Sports and its events are often portrayed as a pastime of bonding and enjoyment. However, this belief is often disregarded, especially when pride and power (winning) are on the line. Sports can transform from an enjoyable to dangerous event. In this case, in sports, pride and violence can easily be intertwined. Conversely, the pride of a fan can easily give way to violence if fans perceive another fan is overstepping their boundaries. This can and often does lead to violent outbursts of rage and isolation of the fan’s once relationship with other fellow fans and even the team as well.
Within sports, pride is expressed thru different levels. According to sport marketing scholars Alain Decrop and Christian Derbaix, there are 4 different levels
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Primarily, many of the times that violence occur at sporting events, they are among fans of the opposing teams because “ [v]iolence does not evolve among heterogeneous people at the sporting event. Rather, a process of selection occurs” (Ward, 2002, p. 462). However, during the 2003 game 6 of the Chicago Cubs versus the Miami Marlins playoff game Ward’s theory of heterogeneous fan violence was debunked because fan violence does not just occur between two teams and their fans, but violence can occur between similar fans, in this case, between a Chicago Cub fan against the entire Chicago Cub fan …show more content…
In the documentary, Gibney interviews fellow Cub fan and attendee of the 2003 playoff game Laurie Holmes stated, “ everybody was thinking ‘this is a great game’; I want this ball” (Gibney, 2011). However, very few Cub fans had empathy for the violence and isolation that Bartman had to endure. Sociologist Eric Anderson described the theory as, “ ‘in-group’ and ‘out-group’ serves to divide communities and reify stereotypes of those we perceive as being different” (Anderson, 2010, p. 141). However, what was unique about Bartman’s experience was that Bartman was not simply categorized as either the in or out groups, but rather he had been a part of both categorizes because of his once established relationship with the Cubs and his untimely severance of the relationship with the Cubs and their fans. Not only was Bartman harassed and threatened, but he was left to fiend for himself and disregarded by those affiliated as a fan with the
As long as there have been sports, there has been violence in them. Ice hockey, particularly due to its increasing popularity as a professional sport, has brought up several ethical issues regarding the act of fighting in hockey. There are strong arguments for both sides of this present problem in the world of hockey. Numerous male athletes, including children as young as nine years of age, have suffered injuries as an outcome of fighting and it should be considered if it should be part of a sport that very young people grow up with (Brust, Leonard, Pheley & Roberts, 1992).On the other hand, fights create excitement and the sport of hockey might grow in terms of popularity, making the problem of fighting in hockey complex and difficult to resolve (“Towards An Explanation Of Hockey Violence: A Reference Other Approach”). Even though hockey is known to be a very aggressive and fast-paced sport, the unsportsman-like action of fighting in hockey cannot longer be tolerated.
Dr. Steven Aicinena from thesportsjournal.org, in the article “When Pride Goes Wrong”, says that athletes will go far enough to have pride as to hurt other players unknown of the consequences. For example, in the article Dr. Steven says, “Athletes experience mental anguish, embarrassment, shame and may come to hate sport as a consequence of strong humiliation. More sinister is the prospect of the athlete feeling poorly about him or herself as a human being” (thesportjournal.org). This quote shows that there is a horrible consequence for those that do not have a balanced life. This quote also reveals that pride does not bring a blessed life, but instead a life full of grief and worry. This quote proves that people cannot be ill-willed to others because they want to feel mighty and proud or else they are going to be the one that will be humiliated instead. One will receive consequences if they are not balanced in their life or show
Research guided by conflict theory generally falls into the following categories: 1) studies of how athletes become alienated from their own bodies; 2) studies of how sports can be used to coerce and control people; 3) studies of sports and the development of commercialism in society; 4) studies of sports and various forms of nationalism and militarism; and 5) studies of sports and racism and sexism. (Coakley, 1998) In the book, Meggyesy provided examples of each of these categories which occurred during his footba...
