FOOTBALL USED TO BE A GAME

It was only a few years ago that football was a game, played for the pleasure of the participants and the spectators.

No longer. Football is now a battle of muscle, brawn and cunning played by antagonists whose objective, like those of politicians is to win, win, win, irrespective of the manner of their winning.

Each week players are reported for rough play, for attacking their opponent instead of or while, going for the ball..

These are two extracts from a Monday newspaper;
"- .... reported and two other Hawks received possible serious injuries...."
"-.... was one of 11 reported for rough play, which makes 19 charges in two weeks."

Players bad tempers and poor sportsmanship is manifest in other ways.
"-.... was fined for shaking the goal post."

Australian soccer spectators play it tough too.
"- more than 200 police moved in to avert a riot at the Barton Park soccer stadium near Sydney following a violent clash between warring soccer fans armed with iron bars, sticks and stones."

Before this recent spate of violence which only crept into sport a few years ago, almost the only act of deliberate agression was the bodyline bowling of English cricketer Harold Larwood, abetted by his captain, Douglas Jardine, during a pre-war Australia-England test series.

It was not only anger that caused the sporting public of both countries to condemn Jardine and Larwood. It was concern and disappointment at the poor sportsmanship of the captain who allowed, indeed instructed, a fast bowler to bowl at the body of the batsman instead of to his bat and the wickets behind him.

Nowadays it is common in cricket to go for the man. So much so that in the World Series, batsmen wear hard hats and face shields to protect themselves from deliberately bounced balls. The armour, plus the fancily colored clothing, has made a circus out of what is a game of skill.

Sporting violence is even worse in Britain and Europe. The evening newscast showed embattled players and police in Bournemouth (one of Britain's more genteel coastal towns), fighting against a swarm of disgruntled fans.

Violence is not confined to sport or blatant criminal activity. In Australia, Britain and the United States, penitentiary staff have called on reinforcements to protect themselves and prison inmates against rioting prisoners.

Cowardly attacks by IRA insurgents have killed and maimed hundreds of innocent civilians in England and Ireland.

It may be the continuing racial violence in Africa and the Middle East that has insulated us against violence in other areas. If so it is a sorry commentary on our ethics that we accept violence in any form - in war, in religion, in politics, in sport.

First published, 9 May 1990. Since then violence and bad sporting behaviour has increased on tennis courts, football ovals, cricket fields and military excursions have dominated international relationships.