“If you can meet with triumph and disasters and treat the two imposters just the same”. Rudyard Kipling – Wimbledon statue

Batting on a sticky wicket

Being on the ropes

The final hurdle

Our culture puts sport on a pedestal and our sporting heroes

are influential role models.

Millions watch sport on the TV – Olympics, World Cup,

Premiership matches, F1

But sometimes are sporting heroes let us down….

Section C – Part 3

Deviance1. Understand the main types of deviance in sport2. Describe the causes of hooliganism and the methods

used to combat it3. Explain the impact of hooliganism and player violence

has on those involved, on sport and on wider society4. Describe violence between players and how it is dealt

with5. Evaluate the relationship between sport and the law

and the effect on performers, officials and spectators

This part of specification also covers drugs in sport and you will need to:

1. Understand why performers take performance enhancing drugs and the arguments for and against their use

2. Explain how the authorities are trying to eliminate drug taking in sport and the associated difficulties

But we’ve already covered this when we looked at drug doping

in Section A!

Deviance could be:

Voluntary e.g. performer

decide

Co-operative e.g. the performer decides to take

drugs because all his friends are doing so

Enforced e.g. a former East German swimmer took drugs because her coach gave them to her

Deviance: behaviour that

falls outside the norms or outside

what is deemed to be acceptable

Also behaviour of spectators,

managers, coaches and officials

Behaviour of players

Breaking the laws of sport

v breaking the laws

of society

Sport can be seen as a subsection of social behaviour

Types of devianceSports sociologist Jay Coakley (1992) considered 3 types of behaviour:

Positive deviance:Behaviour that is

outside the norm but with no intention to

harm or break rules – overconforming to what is expected

Normal

Negative deviance:Behaviour that goes

against the norm and has a detrimental

effect on individuals and on society in

general – underconforming to

what is expected

Normal distribution for this behaviour

Positive deviance:Behaviour that is

outside the norm but with no intention to

harm or break rules – overconforming to what is expected

E.g. oAn individual who trains or plays so hard they injure themselves oBehaviour that can lead to a disruption of normal lifeoPlay when they are injured

Deviance but their actions are for positive reasons:

They are striving to win or to improve within the ethical guidelines of the activity

Although deviant can be seen in a positive light

Could argue that a player who is striving to win within the rules and etiquette of the sport and who accidently and without intent injures another player is also exhibiting

positive deviance

Negative deviance:Behaviour that goes

against the norm and has a detrimental

effect on individuals and on society in

general – underconforming to

what is expected

Behaves in a way that knowingly and intentionally breaks the rules and ethics of sport

e.g.Using performance enhancing drugsCheating within a contest – deliberately fouling another playerBeing bribed to influence the outcome of a match Fan violence or hooliganismIllegal betting on the outcome of a contestFinancial irregularities in the transferring of playersPlayer violence

Relative deviance:Deviant behaviour that is not acceptable in wider

society but may be deemed to acceptable by those

involved in a sub-culture

Some behaviour acceptable in sport

but not in wider society? e.g. use of fists in

rugby (hidden in scrum or

otherwise

Players deem this acceptable as

long as violence doesn’t breach an

unwritten limit

BUT gouging & biting

completely off limits

Sport often likes to deal with

things in house

But police less and less willing to turn a blind eye

Deviance and the

contract to compete

Whether or not the behaviour is viewed within a sporting context is determined by whether or not it breaks the contract to compete.

Don’t strive to win or try to loose –

negative deviance

Not trying to win fairly – cheating or

unacceptable physical contact e.g.

biting – negative deviance

Expected to allow opponent fair and

free change to win – taking drugs or

bribing an official does not allow this –

negative deviance

Using tactics, strategies and skills that you use to stop an opponent within the expectations of

the activity – Relative deviance

Concept of relative deviance and the contract to compete are closely linked

Concept increasingly challenge but the

media and society in general

Both imply that somehow sport exists within its

own moral subculture

Rewards of winning so great that a large

number of individuals may be prepared to

cross the line. (May be particularly true of positive deviance)

Causes of deviant

behaviour

Individual lacks moral restraint to keep to code of

conduct

Individuals may value winning above the loss of respect or

punishment that may occur

Deviant behaviour may be becoming less socially

unacceptable and cause less negative comment than in

the past

NGBs may feel less able to punish due to power of commercial interests or fear

of being taken to court by performer who they punish

Violence in sport

Violence between players

Violence among

spectators

Two ways this generally occurs:

A spontaneous outburst

A premeditated and planned action

Cause of violence between players:

Most violence occurs as an aggressive act – refer to sport psychology notes

In summary, aggressive behaviour may be caused by:

•Innate•Frustration•Loss of identity (follow the actions of the crowd)•Social learning – imitating others

Within some teams they have a well-known characters (enforcers), whose role it is to physically intimidate the opposition or to act in retaliation on behalf of others

Drugs, gamesmanship taken too far,

hyping-up, presence of spectators, unacceptable

aggression, acts against the law

Dealing with violence between players

Responsibility of individual performers, team managers or

coaches and the NGBs

An NGB may take a range of actions:

•Ensuring that match officials and their decisions are supported when dealing with violent behaviour of players•Punishing players post match•Being prepared to use post-match video evidence•Upholding players with a good disciplinary record as role models•Using ‘fair play’ awards to reward clubs with good disciplinary records•Training officials in player management and how to defuse situations between players

NGBs keen to diminish violence – so sport’s

reputation is not damaged

NGBs like to deal with violence themselves but more involvement from

legal system evident

Important that leaders, managers,, coaches, captains set a good example and set the tone for their teams as they have a

great responsibility for player conduct.

To ensure good player behaviour they could:

Set a good example themselves before and during contests

Establish a clear code of conduct and expectations

Criticise or punish players who fail to meet the code of conduct; play substitutes in their place

Praise or promote those players who set a good example

Where possible, ensure that players who have a low flash point are kept away from high stress situations

Stress appropriate behaviour in team talks

Understand each individual player’s level of arousal and try to avoid overarousal

Train players to manage their own level of arousal

Avoid an attitude of winning at all costs.

Hooliganism

Hooliganism: anti-social or aggressive/violent behaviour by people in a group of spectators

Suggested causes:• Fans drink too much alcohol• Local derby/high tension

between rival fans• Pre-match media hype• Poor officiating• Diminished responsibility

within a large crowd/depersonalisation

• The team being supported is losing

• Poor crowd control/poor policing – crowd confinement

• Religion

Solutions:• Control alcohol sales• All seater stadiums• Improve policing (numbers

increase)/segregation of fans• Stewards• Increase family concept• CCTV• Penalties/bans• More responsible media

reporting• Kick racism out of football

campaign