Coakley, J. J., & Donnelly, P. (2007). Violence in Sports . Sports in society: issues & controversies (9th ed., pp. 198-199). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
The importance of fans is vital because in addition to skill talent and hardwork, fans greatly affect how a team performs in their games. They affect the way a player plays because fans have a way of getting into their players heads and the opponent's head, even the referees are affected by the fans and we rarely notice the importance. In 2001 a Sports Ethics article “ The Ideal Fan” by Myles Dichter he explains the importance of fans and connection between fans
...ent behavior in order to win the game. Whereas, “sports violence can be seen as either an example of laudable competitive drive present in worthy participates or an underhanded attempts at rule bending” (Raney & Depalma, 2006). Moreover, decades of media exposure may have led to an increase in the acceptance of violence. Is media coverage exploiting sports violence and aggression for ratings? It’s unclear if fans are becoming desensitized and/or imitating the violence witnessed through the medium of media. Regardless, it’s abundantly clear the changes need to be made in light of the negative effects. Identifying and examining media’s role in the public’s acceptance of aggressive behavior in sports may aid society in minimizing the violence and aggression as much as possible surrounding sporting events to make sporting events safer for both players and fans.
When examining the issue of criminal acts in sports it is easy to realize that there are many places where these acts occur. The range of these acts is far more vast than just in the professional arenas. This is, however, what the public sees and hears about most often. While this is one of the major topics of this paper, criminal acts are found in all of sport ranging from professionals, to college, high school, and in youth sports, including the reaction of the fans. This paper will take an in-depth look at the four major points regarding criminal acts in sport: the acts themselves; the consequences of those acts; the possible reasons for the acts occurring; an analysis of a few major events that have occurred and the possible solutions to the problem of criminal acts in sport. In the section about fan reaction to sport, there will be an overall account of the individual acts and not personal cases due to the overload of personal events that occur.
Sports are an important aspect in society. They help people to strive to reach certain goals and join people together, but they also can divide people and turn a fun game into the main purpose of someone’s life. Taking sports games too seriously can be harmful for both the athlete and the spectator. The attitude of always winning at any cost in sports and has managed to distract us from other important parts of our lives, such as health and education. This importance of the value of sports can heavily influence the way that we see ourselves as both the spectator and the athlete by creating a positive self image and distilling confidence and discipline within the player, or by embedding self doubt and invertedness.
Violence has for a long period of time reared its ugly head during sporting activities. Undoubtedly questions have been raised on whether football and other violent sports contribute to making human beings more civilized or they propagate the innate violent nature of human beings that has characterized their way of life. Several theories have been proposed to try to give an explanation to this peculiar human behavior. Among these theories are the biological, the psychological and the social learning theory. Biological theory asserts that aggression is an inevitable component that is part and parcel of human relations (Maguire 2008 p 54).
obsessed by those sports and by taking a sport away from them, could ruin their
...s between fans at local and national levels, the striking feature of the research is the high degree to which football unites people from varied backgrounds across the whole of Europe, and undoubtedly beyond. The prevention of football hooliganism requires a concerted and continuous response. Cross-national and cross-local dissimilarities in the patterns and forms of football hooliganism reveal that, despite important transnational resemblances, football hooliganism is nested within particular (local) fan cultures. Prevention strategies should therefore be designed to fit local needs. The good practices discussed in this paper may help to promote a more profound understanding of possible strategies for the prevention of football hooliganism. To advance such an understanding, the transnational exchange and dissemination of local knowledge and practices are required.
Referees are a part of of almost all sports. They are there to provide unbiased judgement on rulings of sports. Referees rarely get credited for the good they do, but they always take heat from angry fans, coaches, and players, no matter whether the call is good or bad. Sometimes, reactions go too far. Violence tends to take place if a referee makes a call at the wrong person at the wrong time.
This way of consuming sports demonstrates the importance specific spaces, such as the stadium, to the fans, as well as the strong local sports subculture. The “die-hard” fan
Others theories have to do with what each sport allows to occur. In a sport such as hockey, where people are expected to hit and check each other as hard as they can into the boards, sooner or later a fight will break out. Many people who follow hockey watch it just for the fights and when a fight occurs they cheer on their favorite player in the fight. Playe...
The history of violence in sporting events that break the law is appalling. What’s even more appalling is the lack of court involvement in these incidents. All of these acts are beyond what would be classified as acceptable during a game and the criminal code is often violated, but the usual punishment is a penalty or forcing the player to sit out a game. Episodes of criminal violence range from an unnecessary tackle causing a fracture to a fight that causes a player to break multiple bones, and in some cases. Fights started that ended in player deaths.