Sports​—Why Do They Excite Us?

Sports​—Why the Increasing Violence?

IT WAS 10:38 a.m. on October 25, 1981. Over fourteen thousand people in running gear were lined up at the Staten Island end of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, New York. Suddenly, a cannon shot broke the air and two rivers of humanity began to flow side by side across the bridge. What was the occasion that drew such a massive participation? The 1981 New York Marathon.

It was estimated that some two million people watched the race along the 26-mile (42-km) route and millions more by television. Athletes from 57 countries took part. New York city really got involved and millions of New Yorkers and others got excited.

Excitement over sports is a worldwide phenomenon. For example, recent news reports spoke of growing sports enthusiasm in China. The New York Times (Nov. 18, 1981) reported: “Tens of thousands of Chinese converged on that [Peking’s] vast downtown area last night for boisterous celebrations . . . The euphoria was over the Chinese women’s volleyball team, which defeated the United States . . . and Japan . . . to win its first world title.” Even the normally placid Chinese got excited about sports. Volleyball became front-page news in the Peking press.

Another outstanding case of sports-generated excitement is the 1982 World Cup soccer finals to be played between 24 qualifying nations in Spain during the dates of June 13 to July 11, 1982. Over the last two years more than a hundred countries have competed for the privilege of being among the last 24 qualifying teams. Hundreds of millions of supporters worldwide follow these soccer games with avid interest. In Lagos, Nigeria, a large crowd packed the stadium eight hours before the kickoff between Nigeria and Algeria. Likewise crowds of Chinese fans celebrated China’s soccer success in defeating Kuwait in a qualifying match for the World Cup series.

No doubt about it, sports attract and excite the masses. But why?

One underlying factor in modern life is the humdrum existence that millions are forced to lead in our computer-controlled society. As a consequence many want to break out of the treadmill routine by entering the exciting world of sports fantasy. For the minority, fulfillment comes as a participant. For the majority, it comes as a spectator. But they all want excitement, and that results from uncertainty. In sports uncertainty is the key​—who will win? Thus the crowds flock to sports events or stay glued to the TV.

But are sports beneficial or harmful? Can they benefit you, whether as a participant or as a spectator? What about sports at school, high school, university and professional levels? Why has sports violence increased? Why has it spilled over onto the grandstands of stadiums?

Why the Violence in Sports?

Sports​—Why the Increasing Violence?

BELOW are just a few of the headlines that have appeared on sports and editorial pages of different nations in recent years. Sports have become identified with violence, both on and off the field of play. But why?

Has Violence Increased?

Stanley Cheren, associate professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine, recently wrote: “As the population becomes more experienced with violence, the need for more extreme violence to satisfy the wish for violent stimulation grows. . . . People will pay fortunes to see other people get hurt. . . . It escalates as people become jaded. In the 1930’s, people were shocked to see, on the screen, James Cagney slap a woman. Now that is nothing; far more serious acts of violence are demanded for excitement. . . . So, in spite of the fact that fighters have been getting killed in the ring, the fans wanted more action. . . . In our jadedness, we have pushed to the point that we allow our athletes to risk death.”

Let us illustrate this with a popular sport in North America, football (not to be confused with soccer). American football has always been recognized as a physical contact sport, after the style of British rugby, but even more so. However, in recent times more violent play has become the norm. The protective equipment often becomes offensive armor. For example, players use the rock-hard plastic safety helmets to convert their heads into punishing missiles.

The violence of the game is epitomized by the following comments of professional footballer Jack Tatum (Oakland Raiders) in his recent book They Call Me Assassin.

“Professional football is vicious and brutal; there’s not much time for sentiment.”

“I never make a tackle just to bring someone down. I want to punish the man I’m going after and I want him to know that it’s going to hurt every time he comes my way.”

“I’ve used the word ‘kill,’ and when I’m hitting someone I really am trying to kill, but not like forever. I mean I’m trying to kill the play or the pass, but not the man . . . the structure of football is based on punishing your opponent.”

“I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault, but at the same time everything I do is by the rule book.”

Tatum’s last comment is significant. It was “by the rule book” that one tackle of his permanently paralyzed a man. What would be felonious assault anywhere else is legitimate on the playing field. Little wonder that one sports writer said: “With the uniform comes protection from the laws.”

Tatum’s remarks do not reflect the attitude of just one particular player. Commented George Perles, assistant head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers (U.S. Football): “[Football] is a very, very violent life, mean, tough, brutal, masculine.” Writer William B. Furlong stated in an article for the New York Times Magazine: “Life in the Pit, as the center of the [scrimmage] line is called, has always been violent, as violent at times as a knife fight in a dark room . . . [it] often includes punching, cursing, gouging, kicking.”

