A prospect for the Ottawa Senators has gone viral for the durag he sports under his helmet.
Djibril Touré was playing in a prospect game Sept. 13 against the Toronto Maple Leafs when he got into a scrum and his helmet came off, exposing his close-fitting cloth.
Touré had sported his durag — worn by Black men to protect their hair and braids — last season in the minor leagues and said it was never really a big deal outside of a few comments from teammates and opponents.
But his recent bout with the Leafs brought it to another level of exposure. Video of him wearing his durag, seen millions of times online, was largely praised on social media.
“We’ve never seen anything like that before, a player wearing an actual durag in any hockey game. And then it catches on like wildfire and people are actually celebrating it, like are looking at it in a pretty positive way,” said Julian Mackenzie, The Athletic’s Ottawa Senators reporter.
Players in other sports leagues such as the NFL and the NBA have, in the past, faced bans against wearing durags.
The NHL did not return a request for comment about its position, but the Ottawa Senators franchise is supporting Touré and local hockey organizers say it shouldn’t be a problem.
“This is who he is, this is who he put on the table, or on the ice as the case may be,” said Godlove Ngwafusi, co-founder of the African Hockey Association. “If he comes with a durag, that’s what it’s going to be.”
Touré said there’s always going to be pioneers for doing things first and “I’m happy…to show the younger people [to not] be afraid.”
Mackenzie says Touré’s on-ice attire will have long-lasting impacts.
“A kid right now who wants to play hockey and wants to protect their braids and just have a helmet on and they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t know how people are gonna feel’ — they could point at that moment and they could say, ‘Well, if he’s able to do that around NHL players, why can’t I do that in my minor hockey league, right?'”
As for Toure’s future with the Senators, he wants to play in some NHL games this season — and plans to get his braids done beforehand.
He’ll be wearing his durag.
