Violence In Sports Essays (1376 words) - Dispute Resolution, Crime

Violence In Sports Violence in Sports With the increase in society taking a stance against violence by many people, sports has become an area where some feel that the violent acts such as the hitting and fighting that occurs should be eliminated. You can not change something that has been around for so long becuse it would change the aspect of the game to something completly different. The elimination of violence should not be done in sport because the violence is a part of the game which would only hurt its popularity. The reasons that the violence is occurring in sport is due to six theories according to John Schneider. The violence in sport mirrors the violence found in society, violence as the result of economic incentives, the influence of crowd behaviour on player violence, genetic causation for player aggression, learning theory and player aggression, and psychological stress and player violence (Lapchick 230). The theories of sport mirroring society, violence as a result of economic incentive, and the influence of the crowd behaviour are the theories that I feel are responsible for the increasing violence in sports. Most people when involved in a highly stressful situation where violence is around would probably resort to a fight to resolve their differences. In sport, why should we expect any difference. In events such as hockey games, where people are expected to hit and make body contact, sooner or later a fight will break out and the fans will yell and scream for their favourite player involved. Like anything, if people around us are applauding us for a certain act we have done, we will try to do it over so that we will continue to be praised. In sports, there are some players whose only role on the team is to protect and enforce the unwritten rules of the game such as in hockey where it is not right to fight or hit a Wayne Gretezy or Mario Lemieux type of star player. His economic incentive is to protect the team and if he does not, a new line of work might be in the future. All three of those theories relate closely to the role of the fighter in sport and why it is that he does commit the acts of violence. When leagues such as the National Football League (NFL) or the National Hockey League (NHL) are asked to try and remove the violence from their sport, they are hesitant because it is not what the fans want. Bryant and Zillman report that television viewers enjoy NFL plays more when they are rough and violent (McPherson 294). Why should these leagues remove the violence that is occurring if they are making money and keeping people employed. The fans of the games want to see these situations and eliminating the fighting aspect would hurt the support. When I watch a hockey game or any other sporting event with contact, there is nothing better than seeing a good fight take place. One of the best-selling videos in parts of the Northeastern United States has been a collection of the best fights in the NHL (McPherson 294). Even former NHL president Clarence Campbell felt that the violence taking place in his sport was called for and was reluctant to remove the fighting and the body contact because he knew that it is what the majority of hockey fans want. Fighting is a well-established safety valve for players. If violence ceases to exist, it will not be the same game. Insofar as fighting is part of the show, we certainly sell it. We do not promote it. We tolerate it and we bring it under disciplinary control which we believe satisfies the public (Snyder 201). Its better that the violence take place between two willing combatants such as in sports than in a situation involving spousal abuse where the majority of the times the female is being attacked against her consent. Allowing people not to be able vent their frustrations through sport in my mind would increase the violence that is happening away from the playing field. It is a known fact that sports does keep kids off the street and away from gangs which is why you see so many athletic and boxing clubs being run out of the inner city. It is allowing the youth to take that hostility out on a willing participant who is ready and consenting rather than against an innocent bystander. Some individuals have gone