Jerry Kramer, offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers football team, wrote in his book Instant Replay: “I started off the day determined to get mean and serious for the game. It’s something that can’t be done just on Saturday and Sunday [before the game]. It has to be done starting Monday or Tuesday [a week before the game] . . . You work up an anger, then a hatred, and the feeling gets stronger and stronger until, on Sunday, you’ve got your emotions so high you’re ready to explode. . . . When I want to hate an individual, I make it a point not to look at the other team before the game . . . I feel if I don’t see him, I can hate him a little more.”

This same violent spirit is being manifested more and more in soccer. Heitor Amorim, former goalkeeper for the São Paulo Corinthians soccer team, Brazil, comments: “I left soccer in 1970 and at that time it was in a phase of transition. It was changing from a game of skill to one of force. Art and skill began to give way to violence. I believe that if Pelé [perhaps the greatest soccer player ever] were playing today he would not be able to pull off 50% of the marvellous plays he did in the 60’s. Violence would thwart him. And the fans would go along with it. They seem to love violence.”

Even in those sports that were once considered the essence of fair play and gentlemanly conduct, such as tennis and cricket, violence has crept in​—both verbal and physical. Tennis was once the game of well-mannered people who had learned to practice sportsmanship. During the last decade that philosophy has evaporated in a series of tirades, tantrums and obscenities from some of the leading professionals.

Are Schools Affected?

With such violence at the professional level of sport, is it any wonder that similar attitudes have crept down to college and high school levels? Marvin Vickers, a stocky 24-year-old from New Jersey, played football for his high school in North Brunswick and received offers to play at university level. What does he say about violence in school sports? “The coaches taught us to play dirty. For example, if we knew that an opponent had hurt his ribs then the order was ‘Pound his injured ribs!’ In fact, if we didn’t pull out injured two or three of their guys, it wasn’t really a game.”

Even at high school level hatred and violence are instilled in the youngsters. Wrote university and high school instructor Fred F. Paulenich: “Youngsters are taught to hurt, to cheat, to victimize for the god Victory. Coaches show high school and college teams violent films to psyche them for opponents.”

Dave Schultz, Canadian ice-hockey player, famous for his brawling style of play, recently said: “I do apologize to the young players who saw my style or play and used it as a model. . . . I played that way because everyone​—coaches, fans, media—​seemed to expect it from me.”

That last comment leads us logically to the next question.

Why Has Violence Increased?

“Coaches, fans, media.” These have become major factors in sports violence. Between them they make the law of supply and demand function. The fans want action and excitement. That is the demand. The coaches are often employed by business tycoons who want their franchises to flourish financially. That means keep the fans happy. So the coaches are driven to satisfy the public demand. On the sidelines, the media, especially television, join in, alternately exalting and condemning the violence.

Some years ago Vince Lombardi, professional coach for the Green Bay Packers U.S. football team, expressed his sports philosophy in the following now-hackneyed phrase: “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” He certainly did not originate the idea. He just synthesized in a few words the prevailing mentality in professional sports.

But why is winning so important? The above-quoted news report supplies the answer: “Universities [in the U.S.A.] make multi-million dollar investments in their Division I athletic programs (much of it for scholarshipped athletes) for many reasons, not the least of which is the potential for huge profits from successful football and basketball teams.”

Big business and profits are the key. Sports generate money as never before. The fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearn in September, 1981, “was the richest single sporting event in history with an expected total gross of $37 million.” Recently, eight U.S. baseball players signed contracts “that average from $500,000 a year to $926,000 a year.” Fernando Valenzuela, the famous Mexican pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is reported to have earned from $300,000 to $500,000 in one season just from endorsements of products. According to the Argentine daily La Nacion, the Boca Juniors soccer club deposited the equivalent of $1 million as “payment of the first quota for the definite purchase of Diego Armando Maradona,” one of Argentina’s star soccer players. From Australia it is reported: “Now the sky’s the limit and football is big business, with each of the 12 Victorian Football League clubs having an annual turnover of about $1 million [Australian dollars].”

