Notes · Physical EducationUK · A-Levels

Ethics and Deviance in Sport

This chapter examines the ethics of sport and the deviance that threatens them. It covers amateurism and the Olympic ideal, the positive ethic of sportsmanship and etiquette against the win-at-all-costs approach of gamesmanship, the causes of violence by players and spectators, and the problem of drugs and doping - the reasons performers use them, their effects, the arguments for and against, and the strategies used to combat them.

3 sections~12 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Standard 2 · Advanced 1

T·141414 / 17

Exam profile

AO1 · Describe sporting ethics, deviance, violence and dopingAO2 · Apply the concepts of ethics, violence and doping to named sporting examplesAO3 · Analyse and evaluate the causes of deviance and the strategies used to combat it

Operators:describeexplainapplyanalyseevaluatediscuss

basic level

AS-Level requires the concepts of amateurism, sportsmanship, gamesmanship and the basics of violence and doping.

higher level

The full A-Level requires the evaluation of the causes of violence and doping and the strategies used to combat them.

Depth

Text

Contents · 3 sections

Ethics and Deviance in Sport

Amateurism, sportsmanship and gamesmanship#

StandardAQA 7582 3.2.5.1DfE GCE PE - ethics in sport

The sportsmanship-gamesmanship-deviance continuum

Fig. 1Behaviour runs from the positive ethic of sportsmanship, through gamesmanship (bending the spirit within the rules), to deviance (breaking the rules).

Sporting ethics concern how sport ought to be played, and several linked concepts describe the ideals and their opposites. Amateurism is the ethic, rooted in the nineteenth-century public schools and the early Olympics, that sport should be played for the love of it rather than for money, by the 'gentleman amateur', with an emphasis on taking part, fair play and all-round character. The Olympic ideal captures this spirit - the importance of taking part, of striving well and of respect - and survives in the Olympic oath and values, even as elite sport has become professional.

The positive ethic of sport is expressed through sportsmanship and etiquette. Sportsmanship is playing fair, within both the written rules and the unwritten spirit of the game, and treating opponents and officials with respect - kicking the ball out to allow an injured player treatment, or applauding an opponent's good play. Etiquette is the set of unwritten conventions and customs of a sport - the handshake before and after a match, respecting the opponent's serve, the codes of behaviour - that go beyond the formal rules. Together they represent sport played the way it ideally should be.

Against these stand gamesmanship and the win ethic. Gamesmanship is the use of dubious methods, within the letter of the rules but against their spirit, to gain an advantage or to disrupt an opponent - time-wasting, sledging, feigning injury, gaining a psychological edge by bending the rules without quite breaking them. It stems from the win ethic (the 'Lombardian' view that winning is everything), which the pressures of professional, commercialised sport have intensified. Gamesmanship is not against the written rules, which distinguishes it from outright cheating (deviance), but it undermines the spirit and ethics of the game.

These concepts form a continuum from the positive ethic to outright deviance, and this is the key to evaluating behaviour. Sportsmanship (playing within the spirit) shades into gamesmanship (exploiting the letter against the spirit), which shades into cheating or deviance (breaking the rules - a deliberate handball, doping). Positive deviance (over-conforming, such as training or playing through serious injury to an unhealthy degree) is also recognised. The pressures of professionalism, money and the win ethic push behaviour along the continuum towards gamesmanship and deviance, and this is why the values of amateurism and sportsmanship are actively promoted. Placing a named behaviour on this continuum and discussing the ethical issue is a standard task.

Worked example

Classifying behaviour on the continuum

Classify each of the following as sportsmanship, gamesmanship or cheating: (a) a footballer kicking the ball out so an injured opponent can be treated; (b) a team repeatedly time-wasting while leading; (c) a sprinter taking a banned stimulant.

Kicking the ball out
This respects the unwritten spirit of the game and the welfare of an opponent - sportsmanship.
Time-wasting while leading
This exploits the letter of the rules against their spirit to gain an advantage, without breaking a written rule - gamesmanship.
Banned stimulant
This breaks the written rules of the sport and anti-doping regulations - cheating (deviance).

