Multiculturalism at its finest. Hockey game turns into fight, then riot.

Ever hear that series of jokes ‘…and that’s when the fight started’? How about the one where some Muslims had a riot and a hockey game broke out?

Hockey player says Burnaby fight was religiously motivated CBC

Last Updated: Monday, January 26, 2009 | 10:16 PM PT Comments43Recommend29

Izaiah Buksh is suffering from bruises and will need to undergo a root canal after allegedly being attacked at ball hockey game.Izaiah Buksh is suffering from bruises and will need to undergo a root canal after allegedly being attacked at ball hockey game. (CBC)

Izaiah Buksh is suffering from bruises and will need to undergo a root canal after what he says was a religiously charged fight that broke out at a ball hockey tournament in Burnaby, B.C., on Sunday.

The 20-year-old, who was playing in the B.C. Muslim Sports Association-sponsored event, said he was warned not to play in the tournament because, though he’s a Muslim, he is not a Sunni.

The mood of the game turned tense early on when his team took an early lead. Buksh said the opposing team, made up of Sunni Muslims, told him, “You guys shouldn’t even be here. You’re not Muslim.”

Violence ultimately escalated after a play where the opposing goalie swung his stick at Buksh.

Buksh said he went to tell the referee, and when he turned around, he was attacked by a player.

That’s when the fight broke out…

“Another player on my team came in and then my dad and the coach came in. At the end, it was most of the gym to three or four guys,” Buksh recounted.

He estimates his group was outnumbered about 10 to one.

Buksh’s father, Ahmed, said he feared for his son’s safety.

“It was basically a riot by that time and swarming — one of my sons fell down.”

The B.C. Muslim Sports Association said it will issue sanctions against some players. It contends, though, that the sanctions are purely sports-related and that the incident was not religiously motivated.

Corrections and Clarifications

  • Izaiah Buksh says he was injured in a fight that was religiously charged, not racially charged as was originally reported. Jan. 27, 2009|7:55 a.m. PT

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

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