File photo: Lambeth vs Port Stanley Nov. 24, 2012

Dear Editor,

Based on season games, I was not looking forward to the Lucan Irish series against the Port Stanley Sailors; not because it wasn't great hockey, but because of the ignorant and disrespectful behaviour of the fans.

During the playoff series those same ignorant and disrespectful fans have not disappointed!

In every game, both in Port Stanley and in Lucan, the fans, primarily teenage kids, constantly taunt and chirp the Lucan players on the bench and in penalty box. They yell obscenities and move around the arena to be sure that they are heard ... and that the Lucan spectators hear.

They kick and pound the glass behind our bench and chirp our guys in the box. There are quite a few of them - maybe 30 or so and they split up so that they have coverage behind our bench and above the penalty box.

In Lucan, we can control the situation to some extent and prevent them from sitting behind our bench and penalty box, but in Port they are free to go where ever they please.

Complaints have been made to the arena staff, who have not taken any steps to address the situation. Port Stanley parents also sit back and allow the behaviour to continue. Wow!

Things went WAY, WAY too far on Thursday night in Port Stanley when a Sailor fan thought that it would be appropriate to spit on a Lucan player in the penalty box - more than once. Who does that, and how is that cheering and supporting your team? That is just disgusting!

You don't see the kind of behaviour seen in Port Stanley anywhere else in the league.

You're a class act Sailor fans - not!.

Diane Stechly
Lucan, ON

Editor's Note: This playoff series is now tied at 2 games each. Most Sailors fans do not act like this, and the ones who have been may not even be from Port Stanley. Hopefully those guilty Sailors fans will cease this unsportsmanlike behaviour - and if not, then hopefully the Port Stanley Arena staff will eject them from the building. Game 5 is in Port Stanley at 8:30 PM on January 29, 2013.