Result: Kicking the ball out is sportsmanship, time-wasting is gamesmanship and taking a banned drug is cheating - three points along the ethics-to-deviance continuum.

Typical mistakes

Confusing gamesmanship (bending the spirit but within the written rules) with cheating (breaking the written rules).
Treating etiquette as the same as the rules - etiquette is the unwritten conventions of a sport.

Active revision

Explain, with examples, the difference between sportsmanship, gamesmanship and cheating, and discuss why professional pressures encourage gamesmanship.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for physical education (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Physical Education 7582 specification (AQA)

Violence in sport#

StandardAQA 7582 3.2.5.1DfE GCE PE - violence in sport

Causes of violence in sport

Fig. 2Violence by players and spectators arises from a combination of individual, situational and social causes.

Violence in sport, by players and by spectators, is a form of deviance that harms individuals and the reputation of sport, and understanding its causes is the first step to preventing it. Player violence has several causes: the frustration of losing, being fouled or facing a poor decision (linking to the frustration-aggression hypothesis); the win ethic and the high rewards of professional sport, which raise the stakes; the influence of aggressive role models and a team culture that tolerates or encourages it; the 'importance' of the fixture (a derby, a final); and the nature of some sports, which are physically confrontational by design.

A range of strategies is used to reduce player violence. On the sporting side, governing bodies impose stricter rules and harsher punishments (red cards, bans, fines, points deductions), use technology and citing systems to punish offences missed in play, promote fair play and positive role models through campaigns and education, and use codes of conduct. On the legal side, players can face criminal prosecution for the most serious assaults, extending the deterrent beyond the sport's own sanctions.

Spectator violence (hooliganism) has its own causes: excessive consumption of alcohol; the frustration and emotional investment of fans; rivalry and a sense of tribal identity, sometimes with a display of masculinity or a search for excitement; poor crowd management and inadequate facilities; incitement by others or by events on the pitch; and, in some cases, pre-organised confrontation between groups. As with player violence, the causes are a mix of the individual, the situation and the wider social context.

Strategies to combat spectator violence are correspondingly broad. They include improved stadium design and all-seater stadiums, segregation of rival fans, controls on alcohol, closed-circuit television and surveillance, banning orders and travel restrictions for known offenders, increased and better-trained stewarding and policing, early kick-off times to limit drinking, and education and family-friendly initiatives to change the culture. The evaluative point, and the standard exam task, is to select and justify appropriate strategies for a given cause - matching the response to whether the violence stems from the individual, the situation or the social context - and to weigh how effective and how proportionate the strategies are.

Worked example

Matching strategy to cause

A derby match sees crowd trouble linked to heavy drinking and rival-fan confrontation. Recommend and justify three strategies to reduce the violence.

Address alcohol
Restrict or ban alcohol sales and set an early kick-off - directly targeting the excessive drinking that fuels the trouble.
Separate rivals
Segregate rival fans and use all-seater stadiums with good crowd management - reducing the opportunity for confrontation between groups.
Deter offenders
Use CCTV, stewarding and banning orders to identify and exclude known troublemakers - deterring and removing repeat offenders.
Evaluate
These target the specific causes (alcohol, rivalry, individual offenders); combined they are more effective than any single measure, though they carry costs and cannot remove all risk.

Result: Alcohol controls, segregation and surveillance/banning orders each target a specific cause of the derby violence and are most effective used together.

Typical mistakes

Giving only one cause of violence - it usually results from a combination of individual, situational and social factors.
Listing strategies without linking them to the cause they address or judging their effectiveness.

Active revision

Discuss the causes of spectator violence at a high-profile derby and evaluate three strategies that could be used to reduce it.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for physical education (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Physical Education 7582 specification (AQA)

Drugs and doping#

AdvancedAQA 7582 3.2.5.1DfE GCE PE - drugs in sport

Arguments for and against combating doping

Fig. 3The doping debate weighs the case against doping (fairness, health, coercion, integrity) against counter-arguments (autonomy, inconsistency, cost of policing).