What is the end result of big business involvement in sports? Increased violence. Why? Because sports now require vast incomes from its spectators and television channels. That means the consumer has to be converted into a sports addict in order to guarantee a constant vast inflow of cash. How is that accomplished? By supplying what the customer demands​—excitement. And excitement usually means violence. Thus the self-sustaining cycle is established. The coaches have to teach and demand violence because the fans (abbreviation for “fanatics”) want it. And the business moguls want their profits. And the media, to boost their own sales, alternate between adulation and accusation. Caught in the middle of this vicious circle are the players who have to come up with the goods​—action, excitement and violence.

Why Spectator Violence?

Today’s exorbitant sports wages and prizes have spawned a secondary motivator of violence. How so? The spectator pays a high price to watch highly paid professionals. As a result he demands perfection all the time. No allowance is made for failure or for an off day. This process is aptly explained by Professor John Cheffers of Boston University: “There is an essential diminution [lessening] of respect for players who are considered by the sports fans to be overpaid, sometimes cantankerous, certainly spoiled. Consequently, the setting up of professional sports people as performing seals, expected to be perfect at each attempt, dehumanizes them and renders them as merchandise in the eyes of management and spectator.”

What is the logical consequence of this process? Spectator violence. But why should that be? Well, what do you do if you buy a defective product in a supermarket? You complain to the manager or the manufacturer and expect redress. And how do you complain in a sports stadium if the performance is not up to par? Since there is no official channel for redress, the disappointed fan irrupts in spontaneous violence. Over the last two decades spectator violence has been boosted by two more factors​—drugs and drink. Many fans arrive at sports stadiums already drunk or drugged, or are well on the way, and are equipped with further supplies of beer and marijuana to sustain them through the game. As the match progresses crowds become mobs, inhibitions disappear, and “Mindless Violence” is the next day’s headline.

Spectator violence has reached such levels in Europe that many countries do not want certain fans at their matches. “Fans of England, don’t come back!” was the message from Basel, Switzerland, after England supporters went on the rampage in that sedate Swiss city. People in downtown Barcelona, Spain, shudder when they think of the Glasgow Rangers fans that sowed panic in their streets in 1972. The fact that the situation is worsening is attested to by one embarrassed England supporter who said: “I’ve been travelling to our games abroad for 13 years and watched it getting worse and worse. Now yobs [hooligans] from areas like Chelsea, West Ham and Manchester are coming just for the aggro [aggression, aggravation]. They don’t even watch the matches.”

Is There a Solution?

Violence in sports, both on and off the field, is now a world plague. All kinds of patchwork solutions are being suggested and tried. In many stadiums around the world the fans are now fenced in behind a moat, like wild animals at a zoo. In some stadiums fans of opposing teams are restricted to different spectator areas. Police and riot squads are reinforced. Some authorities have suggested severe laws and penalties for violent players and onlookers. Sportsmen have even advocated banning certain violent actions in some sports, such as ice hockey. “But the team owners, fearful of what impact this might have on ticket sales, never acted upon it.”

Obviously, sportsmanship and fair play cannot be legislated into people’s hearts and minds. They have to be taught as an integral part of a balanced approach to life. But is that possible? If so, how could it benefit you and your children? What can be done to make sports a healthy fun activity rather than a do-or-die ordeal?

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THIS resulted in THIS

Sports and the Family​—A Balanced View

Sports​—Why the Increasing Violence?

“THIS woman came running over, shouting obscenities. I backed off. She kicked me and scratched me.” Answer from the other party: “I went out there and this woman threw a punch at me and I kicked at her and we both missed. I’m sorry I missed. I’d have done it again.”

Now, what was that all about? Was it a female wrestling match? No, it was two Canadian mothers brawling at a soccer tournament for their 10-year-old sons.

Perhaps it illustrates one of the problems that some children have in sports​—their parents. As one mother wrote about her child’s participation in Little League baseball: “We presented it to our boys as a treat, a privilege . . . And it was we who got carried away by it. We imposed our own competitive feelings on those poor kids, and the next thing we knew, they were playing baseball not to please themselves but to keep us smiling.”

In Australia “children as young as five and six are being forced into a highly stressful, competitive sporting atmosphere, despite the official position in many organisations​—rugby, soccer and cricket, that they should not begin before 10 or 12.” Dr. W. W. Ewens in New South Wales said that the evidence was “reasonably conclusive that physiologically, psychologically and sociologically, young children were not equipped to handle a major sport.”

Then why do parents and coaches put so much pressure on the kids? “Parents step over the line when they overidentify with their children, or try to live through them,” said Dr. Leonard Reich, a New York child psychologist. “For some parents it represents a chance to return to the days of their youth.” The only problem is that they tend to apply adult criteria to their children’s games. The result is that fun, fun, fun gives way to win! win! win!

