Abstracts Vol. 6 (No.1 / 2009)

Aleš Sekot
Violence in sports

Sport, as an important socio-cultural phenomenon, fascinates so many people be-cause it performs its compensatory function as an opposite pole to the killing stereotype of the “predictability of life”. Sometimes violence and bad behaviour in sports can be understood as an effective way of bringing about victory. Thus, the medialized top-level sports that are at-tractive to spectators are seen as a possible outlet for human aggression: today’s medialized sports provide an experience of suspenseratherthan relaxation. In this context, four basic types of violence within the field of sports should be mentioned: brutal physical contact, bor-derline violence, semi-criminal violence and criminal violence. Strength-requiring high-performance sports sometimes use harsh physical contact in various manifestations of vio-lence, brutality or intimidation as a part of the game strategy. Criminal or semi-criminal be-haviour is condemned, while brutal physical contact on the verge of violence has become part of the rules of the game.

The existence of violence among spectatorsevokes a number of questions. Perhaps the most cardinal one is: does sport provoke violence among spectators/viewers? Today, attention is paid to negative phenomena in the field of sports, particularly in the context of various forms and manifestations of deviation. However,it has to be taken into account the fact that diverse socio-cultural environments evaluate the same phenomena or behaviour in different ways, and consequently also apply different criteria regarding what constitutes deviation. In the field of sport, deviation is a behaviour that grossly violates the principles of fair play since it is a behaviour that is aggressive, often unlawful but tolerated, and in many cases is inflicted on purpose.

As a symbol of the ideas of society, sport is seen as one of the most important markers of the identity of today’s world. Be it parents of children doing sports, fans of “their” teams, trainers of athletes: they all express typical emotions reflecting the present importance of sport. Tears of defeat and euphoria of victory provide evidence of the passion of sport. Capti-vated TV viewers, people crowding in front of giant open-air screens, the “boiling cauldrons” of sport stadiums, all these illustrate today’s culture of sports, and the nature of our contempo-rary world. It has been suggested that for fans of sport who are usually passive as regards physical exercise, sport can also create a source of grudges and hostility. Fanship in the field of top-performance sport that is attractive to the media (but also outside its framework) may both bring people together and also divide them due to an intensified polarization of likes and dislikes. In this context it is possible to define three large groups of sports fanship: sports spectators,sports fans and hooligans (hoolifans).

Content Vol. 6 (No.1 / 2009)