the ‘Hockey Is For Everyone’ initiative in the National Hockey League (NHL); he stuck out like a sore thumb compared to his team as he was the only one not wearing a Pride-themed jersey during a warm-up, citing religion as his reason.
Today, there are still no players who are publicly out as gay in the NHL, with one single exception being a prospect player, Luke Prokop, who only came out in 2021. Despite a rise in tolerance and productive conversations in men’s major league sports, it is evident that gay men in sports, especially ice hockey, do not feel the security in their field to come out. Queer visibility is consistently placed on the back burner of sports at the cost of winning, being viewed as a distraction rather than a necessity.
The shock popularity of Heated Rivalry was precisely because they questioned the heteronormative standards of men’s sports that boil life down into black or white for queer athletes; it is a performance of protest seeking nuance for LGBTQIA+ individuals. In the fifth episode, the public coming-out of a supporting character, Scott Hunter, a veteran player, is met with exhilaration from the audience as the player invites his partner on the ice and kisses him. However, this act was not done without the series addressing the difficulties the couple had been forced to face previously. Queer folk are not unfamiliar with disownment or fracturing connections, but this very familiarity is what haunts the community. People shouldn’t have to decide between dedicating themselves to their career or to being true to who they are, whether that be on-screen characters or real athletes.
Unsurprisingly, as a result of the positive response to the TV series, more fans have become vocal about the importance of visibility in ice hockey. The show is also responsible for the coming out of a real-life hockey player, Jesse Korteum, where he credited the accurate portrayal of ostracisation in the sport as relatable and touching enough for him to stand against the noise.
This is why queer media, especially accurate representation, is necessary. Despite the sparked debate around Heated Rivalry’s sex scenes, the wider impact of the show raises awareness towards the fact that homophobia and shame can be so internalised within sports leagues that sex is the only communication one can have without needing to publicly come out. In this light, controversy surrounding gay sex on screen becomes redundant; representation, when done correctly, helps young athletes realise they are not isolated in their journey, and we must ensure we continue on the path of Heated Rivalry.