Balanced Involvement

Obviously, parents should take an interest in their children’s recreation, but their involvement should be balanced and constructive. As ice-hockey star Bobby Orr explained: “My father never pushed me to play. I played hockey because I loved to play.” New York athletics coach Vincent Chiapetta said regarding his attitude toward his son: “Although I was in athletics I did not try to force my boy into running. . . . I attended his games because he was my child and my responsibility. But when I saw the coach putting pressure on the kids I told him I was withdrawing my son. I let him know that as far as I am concerned winning is not the only thing. After all, a game is just a game.”

And what do youngsters think when Mom and Dad join in with the kids in some informal outdoor game? Rick Rittenbach, one of six children, recalls: “Being six kids we would often get a game of softball going, or volleyball. And I know we all got a kick out of it when Mom and Dad joined in. And they obviously enjoyed it too. I am sure that it was one of the many factors that helped to keep us united as a family.”

Sports participation can be a tonic for everybody, regardless of age. But children, especially, view recreation as a highlight and when it is allied to a good relationship with the parents the benefits multiply. Then you have a happy, healthy, united family. But what is the key to the situation? Balance. Recreation or sports should be a pastime, not a deadly competition or a divisive battleground.

Bodily Training​—Useful?

Does the Bible offer any practical guidance in the field of sports?

In the first place, let us note the Bible’s valuable basic counsel: “Let your reasonableness become known to all men.” (Philippians 4:5) This immediately indicates a balanced view on all matters. For example, the apostle Paul, in the athletics-oriented Greek world of his day, wrote to a young Christian: “Train yourself spiritually. Physical exercises are useful enough, but the usefulness of spirituality is unlimited.” (1 Timothy 4:7, 8, The Jerusalem Bible) Another translation renders it: “The training of the body does bring limited benefit.”​—The New English Bible.

If, then, the benefit is limited, is it wise to make sports a full-time dedication? Are the true values of life based on sports? And what if the sport contravenes basic Christian principles, such as ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ or ‘do to others as you would have them do to you’? What if extracurricular sports activity means unnecessary association with persons who do not share Christian principles? Will that undermine spirituality? Does not First Corinthians 15:33 answer Yes?​—“Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits.”

While sports as a recreation do bring “limited benefit,” one has to be conscious of possible dangers when they are taken too seriously. The Bible supplies a guideline in this respect: “Let us not become egotistical, stirring up competition with one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:26) Our previous article showed how increased competition can lead to violence. An excessively competitive spirit cancels out much of the pleasure of the game since the final goal, a win, becomes the only meaningful thing.

Other translations of that text say: “We must have no desire for empty prestige.” (Barclay) “Then we won’t need to look for honors and popularity.” (The Living Bible) Young people are drawn on by the fantasy of sports success. They dream of being the star, the winner, out there in the middle. For the vast majority that is an impossible dream. For the “favored” few the price is high, often terribly high. Darryl Stingley, ex-U.S. footballer knows that only too well. As a result of one deadly tackle in August 1978 he has since been paralyzed from the neck down.

Heitor Amorim, Brazilian soccer star, puts the subject in focus, saying: “You should never forget that it is an insignificant few who become stars and attain all the honors that go with success. For each one that makes the big time there are thousands who suffer in frustration. They dropped out from their studies, failed at sport and then were left​—with what? The cold shoulder. Nobody wants to know a loser today.”

So then, in essence, what is the best counsel to follow regarding sports? We will let ex-Australian football player Peter Hanning (professional from 1964-75 for Swan Districts) answer that question: “My advice to young people is, Enjoy your physical exercise. Sports are a recreation that will keep you healthy and happy as a pastime. But professional sport is a different tale. It requires an all-excluding total commitment, a complete dedication. And the price you pay is high​—all relationships, whether to people or to God, have to suffer. You become part of a self-contained world of adulation, immorality, envy, pride and avarice. And you run the constant risk of being the victim of a disabling injury. Or, perhaps even worse for anyone with a conscience, of severely injuring someone else. My personal injury list ran to a broken arm, nose (four times), and cheekbone, knee cartilage removed, back injury and concussion twice. And compared to some, I got off fairly lightly!”

So while it is true that “the glory of young men is their strength” (Proverbs 20:29, NE), it must also be remembered that life’s relationships are not based on strength but on wisdom. So enjoy your sports in a balanced way. Let them distract you, but never obsess you. Let them renew you, but never possess you.

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“Bodily training is beneficial for a little.”​—1 Timothy 4:8