Booing of The Star-Spangled Banner reignites debate on national anthems in sports

The U.S. flag hangs above the ice before the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche play an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

It’s been a decades-long tradition in North America, but a Canadian professor of sport management says it might be time to re-examine the legitimacy of national anthems being played before games.

Last weekend, sports fans in Canada voiced their displeasure with U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement he was raising tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports by 25 per cent. In hockey and basketball arenas across the country, they roundly booed the American national anthem before games.

On Monday, Trump agreed to pause the tariffs for one month. That night, Nashville, Tenn., fans returned the favour before the Predators lost to Ottawa 5-2.

On Tuesday, boos continued before NHL games in Vancouver and Winnipeg as well as Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena before the Raptors-New York Knicks contest.

The spectator angst created headlines worldwide. And it reignited the long-standing debate of whether anthems belong in North American sport.

“That’s a great question, it’s definitely timely and topical,” said Michael Naraine, an associate professor at Brock University. “I do think it’s time we look at, ‘Do we need to play the national anthem before a game?’”

While the anthem firestorm is smouldering, it could rage again Feb. 15 when Canada and U.S. meet in Montreal at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

Both anthems have been performed before games for decades, starting as a gesture of solidarity for the troops fighting alongside one another during the Second World War. But singing The Star-Spangled Banner before games south of the border reportedly dates back to the late 1800s.

Naraine said the American military had a role in the anthem being played before U.S. sports events.

“What many people don’t realize is part of the reason, at least in the United States, why the national anthems were traditionally played was because they were paid advertisements by the U.S. military,” he said. “The U.S. Department of Defense, through its various arms like the Army, Navy, etc., would have contracts with major professional sports leagues to play the national anthem, have the military salute, colour guard and things of that nature.

“There’s always been this, I wouldn’t call it a dual helix but I’d call it the intertwining of patriotism, the military complex and sport in North America.”

Trevor Harrison, a retired political sociologist at the University of Lethbridge, feels eliminating national anthems will be difficult.

“Very much so,” he said. “If you suddenly said, ‘Good evening folks, we have this game tonight, let’s drop the puck,’ I think many people would say, ‘Just a second here,’ because we’re so used to it.

“It’s almost like a Pavlovian kind of response.”

Offensive lineman Ryan Hunter of the Toronto Argonauts welcomes hearing O Canada before games. After an extended time playing football in the U.S., the North Bay, Ont., native appreciates the chance to hear his own anthem again.

“I grew up listening to (O Canada) every day at school and also in sports,” he said. “It’s just something I enjoy and appreciate as part of my pre-game ritual.

“I will say, man, if someone knocks out the national anthem with, say, a guitar or just good vocals, there’s nothing that sets the stage better for a big game than a national anthem that gets the people going … it’s always something you remember if you were there.”

When Hunter, 29, was in the U.S., the playing of the American anthem was a time for reflection.

“It’s a thank you to that country for allowing you to participate in professional sports or high-level sports in their country,” said Hunter, the CFL’s top lineman last season. “I think it’s a good thing to hear to remind you of where you come from.”

As does former NHLer Nick Kypreos — who played for Washington, Hartford, the New York Rangers and Toronto from 1986-97.

“I think most of us (pro athletes) are totally on board with that,” said the 58-year-old Toronto native, who earned a ’94 Stanley Cup ring with the Rangers. “We’ve been listening to music for an hour in the dressing room, then we shut the music off and we get serious, everything is focused and ramped up.

“Then you go out there and it’s a chance for a few minutes just to reflect. It’s always been part of the fabric since I can first remember and if they took it out, are they taking it out for the right reasons?”

Kypreos has always appreciated hearing both anthems before games.

“You never forget where you came from, where home is, family,” he said. “I always thought two anthems was the right thing to do.

“Again, if it’s one last chance just to calm things down before everything gets crazy at puck drop, I always appreciated it.”

Naraine said while other countries also play their anthems before games, it’s usually reserved for playoff and international encounters or those played on important holidays.

“In Australia with Australian Rules Football, each team has its own fight song and they play that as the team comes out on to the field,” Naraine said. “It’s the same thing with American college football or some NFL teams where they play their fight songs.

“We don’t have that in hockey so we kind of adopted the national anthem.”

Harrison suggests Canada’s anthem angst was fanned by Trump’s earlier talk of making the country the U.S.‘s 51st state.

“Many Canadians were really incensed by that,” Harrison said. “So how do you vent both your sense of pride but also to show the other side how angry you really are?

“Sports becomes the venue for that. It would be nice if people as individuals and teams just competed on some other kind of level but the intertwining of all of these things together probably makes that quite impossible.”

As for why anthems are such a hot-button topic, both academics agree: Sport is political.

“It has become political because it’s used by various actors for those political purposes,” Harrison said. “When a shipyard opens and a ship is set for launch, there are those who want to be there for the photo opportunity.

“Politicians also want to be there every time there’s a sporting event even though they couldn’t throw a football 10 yards … it’s kind of a way of reflectively showing their patriotism but also connecting with the fanbase, many of whom view sports in a kind of hyper-sense as attached to their identity.”

Canadians are guilty of the latter, especially regarding the country’s place on hockey’s world stage. And at no time was Canada’s identity more threatened than during the ’72 Summit Series versus the former Soviet Union.

“You think about the 1972 Canada-Russia series in the context of the Cold War,” Harrison said. “This is basically saying our system is better than yours and we produced better athletes and Canadians are incredibly proud of that moment, (Paul) Henderson and all that.

“We can forgive many things, including Bobby Clarke’s most horrible destruction of (Soviet star Valeri) Kharlamov’s ankle (in Game 6) but it was like, ‘This is war,’ and that’s how people viewed it. We as fans, many of those sports are so attached to our sense of who we are, our sense of identity and so it’s easy for politicians to also play on that.

“Donald Trump will go to the Super Bowl (Sunday) even though I don’t think he gives a damn about it. But he’ll go because, ‘My folks love it.’”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2025.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press