Does Playing Sports make you more violent?

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Does playing sports make you more inclined to violence? After all, many sports are based on body contact. In football, for instance, a certain borderline violence is permitted to stop another player from running with the ball and scoring. Similarly, in ice hockey, aggressively tackling an opponent is often considered part of the game. Moreover, some sports are actually based on violence—like wrestling, boxing, and martial art tournaments.

Yet, despite this, athletes are not socially considered as violent men or women. Instead, they actually act as cultural heroes, iconic figures of strength, power, discipline, and mental focus. Young children are taught to admire them, and even Prime Ministers and Presidents attend sporting events and draw upon sporting metaphors.

All Violence is not Immoral

While the violent aspects of a combative sport could be quelled, there is a commercial element that encourages the violence. While boxers, for instance, do wear gloves, it merely mitigates the impact of their punches, but does not completely stop the effect of blows thrown to the opponent´s head and stomach. Sometimes millions of dollars are involved in a prize fight and there is no shortage of people willing to pay.

Still this violence is not considered to be a social threat. It is classified in a different way than, say, domestic violence, a brawl in a pub, or the violence perpetrated during an armed robbery or by a murderer. These acts of violence are considered criminal, harmful, and completely immoral.

The Difference between a Fist Fight and a Boxing Fight

What, then, is the difference between two men fighting on the street and two men fighting in a ring? Why is the first type of fight considered reprehensible while the second is a sign of sportsmanship? Why is one classified as illegal while the other is legal?

What’s more, a fist fight may not result in as much harm as a ring fight. In the first situation, the fist fight, the men are untrained fighters, clumsy in their violence, and they may not even be big and strong enough to cause much damage to each other. In the second instance, the ring fight, both men are highly-trained to make each blow count, to target the face and kidneys, and to duck and weave. They are also physically fit and strong and trained to have exemplary stamina and endurance.

Intention and Meaning determine Value

It is in the meaning attached to the act that determines its value or lack of it. In a fist fight, the men are angry and wish to harm each other. In a ring fight, the participants may actually be friends, even admire each other’s fighting skills and career. While, they may appear to display animosity, it is mere showmanship, publicity to excite sporting fans.

In the fist fight, there is intense ill-will; in the ring fight, there is only the will to win a prize.

Intention, then, is the dividing line. Violence in sports, whether direct as in pugilism or indirect as in a game of football, is done with a sense of voluntarism, fair play, and not with personal ill-will. The aim is to win a prize, to score for the team, or to win money or prestige. The goal is to show skill, agility, and competence. Meanwhile, the kind of violence that ends up in a prison sentence is completely different. It is an act of rage, vengeance, arrogance, or greed. The intention is to cause harm and to hurt the victim as much as possible.

Paradoxically, then, the violence displayed by sports figures and the violence displayed by criminals are not at all the same. The intention of the participants is different, as are the rewards and penalties. In fact, many famous sports figures are known to have grown up in violent inner cities and participating in sports was their way out of the ghettos, slums, or gang-ridden neighborhoods.

Sports Encourage Good Character

Naturally, not all sports are violent, but even those that have borderline violence or outright violence, do not encourage malicious violence, criminality, or social chaos. Instead, they actually discourage these acts from happening. The rules on the playing field or ring are different from the rules in society, and an athlete respects this distinction. Consequently, all sports, even violent sports, encourage noble characteristics like respect, self-discipline, fairness, and success in life.

The difference between the violence that is considered criminal and the violence that is considered sportsmanship is one of intention. A sports player is out to win, not to destroy. A criminal is out to destroy, not to win. This is why the first is socially admired and the second considered socially reprehensible.

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