Violence in Sports
Violence has always had an Impact and raised some contention for as long as sports have been around and has become part of the sports culture and values. The violence that takes place in and all sides of sporting has led to severe physical as well as psychological consequences for the participants. Some sports, like hockey and football, accept mild forms of violence. However, the participants in such sports cannot control the injuries they sustain, and that is a violation of the written and the unwritten rules of the sport (Weinberg, 2016).
Psychology professor Joseph Maguire discusses how violence is an essential part of contemporary sports. He claims that both aggression and violence are two natural traits that are inevitable and instinctive human behavior aspects (Maguire, 2017). Sports are also a form of release, for they allow the safe give way of aggression that I a part of an individual instinctive personality. Boxing is an example of the aggressive nature of sports that are not entirely accepted outside the sporting world. However, in the boxing ring in front of the audience, it becomes acceptable.
According to Lawrence Wenner, violence in sports is sustainable because the spectators love aggression and that it enhances both the audiences’ and the television ratings. Sports, in its seriousness, does not require fair play; it is mixed up with jealousy, sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence and disregard of all the rules. Even though Lawrence’s statement seems a little extreme, he is right that the spectators do embrace aggression. There is the bloodthirstiness that manifests itself in people, especially in mob scenes. Notably, people feel a lot of safe, welcoming violence when they are in large numbers (Real & Wenner,2017).
Spectators may love violence from their seats in the fields or even at home, but what about the athletes that are taking part in those violent events? It is quite a regret that society has gotten to the point where people can sit and enjoy violence, not thinking about the repercussions. A lot of athletes are severely injured through instances that can be avoided, but the audiences are thrilled with watching aggression, and it will go on as long as the ratings keep going up.
References
Maguire, J. (2017). My Journey: Personal Reflections on a Sociological Craft’, Reflections on Sociology of Sport (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Volume 10).
Real, M. R., & Wenner, L. A. (2017). Super Bowl. Sport, Media, and Mega-Events, 199.
Weinberg, J. D. (2016). Consensual violence: Sex, sports, and the politics of injury. Univ of California Press.