Aggression and Violence in Sports

Abstract Aggression and violence

Violence in Sports
Violence and aggression have always gone hand in hand with sports. Even sports in ancient Greece were based on malicious warrior sports like chariot racing, wrestling, and boxing (Coakley, 2009). Death matches were a regular with the Mayans and Aztecs. During the medieval times tournaments were created for war training and often the end result was death. Extreme violence was common in sports the same way it is common in today’s sports world. This quote by Lynn Jamieson, associate professor at Indiana University describes the acceptance of violence in sports: "Sport tends to reflect society, and we live in a violent era," she said. "We have a violent society where people use violence to solve problems instead of using other means." Eric Dunning (1999) notes that violence still exists in the modern day sports because their goal is to “create tension rather than relieve or discharge it.” Aggression and violence are often confused as being the same thing. Aggression is “an intentional behavior aimed at causing either physical or psychological pain” (Lee, 2009, p. 78). Violence is “the use of excessive physical force, which causes or has obvious potential to cause harm or destruction” (Coakley, 2009, p. 196). Many people associate violence with actions that are illegal or unsanctioned, but in some societies violence is encouraged and a part of life. Aggression often involves violence, but violence may occur by accident or carelessly without the athlete having an aggressive intent.
For the behavior to be deemed aggression, two factors must be present. First, the behavior must be aimed at another person with the idea of hurting or causing physical harm. Second, the aggressor must believe that what they do to inflict bodily harm will be successful. There are two