The relentless drive to make the Canadian armed forces into a living joke continues. The administration of the Royal Military College has forbidden its cadets to take part in a re-enactment of a nineteenth-century hockey game because they might get hurt.
The cadets who play this game, dressed in nineteenth-century garb with rules and equipment that hearken back to 1886, are honouring the invention of Canada's national obsession by our soldiers of the Victorian era. It's true that this match is part of a much-loved tradition that pits RMC against Queen's University and the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. It's true that this game has been played without injury for 34 years. It is true that no physical contact is allowed. But, as spokeswoman Joane Thibault, it's against the rules to play hockey without helmets and protective padding.
Many readers will share the sentiments of Peter Dawe, who will lead a replacement team of former cadets, average age "about 65". This doughty oldster remarks: "I find it ironic that the mission of the college is to train people to lead troops in combat ... and then we shy away from playing a game of shinny."