Lecture 8 Sport and Violence

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Lecture 8Sport and Violence
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This lecture will identify

1. A brief history of violence in sports
2. On-field violence among players
3. Off-field violence among players and the impact
   of sports upon peoples lives apart from sports
4. Violence among spectators who watch media
   coverage of sports and attend events

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What is violence?violence, aggression,
intimidation

• Violence is the use of excessive physical force,
  which causes or has the potential to cause harm
  or destruction

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Aggression

• The term aggression will be used to refer to
  verbal or physical actions grounded in an intent
  to dominate, control, or do harm to another
  person
• Aggression is often involved in violence,
  although some violence occurs without aggressive
  intent
• That is, a very competitive person may use
  violence to win rather than with the intent to
  harm others

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Intimidation

• Intimidation is the use of words, gestures , and
  actions that threaten violence or aggression
• Like aggression, intimidation is used as a means
  to dominate and control another person

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Violence throughout sport history

• Violence is not new to sport and physical
  activity
• As we have noted, the ancient blood sports of
  ancient Roman and Greek times were commonplace
  and accepted
• The folk games that resulted in death and injury
  would shock people of today
• As would the sports in which animals were used as
  a means of sport and entertainment ie cock
  fighting, dog fighting

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Gladiator Video
http//youtu.be/0TPzwx4Uw7c
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Violence on the field

• Using Smiths typology of categorising
  on-field violence
• Brutal body contact
• Borderline violence
• Quasi-criminal violence
• Criminal violence

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1. Brutal body contact

• Includes hits, tackles, blocks, collisions
• Physical practices that are common in certain
  sports (often highly masculinised sports)
• Most people in society think of this as extreme
  yet it is not illegal and is not punished

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2. Borderline violence

• Includes practices that violate the rules of the
  game but are accepted by most players and coaches
  as being within the bounds of sports ethics eg
  shirtfront in AFL

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3. Quasi-criminal violence

• Include practices that violate formal rules of
  the game, public laws, and even the informal
  norms of the players
• Examples include king hit behind play,
  spear tackles, elbow hits to head, eye gouging
• Fines and suspensions usually eventuate

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4. Criminal violence

• Includes practices that are clearly outside the
  law to the point where athletes condemn them
  without question
• Law enforcement may even prosecute them as crimes
• Whilst rare criminal violence can and has
  occurred in sports eg ice Hockey in 2000 when a
  player smashed anothers head with a stick

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Why Violence?

• While players often do not feel comfortable with
  brutal body contact and borderline violence it is
  condoned and accepted within their sport
• Violence for some athletes can reaffirm a
  position in the side and reaffirm membership of a
  group or subculture
• Those who use (and accept) violence can often
  become legends (Dermott Brereton)
• Those who use quasi and criminal violence are
  marginalised (David Granger, Phil Carman)

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Commercialisation and violence in sports

• Brutal body contact makes good television
• Brutal body contact is what many sports fans want
  to see in masculinised contact sports
• Governing sporting bodies try to eliminate
  on-field quasi and criminal violence
• However, quasi-criminal has been around for many
  years prior to television coverage
• We should not believe that commercialisation of
  sports has created the need for high impact
  brutal body contact and quasi-criminal behaviour

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Violence off the field

• When athletes are arrested for violent crimes
  many people assume that it has something to do
  with their violent strategies learned on-field
• However, the carryover from on-field to
  off-field is difficult to research and assess
• Things to remember
• High profile athletes are in the spotlight and
  will attract media coverage otherwise not covered
• People may provoke violence due to status of
  athlete

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Violence among spectatorsDo sports incite
violence among spectators?

• Violence among TV viewers
• Little data on this
• We know they become emotive but do not know
  whether anger is directed at family and friends
  at home

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Violence at sport events

• Spectators attending non-contact sports seldom
  engage in violence ie golf, tennis,
  gymnastics
• Spectators at contact sports are more vocal and
  emotive, yet most have not been involved in
  violent acts
• However, crowd violence does occur
• http//youtu.be/ktWZddqf390 (Vancouver Riot)