By Andjela Jagodic
The release of the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men’s hockey team’s alternate golden jerseys on Jan. 3 was glamorously showcased across all the team’s social platforms—the gold shine could not be avoided.
Yet, a glance through the posts shows only men wearing the golden jerseys, ordained with a ‘B’ in the middle of the chest, combined with stripes of blue and white. This raises the question: why aren’t their counterparts, the women’s hockey team, also being showcased in this jersey reveal?
In December 2024, TMU hosted Bold Giving Day—a 24-hour online fundraising event to support the school’s sporting programs including all their varsity, club and competitive teams.
“Our team specifically had a very good turnout on that day,” said fourth-year women’s hockey forward Cailey Davis.
“I think [Bold merchandise] attracts more people to want to come to our games and support us”
According to the Bold’s website, the women’s hockey team alone raised $18,501 of the approximately $145,000 raised from the event, gaining the most amount of financial support within all programs at the university.
Davis highlighted that each TMU team is given autonomy over their budget and how they want to utilize their funds—including those from the Giving Day, alumni and the athletics department overall—among other fundraising opportunities throughout the year.
The women’s hockey team prioritized their own set of needs and wants over a new jersey, using their newly obtained funds on winter coats for the team, according to Davis. Moreover, the remaining funds will be allocated for potential pre-season games, hiring a mental performance coach, purchasing advanced analytics software and end-of-year team bonding trips, according to a Bold Instagram post.
“We were fortunate enough that we got winter coats this year which are so nice and we all love them so much,” said Davis.
Additionally, the women’s hockey team does have another coloured jersey apart from their home blues and away whites. Every year, the players skate wearing purple-coloured jerseys for their Do It For Daron (DIFD) game, an initiative that helps raise funds for youth mental health awareness.
“Our team chooses to have the purple jerseys for our DIFD game, and that is something that we love to wear every year,” said Davis, adding that the players then auction their jerseys off every year after the game as one way to support the initiative.
Davis believes that the absence of the golden jerseys for the women’s team just comes from a difference in team priorities rather than a case of gender disparity within sports. “I really think it’s a ‘Choose-to-do-with-your-budget’ kind of thing,” she said.
Nevertheless, the neutral treatment of varsity teams in TMU isn’t a standard across nations.
Historically, in various university leagues such as the National College Athletics Association (NCAA), gender disparities were apparent, especially in funding and resource allocation. A 2022 NCAA Gender Equity Assessment identified significant funding inconsistencies between the men’s and women’s teams.
The financial disparity in the NCAA is not solely an American university sports problem, as Canadian post-secondary leagues such as U Sports have seen gaps in the treatment of women athletes.
A 2020 study within the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics revealed that even though women have been participating in Canadian university sports since the early 20th century, universities often failed to provide them with the same opportunities as their male counterparts.
For example, the University of Toronto (U of T) built a new athletic building, the Hart House, for men in 1919 but took 40 years to build a remotely similar facility for women at the university, according to a 2013 article in The Varsity.
“They’re making as many strides as possible to make sure that the two teams are kind of being treated the same”
Women eventually became the majority of the student body at U of T in 1994, yet still received remarkably less sports funding and playing opportunities than the men—alongside poorer facilities, and were not even allowed to enter buildings like Hart House until 1972, The Varsity article details.
For the Bold hockey teams, alternate jerseys are a notable difference.
“Since I’ve been here, the men’s teams kind of always had that third jersey, they used to have the golden ones with the ‘R’ on it, back when we were the [Ryerson] Rams,” said Davis.
In a similar fashion, the men’s basketball team sparked interest in the TMU community after having their own merchandise release before the 2024-25 began. The “Mandem” shirts, popularized by the team, also raised eyebrows for many, continuing the question surrounding gender exclusivity within branding.
Men’s basketball assistant coach Jeremie Kayeye was the driving force behind the creation of the t-shirts, explaining that the intention behind this exclusive apparel was to foster a sense of family and pride for the men’s squad.
“It’s a lingo of a term saying that we are part of one crew, whether you’re a man or a woman, you could be a part of the mandem,” he said. “It’s from the Jamaican culture, from the Bob [Marley] culture [and] is very influential within the basketball culture as well. So it was something that was just natural.”
Despite the term’s inclusive meaning, the women’s basketball players did not receive the shirts.
Kayeye admitted, “Even girls and women saw it, and they wanted it as well.”
He explained that there are plans to “blow it up” and share it with the rest of the Bold community later down the road, so more people—regardless of gender—have the chance to have a shirt. But the decision was made to keep the new merchandise just within the team and a few select staff members—including certain coaching staff on the women’s basketball team.
Many exclusive apparel drops at TMU like these—which also contribute to positive publicity and visibility for the teams—are primarily seen within the men’s team. The women’s teams, in turn, can feel behind the trend or left out.
Haley Fedick, a fourth-year forward on TMU’s women’s basketball team, reflected on the release of the unique “Mandem” t-shirts.
“Our team was like, ‘Can we get one of those?’ because our coaches would randomly pull up to practice in one of them, and we’d be like, ‘OK, when are we getting ours?’…everyone thought it was cool,” said Fedick. “I think it would be pretty cool if we got something like that too.”
Though lacking the “Mandem” shirts, Fedick mentioned that the women’s basketball team does receive specialty gear, like new tracksuits that were chosen by the players on the team. She noted that head coach Carly Clarke provides a lot of support for allowing the athletes to have a say in what they want for merchandise.
“[Clarke] does a really good job in that aspect…This year we got Nike Tech tracksuits that were super nice, and it’s exactly what we wanted. The other teams may not get some of that stuff,” said Fedick.
“Even girls and women saw it, and they wanted it as well”
She further believes the apparel athletes receive holds great significance towards team visibility and pride in the university community. Finding herself recognized across campus as a Bold athlete, she constantly wears exclusive merchandise from the team and recognizes that when people see the teams, their interest in attending games increases.
“I think [Bold merchandise] attracts more people to want to come to our games and support us,” said Fedick. “I think it sparks a lot more interest within the university.”
Similar to Davis, Fedick emphasized TMU Athletic’s support for their players and their continued efforts to promote inclusivity within their provided programs.
“In the last few years, [TMU Athletics] really worked on inclusivity and really educating the coaches and the staff that are there,” she said.
Davis also pointed out that TMU has no deliberate favouritism towards the men’s teams. “I really do think they’re making as many strides as possible to make sure that the two teams are kind of being treated the same,” said Davis.
However, she does think there is always room for more from the Bold and university athletics programs overall.
“It never hurts to just keep updated and be aware and make sure that everyone’s kind of feeling the same.”
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