Sporting Behaviour

The aim of this lesson is to find out what etiquette is, how these unwritten rules apply to sport and how spectators affect sport (Equivalent to UK GCSE Physical Education)

Our behaviour at sporting events, both when we are playing, or when we are spectating can affect the outcome of the match. There are certain unwritten rules that we should stick to. The actual rules of the game are fixed, but these unwritten rules are known as etiquette:

Football players usually kick the ball out of play if another player is injured so that they can get treatment. The team that kicked the ball out, then get it back to throw in when play restarts
After tennis matches, players shake hands and that of the umpire. This happens in lots of sports.

Examples like this are also sometimes called sportsmanship, which means in the spirit of fair-play. The opposite of this is gamesmanship - which is on the borderline of cheating, or as close to breaking the rules as possible, without getting punished!

Violence

You rarely get a fight between players of non-contact sports like tennis or snooker! However, fights are common in sports like football and ice hockey where the nature of the game is aggressive with frequent, hard contact. Violence is against the rules of all sports and players can be fined or banned by the sports governing body.

Spectators

Some people think that violence amongst the players causes violence amongst the spectators. This is not proven though.

Spectators can have good and bad effects:

Good

Crowds can influence a match by cheering their team on. This helps create an atmosphere

Spectators buy tickets and other club merchandise which brings money into the club

Bad

Hooliganism can be a problem

Facilities, marshals and sometimes police are needed to supervise the crowd, this all costs money

Football Disasters

In th UK football has long been affected by the behaviour of the crowd, the players and those present to maintain the safety of both. Following two major disasters (Heysel, 1985 and Hillsborough, 1989), which were caused by the behaviour of crowds and police/security officals, as well as stadium design, the Taylor Report was issued, including guidelines on how to make stadium events safer:

Different groups of fans must be separated.
The larger stadiums had to become all-seater, no more standing on the terraces.
Club membership schemes began, meaning known troublemakers were banned from matches.
Perimeter fences between the crowds and the pitch were removed.
CCTV was introduced around stadiums to help monitor the crowd.
Information about known troublemakers is now shared between police in different countries.

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