Sport Violence

The playing field is often a very violent and hazardous environment. Not even the risky and laborintensive settings of mining, oil drilling, and construction sites can compare with the routine injuries of team sports such as football, ice hockey, soccer, and rugby. An increase in both the frequency and seriousness of acts of violence in team sports has been well documented.

Violence involves great physical force used to injure or harm or which has the potential to cause harm or destruction. Sport violence can be defined as behavior that causes harm, occurs outside of the rules of the game, and is unrelated to the competitive objectives of the sport. Violence in sport is physical assault or other physically harmful actions by a player that take place in a sports context and that are intended to cause physical pain or injury to another player, where such harmful actions bear no direct relationship to the rules and associated competitive goals of the sport.

Aggression is often associated with violence. The term aggression, as used in sport, refers to verbal or physical behavior grounded in an intent to dominate, control, or do harm to another person. Aggressive behavior is culpable, unprovoked behavior, which is in violation of another's rights. It may come about in response to frustration. There are two forms of aggression in team sports: instrumental aggression and reactive aggression. Instrumental aggression is action that is nonemotional and task oriented, driven by the quest for achieving some nonaggressive goal. Reactive aggression has an underlying emotional component in which the primary goal is to inflict bodily injury or physical harm to another. Violence is an outcome of reactive aggression.

In hockey, examples of violent or overly aggressive behavior include fighting, high sticking, and checking from behind. In the National Hockey League, fighting is against the rules and calls for a penalty, but it still falls within the guidelines of acceptable behavior for the sport. Violence and rule-violating behaviors are acceptable in certain sports, and are considered just “part of the game.”

Boxing, which has existed since the time of the Ancient Greeks, is a violent sport subject to constant criticism because of its brutality. It is a sport in which combatants fight with their fists. Proponents suggest that participation in boxing can encourage individuals to control their aggression. This control, however, depends greatly on the conditions under which sport participation occurs. Even in boxing, certain behaviors “cross the line.” An example took place on June 28, 1997, during the Mike Tyson–Evander Holyfield World Boxing Association championship title fight in Las Vegas, when Tyson bit Holyfield's right ear twice during the fight.