Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Poll: Hardcore fans like fighting, people who dislike hockey don’t

prustneilfightgetty

The results are hardly groundbreaking, but yet another poll of Canadians on the topic of hockey – (Fun fact: 75% of polls in Canada are hockey-related, 20% involve politics and social issues, and 5% ask respondents if they think Americans are rude.) – shows support for a ban on fighting is directly related to a person’s level of interest in the game.

Chart courtesy the Globe and Mail:

Fighting

Again, no surprise there. Fighting has always had the strongest support from hardcore fans, not to mention those closely involved in the game (players, coaches, GMs, people with the last name Bettman).

What I’d be curious to know is how many Canadians that dislike hockey would become fans if fighting were banned. My gut says not many.

On a lesser note, I’d like to know why 12% of respondents who dislike hockey were strongly opposed to a ban on fighting. It just seems weird they’d be “strongly” opposed. Maybe they’re worried hooligans would lose interest in hockey and start running around the library spray-painting books all day?

Anyway, the Environics poll also sought opinions about player safety and this year’s playoffs. Full chart here.