“If I returned to that team, it would be to help change the environment. Magali Harvey has a lot to say about the culture that prevailed until recently in the Canadian women’s rugby team.
A culture “problematic” and “terrible”, according to her, whose history made its way until the Olympic Games in Tokyo, last summer.
Harvey and 36 other Rugby Canada players signed a formal complaint “under the Federation’s Harassment and Bullying Policy” last January. They expressed the “psychological violence, harassment and / or intimidation to which these athletes felt subjected”.
Rugby Canada, citing its policy, had concluded that women’s rugby sevens head coach John Tait had nothing to be ashamed of.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
John Tait led the Canadian national team for six years, from 2015 to last April.
The players, including Olympian Karen Paquin, publicly revealed their approach last April. On social networks, they said they “followed the procedures stipulated in the Rugby Canada policy”, implemented in 2013. A policy since replaced.
“We believe that the process did not protect us and did not recognize the abuse and harassment we believe we were victims of,” read the April publications.
John Tait ultimately resigned. However, he always maintained that he had done nothing wrong. But the hazy cloud continued to darken the team’s horizon until the Olympic tournament in July. Result: the Canadians came away with a bitter ninth place, despite hopes of a medal.
But Harvey was not on that team. The one who made her mark at the Rugby Union World Cup in 2014 has not taken part in a national team match since 2017.
Notably because of John Tait.
One of the reasons I stopped playing [pour le Canada], it was because of that trainer.
Magali Harvey
John Tait has since found a job in British Columbia for BC Rugby. The issue is that Canada’s players are training in Victoria, Vancouver Island.
“BC Rugby, by doing this action, puts someone in power who will see the same players who have potentially made a complaint,” illustrates the player from Quebec, when we join her at her home in New Zealand.
“John has a lot of potential as a coach, she qualifies. But it would have been necessary to separate the situations completely so that the two parties do not talk to each other. Now, they will still see each other from time to time. ”
A review of the performance culture within Rugby Canada is underway. Rugby Canada president Allen Vansen believes it will be completed by the end of November, with a release of the findings in early December.
Victims of “cognitive hijacking”
Harvey says he fears for the “legacy” this case will leave.
“There are players who are friends with those who have made complaints,” she explains. There are mothers, parents who hear about what happened. “
Whether true or false, if I were a parent, I wouldn’t want my child to be there.
Magali Harvey
“There are a lot of super good athletes who, in the end, may decide not to play rugby, especially in British Columbia, to avoid situations where they are cognitively hijacked. [gaslighting]. […] I believe that in the long term, it is the legacy that will suffer. ”
Cognitive diversion is this way of manipulating “aimed at making a person doubt themselves by resorting to lies, denial, selective omission or distortion of facts” in order to “take advantage of the anxiety and confusion thus generated, ”says the Office de la langue française.
This was part of the complaint submitted in January.
But Harvey doesn’t hold a grudge.
“I don’t want something terrible going on with this fellow. I think he has a lot to offer in terms of experience. I just think it was mismanaged. ”
“There are people who will say, ‘You don’t have good results, you just hold a grudge.’ Does that mean that if these players had won gold, suddenly they would be right to speak? This is a problem. This leads to the question: how much is it that you have the right to take care of yourself? What is a medal worth? ”
An uncertain future
It is currently full containment in New Zealand. The government has set itself the goal of completely vaccinating 90% of the population before easing restrictions.
Harvey can not therefore practice her sport, she who wore the colors of the Auckland Storm in the New Zealand rugby union provinces championship.
So here she is, returning to Quebec in two weeks, before starting her master’s degree at the Smith School of Business at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. A one-year accelerated program.
I had made up my mind before the coach got fired. I don’t know if I would have made the same decision, to have known! [rires]
Magali Harvey
She confides that she feels a bit of “FOMO” (fear of missing out, or the fear of missing something, in French) at the idea of seeing Canadian players take over. In addition to the fact that women’s leagues are starting to appear all over the world.
“I look at my teammates and I’m like, ‘Oh my god! They are the same age as me! ” It looks like a beautiful environment. ”
“I see this wave which is so good for women’s rugby. There are so many opportunities. ”
But something else runs through his mind.
“At the same time, maybe I’m a has been She laughs.
“The goal was almost to be a hero”
At 41, former All Blacks player Carl Hayman suffers from dementia precocious. On Wednesday, he announced that he had joined a lawsuit brought by 150 players against the authorities of international rugby. He wants radical changes to be introduced in his sport to minimize the risk of head injuries.
According to Magali Harvey, there are “a lot of initiatives being done” in this direction.
“When I started my career, the goal was almost to be a hero. You would get hit on the head, but you would say, “No, I get up, I am in pain, and I continue because that was the intention.” I think that has changed because there are doctors watching the game and if they think something is going on, they take the players out. ”
“I know because it happened to me at the last World Cup [en 2017]. It prevented me from playing one of the games. But it’s a good protocol because it takes away your choice. ”
But we can still do better.
“There isn’t always a doctor during training,” she adds. You are in such a competitive environment. You don’t want to lose your spot. “
Once again, it comes back to the question of culture. In some teams, it has to change “so that it creates a safe environment in which, if you’re injured, you say so.” And you say it because you feel safe to say it ”.