Many college field hockey conference matchups are set to get underway this weekend.
One of them is in the Big East and features Old Dominion at Liberty. On the eve of the conference competition, the head coaches at the programs had a private chat about a remark describing the game as a ‘bloodbath.’
ODU head coach Andrew Griffin published his candid response on ODU field hockey’s social media pages.
Here’s what he had to say about the use of the word to describe today’s contest. Griffin does not say where the comment originated.
“I just wanted to publicly respond to a message that I was made answer of by the Liberty head coach, field hockey coach, about our game tomorrow, um, at ODU versus Liberty. And, uh, the reference to it being a ‘bloodbath.’ And, I know we have a good history, a good rivalry. But, I was quite personally offended by the comment. And, it’s not what we talk to our team about. We talk to our team about playing tough, and playing hard, and playing well, and staying focused on ourselves. I also think it’s extremely inappropriate when a bloodbath is what’s going on in Ukraine, right now, and Russia. A bloodbath is what I was worried I was going to find when my son rear-ended a car last week. And, fortunately, he’s OK. When I broke my neck, and there was blood all over our kitchen this summer, that’s a bloodbath. So, we’re playing games of field hockey. And, they should be competitive, but they should be treated with the appropriate respect in the words that are used about them. And, we’re gonna stay focused on playing good field hockey and having a good game tomorrow.”
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