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Theoron Fleury: I was a victim of sexual abuse

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Bob Cook, Oct 9, 2009.

  1. AMacIsaac

    AMacIsaac Guest

    I always thought it was reprehensible of Italy (is that right? Or Spain?) to hire him as a coach after he had been handed a lifetime suspension by Hockey Canada and labelled a sexual predator by the RCMP.
     
  2. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    It was Spain. It was one of thos WTF? moments for me when I heard that tidbit of news.
     
  3. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    Why not?
    I mean, from what I always thought, it was fairly common knowledge. I wish it hadn't happened (which is what I thought you might have meant by the post), but since it was pretty much surmised it had I'm glad it got it off his chest. I think the secret probably caused a lot of problems.
     
  4. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    I just meant, I had really hoped against hope it wasn't true that Fleury had also been abused by James.
     
  5. Del_B_Vista

    Del_B_Vista Active Member

    I covered minor pro hockey for three years in Mississippi, and even I heard about this. Pretty much anytime a hockey player of that generation got into any kind of "trouble" (drinking, domestic violence, etc.), the first thing I did was go see if he came through Swift Current. Tremendously sad.
     
  6. beardpuller

    beardpuller Active Member

    I remember when Fleury acknowledging this would have really helped Sheldon Kennedy, who was trying to play in the wake of acknowledging it, as the only guy in the league who had done so. Don't want to be to hard on someone who was in a horrible situation I can't imagine, but Theo is a decade or so late.
     
  7. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    Les,

    Tough to criticize Fleury for this. Any abuse victim has the right to confront things on their own time. Can't help but wonder if he wouldn't have melted down in New York/Chicago if he'd admitted it earlier, but we'll never know.
     
  8. Clerk Typist

    Clerk Typist Guest

    He all but admitted it in Chicago by refusing to deny it, if that makes any sense. He may have admitted if off the record, for that matter.
     
  9. AMacIsaac

    AMacIsaac Guest

    It just seems that the 'comeback' was a calculated PR move to draw attention to the book.
     
  10. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    I've been thinking the same thing, although he did actually play better than I thought he would have.
     
  11. AMacIsaac

    AMacIsaac Guest

    In August, when Fleury first announced he wanted to make a comeback, Darryl Sutter was interviewed and pretty much said 'no way, no how, not Calgary.'

    Two weeks later, he changes his tune ... why?
     
  12. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Probably because Harper Collins' publicist called Sutter and said, "Hey, we're about to launch a new book by Fleury. It's about his drug and alcohol addiction because of Graham Jame's sexual abuse. Can you help us out with the book by giving him a tryout?"

    Yeah, that works.
     
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