Rory: Deontological Device In Sport

As a professional soccer player, Rory has played soccer long enough to know the rules of the game and the right way to play it. In a day and age where soccer players try and use simulations to gain an advantage, these actions are giving the wrong idea to youth soccer players who aspire to become professionals like Rory. The message that Rory is sending shows other athletes and spectators that deception is and ethical practice in sport, which takes away from the positive values that sports like soccer teach. In this situation, the appropriate course of action would be to give Rory a yellow card for feigning an injury. This type of behavior needs to stop and athletes need to be penalized accordingly.

According to Eitzen (1996), American values

are responsible for the ethical problems that exist in sport. Athletes are taught that “winning is everything” and with this attitude, the morals and spirit of the game can get lost. This approach is instilled in young children as Eitzen highlighted a football team of fifth graders that lost their state championship game received plaques that said, “There is no room for second place. I have finished second twice at Green Bay and I never want to finish second again (Eitzen, 1996).” If this type of conduct is being taught to young athletes, it is no wonder that Rory tried to deceive the referee by diving in an attempt to help his team win. This practice of diving has become a frequent tactic used by players to gain an advantage and though it is not considered cheating by the rulebook, the act is unethical. There is a difference between side tackling to try and gain possession of the ball and what FIFA calls a simulation. FIFA considers diving as ‘unsporting behaviour’ because the athlete tried to feign an injury or pretended to get fouled (FIFA, 2004) and these types of actions not only ruin the game, they also dehumanize athletes in the process (Eitzen, 1996). A player like Rory could receive a bad reputation in the league, and though he may be an excellent soccer player, the character of an athlete outweighs the skill in the eyes of fans, spectators and stakeholders.
For this ethical situation, the onus is on the referee to make the right decision for Rory’s misconduct.

A deontological approach can be used here as the issue is based on the idea of fairness. The right thing to do here is to punish Rory for his actions address the issue of positive deviance in athletes. Positive deviance refers to the rejection of norms in sport by coaches and athletes. Hughes and Coakley (1991) explore this issue and found that athletes do not believe they are overconforming to the sport, but are rather confirming their identity as members of the team they represent. In this example, Rory is deviating from the norms of soccer by diving, an unethical practice that he thinks will help his team to victory. As a young member of the team, Rory may have felt the pressure to perform and sacrifice himself for the group and Hughes and Coakley (1991) hypothesize that these behaviours are most common in athletes that overconform in sport. The appropriate punishment for Rory in this situation would be to give him a yellow card for misconduct, potentially fine him for his actions and suspend him. This type of policy shows the teams that the league does not condone this type of behavior and that the game needs to be played fairly and in the right

way.
An article by Bergmann Drewe (2003) demonstrated that athletes are aware of the repercussions of ethical issues in sport. Athletes showed concern for harming other people, but others were also concerned with harming the nature of the sport (Bergmann Drewe, 2003). Soccer is the perfect example of a sport where the integrity of the game has been lost on actions by those like Rory. Professional athletes have this responsibility to uphold as role models for their sport, respective teams and community. The behavior that Rory demonstrated at the end of the match is not acceptable and younger athletes should not emulate this. Punishing Rory for his actions shows his teammates, the league and soccer players around the world that soccer and sport do not endorse cheating and unfair play.