Doping - the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and methods - is the most serious form of deviance in elite sport, and answering on it requires knowing why performers use them, what the main types do, the arguments on both sides, and how doping is combated. Performers take PEDs for several reasons: the pressure to win and the huge financial and status rewards of success; the belief that rivals are already doping (so they must to compete); physiological gains in strength, speed or endurance; a win-at-all-costs attitude; and sometimes coercion by coaches or a doping culture.

The main classes of PED each target a different demand. Anabolic steroids promote muscle growth and allow harder training and faster recovery, benefiting strength and power athletes, but cause serious cardiovascular, hormonal, liver and psychological harm. Stimulants raise alertness, reduce fatigue and increase aggression and heart rate, but strain the cardiovascular system and are addictive. Beta blockers do the opposite - they steady the heart rate and reduce tremor and anxiety - aiding precision, 'still' sports such as shooting and archery, and are banned in them. Erythropoietin (EPO) and blood doping increase the red-blood-cell count and so the oxygen-carrying capacity, benefiting endurance, but dangerously thicken the blood, raising the risk of clots, stroke and heart failure.

The debate over doping is a genuine ethical argument. The case against is powerful: doping is cheating that destroys fair competition, it seriously endangers the health of the athlete, it coerces others into doping to keep up, and it sets a damaging example and undermines the integrity of sport. Some raise counter-arguments - that the distinction between banned and permitted aids is inconsistent, that athletes should have autonomy over their own bodies, that policing is costly and imperfect, and that legalising and supervising might be safer - but the overwhelming consensus, embodied in anti-doping rules, is that the harm to health, fairness and the spirit of sport makes doping unacceptable.

Doping is combated by a coordinated strategy led by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which maintains the prohibited list and the World Anti-Doping Code. The main measures are testing (in- and out-of-competition, random and targeted, with the athlete whereabouts system and the biological passport that monitors an athlete's blood values over time for signs of doping); sanctions (bans, disqualification, loss of medals and funding) to deter; and education to change attitudes and culture. The evaluative point, and the standard exam task, is to weigh the effectiveness of these measures - testing can be evaded and always lags behind new drugs, so education and a cultural change may be as important as detection - and to argue a reasoned position in the doping debate.

Worked example

Matching drug to event and judging control

For a weightlifter, an archer and a long-distance cyclist, name a class of PED each might be tempted to use and its effect, then evaluate whether testing alone can stop doping.

Weightlifter
Anabolic steroids - to build muscle and train harder for strength and power (with serious health risks).
Archer
Beta blockers - to steady the heart rate and reduce tremor for the precision the sport demands (banned in it).
Cyclist
EPO or blood doping - to raise the red-blood-cell count and oxygen delivery for endurance (with a dangerous thickening of the blood).
Evaluate testing
Testing deters and catches some cheats, but it can be evaded, always lags behind new substances and masking agents, and is costly - so it must be combined with the biological passport, tough sanctions and, crucially, education to change the culture.

Result: Steroids (weightlifter), beta blockers (archer) and EPO (cyclist) suit their events; testing alone is insufficient, so it is combined with the biological passport, sanctions and education.

Typical mistakes

Matching the wrong drug to the event - beta blockers steady the body for precision sports, while stimulants and steroids aid power and endurance.
Giving only the health argument against doping - fairness, coercion and the integrity of sport are also central.

Active revision

Discuss the arguments for and against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport, and evaluate the strategies used to combat doping.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: GCE AS and A level subject content for physical education (Department for Education) · AQA A-level Physical Education 7582 specification (AQA)

References & sources

Sources

Department for Education

GCE AS and A level subject content for physical education

AQA

AQA A-level Physical Education 7582 specification

Ethics and Deviance in Sport

3 sections~12 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Standard 2 · Advanced 1

Ethics and Deviance in Sport

Key points

Classifying behaviour on the continuum

Key points

Matching strategy to cause

Key points

Matching drug to event and judging control

Sources

Ethics and Deviance in Sport

Key points

Classifying behaviour on the continuum

Key points

Matching strategy to cause

Key points

Matching drug to event and judging control

Sources