Spirit Of The Game

One should play the game in the spirit of the game. Sport is meant to unite hearts. It is a great leveler. The Olympic Spirit is neither the property of one race nor of one age. Yet, we come across unsavory incidents off and on. At times we find that players get angry at each other. The concerned officials too lose nerves. Spectators can also be demanding. Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.

This may sound as an extremist viewpoint. Nevertheless there are sev¬eral instances that corroborate it. How does one explain, for instance, Mike Tyson who was the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title biting off part of opponent Evander Holyfield’s ear during a bout in 1997? England and Iraq may be on the opposite sides of the fence now. In 1994 they were in the same company. There was so much relief then over England having failed to qualify for the FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup. It was because its supporters would frequently indulge in hooliganism. We came across a rather shameful incident in 1996 when rioting fans in Kolkata brought an abrupt end to the match between India and Sri Lanka. The crowd got annoyed when the Indian batsmen who seemed to be on the way to victory started collapsing one after the other.

We all have often witness violence on playfields. Aggression is a basic, inherent human characteristic. While games argument is forceful there has to be some cause for triggering hostility. Participants in a sport can lose temper if they believe that umpires are unfair or they themselves are not able to play according to their own standards for lack of form or injury. They can also be touched to the quick by spectator’s behavior. Coaches, teammates, friends and family members can raise the temperatures of players by raising their expectations or booing them for bad displays. Who can forget Harbhajan Singh losing lot of money and reputation in the recent IPL matches? There is thus necessity for observing restraint by one and all. This advice is applicable to all competitions whether global or purely local. Don’t we see even school and college matches being disrupted by unruly behavior?

We heard of Rugby being the beastly game played by gentlemen; soccer is a gentlemen’s game played by beasts; football is a beastly game played by beasts. Alfred Hitchcock has stated in his characteristic style: “Kicking is very important in football. In fact, some of the more enthusiastic players even kick the football occasionally.”
In their hearts, however, everyone admits what a former president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said: “Our philosophy proceeds from the belief that sport is an inalienable part of educational process and a factor for promoting peace, friendship cooperation and understanding among people.”  Sports do not build character. They reveal it.