Sport and Ethics
Background :- Corruption, Illegal betting,vested interest have drawn not only Indian sports but sports across worlds over to revisit the spirit of sports in our recent times. Lodha panel latest report vindicates the fact that – overtime sports has lost ground to “Winning” and thus sports ethics has been sidelined . In light of these events it is necessary to understand what has gone wrong with sports . Is sports is all about winning ? What do we want sports after all. With this questions in mind , lets look and analyze the spirit of sports and its current state of dismal affairs.
It is commonly accepted that through sport one learns to persevere, to sacrifice, and to be self-disciplined, to work hard, to follow orders, to be a leader, and to work with others.
Ethics And Moral Behaviour In Sport, Corbett, 1999
Is it all about winning ?
Why do we say “it’s not the winning but the taking part that counts”?
It’s a phrase echoed by the founder of the Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who said “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”
Most people seem to agree that trying and failing is more admirable than not trying at all.
In practice, though, most people seem only to be interested in the medallists.
There are other goals to strive for apart from a medal. De Coubertin himself coined the motto “Citius, altius, fortius” – “swifter, higher, stronger” – for his Games. It is an ambiguous phrase, and one that could be taken to include striving to beat one’s personal best as well as going for gold.
Competition is not unethical. It is reasonable that winners be rewarded, even if their victories have an element of chance (and all victories have); this is the essence of a game, and games are fundamental to humanity.
Celebrating achievement is not in itself unethical – but it can drive some competitors to unethical behaviour.
What is Sports:-
Given that many enthusiasts enjoy sport for aesthetic reasons in part, it is surprising that the concept of sport has received relatively little attention from philosophers.
Two main problems leap to our attention. First, just how close is the aesthetic interest we take in sport to our interest in the arts? One is a human activity; the other a human creation. In that respect they both differ from the aesthetic appeal of natural sights and scenes. Admittedly, in most sports the principal object is winning rather than aesthetic quality, though in some sports, like ice-skating, the manner is integral to the results – marks are awarded for what is quaintly described as ‘artistic merit’.
The second problem concerns its definition. How do we define a sport? It may be a solitary activity; it may not have a winner or loser; one proposal is that it requires the arbitrary selection or creation of difficulties which it is our aim to overcome.
Symbolism of Sports:-
The Sportsworld is a lived world, like those of literature and the theater, that is highly charged with human meaning. As a dramatic and symbolic world the Sports world has its own plots, scenes, characters, and settings.
The game itself is the ritual hub of the sports universe; the team provides social structure; sports language gives the world cohesion; fans play the game vicariously through the athletes. Underneath and penetrating all the dramatic appeals is the powerful symbolism of play. The success of the Sports world rests on its ability to build its symbolic structure on the memory of play, on the illusion of play, and, finally, on the fantasy of play.
Now that we know – sports is fundamental to humanity , then what is sportsmanship?
Sportsmanship:-
An athlete cannot bring true courage to his fights unless he has sometimes been beaten black and blue. The fighter who has seen his own blood, whose teeth have been rattled by a blow from his opponent, who has been thrown to the ground and felt the whole weight of his rival’s body on him, who has not lost his spirit even when hurled about the ring, who, every time he has been knocked down, has got to his feet again more pugnacious than ever, this is the man who faces his next fight with confidence that is sportsmanship.
The rules beyond the field:-
There are rules in the field,but is there any rules beyond the field ?
There are many meanings in ‘how one plays the game’. Certainly it means playing by the rules of the game. But playing the game properly, with justice and integrity, also requires playing by rules beyond the game. It must conform to community ideas or ideals of ‘sportsmanship’. It is important in all societies to be the good sport, to be seen as acting fairly and accepting whatever life throws our way.
Is sports is all about playing or is it playing fair :-
‘Fair play’ is usually understood to mean using only tactics that are in accord with the spirit of the sport.
Most sports come with their own rules, conventions and opportunities for cheating :-
For example :-
Football:
- diving: falling over and pretending to have been fouled, to win your team a penalty
- faking, also called simulation: suggesting you’ve been punched, kicked or elbowed in order to get an opponent in trouble with the referee, or exaggerating a mild injury to make it seem more severe
Cricket – sledging: distracting opponents by winding them up verbally
Hence , fair play becomes important.
Other issues that malign sports:-
- Drugs for performance enhancement
- Body Modification (peptide hormones,stimulants etc)
- Technicality (cheating on the ground of technicality i.e. when a sportsman uses a technical aspect to cheat and enhance performance and does not adhere to ‘level playing field’)
What need to be done :-
The central part of any game is fair play . Fair play is much more than playing with in the rules. It incorporates the concepts of friendship, respect for others and always playing within the right spirit. Fair play is defined as a way of thinking, not just a way of behaving.
It incorporates issues concerned with the elimination of cheating, gamesmanship, doping, violence (both physical and verbal), the sexual harassment and abuse of children, young people and women, exploitation, unequal opportunities, excessive commercialization and corruption.
Fair play is a positive concept. Sport is a social and cultural activity which, practiced fairly, enriches society and the friendship between nations. Sport is also recognized as an individual activity which, played fairly, offers the opportunity for self-knowledge, self-expression and fulfillment; personal achievement, skill acquisition and demonstration of ability; social interaction, enjoyment, good health and well-being.
Sport promotes involvement and responsibility in society with its wide range of clubs and leaders working voluntarily. In addition, responsible involvement in some activities can help to promote sensitivity to the environment.
In setting a proper context of fair play :-
Government –
Encourage the adoption of high ethical standards in all aspects of society within which sport operates.
Stimulate and support those organizations and individuals who have demonstrated sound ethical principles in their work with sport.
Encourage the education profession to include the promotion of sport and fair play as a central part of the physical education curriculum.
Support initiatives aimed at promoting fair play in sport, particularly amongst the young, and encouraging institutions to place fair play as a central priority in their work.
Sports and Sports related organizations
Publish clear guidelines on what is considered to be ethical or unethical behaviour and ensure that, at all levels of participation and involvement, consistent and appropriate incentives and/or sanctions are applied.
Ensure that all decisions are made in accordance with a Code of Ethics for their sport.
Raise the awareness of fair play within their sphere of influence through the use of campaigns, awards, educational material and training opportunities. They must also monitor and evaluate the impact of such initiatives.
Establish systems which reward fair play and personal levels of achievement in addition to competitive success.
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.