Mindless violence and its role in the sporting world

Since my last blog, there have been several major incidents regarding sports, the Boston Marathon bombings, the utmost sense of respect shown by the runners who took part in the London Marathon for those affected by the Boston bombings, as well as the Suarez bite on Branislav Ivanovic that has earned him a 10 match ban. After so much controversy and devastation, the shock and bleakness that followed the Boston Marathon was one met with mass ongoing police investigations as well as scenes of relief and joy stemming from the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Such 'acts of terrorism' had not been seen in years on US soil. Destruction of lives both young and old can only be described as abhorrent and horrific in every segment of its over-riding nature and cause, no matter what reasoning the Tsarnaev brothers had behind plotting and carrying out the attacks. No matter what over-riding sense of hatred or Religious-attributed belief that what they were doing was right has no defence when one thinks of the lives they not only prematurely ended, such as the 8 year old Martin Richard, but also those of whom they also prematurely ruined through life-changing injuries. This blog will show my own opinions on how mindless violence has no role in sport, whether that be through extremist actions such as the bombings in Boston on that fateful afternoon on April 15th 2013, or if you take the other end of the spectrum and note the appalling nature of Luis Suarez's gauging bite on Branislav Ivanovic on Sunday, 21st April during Liverpool's game with Chelsea in the Barclay's Premier League. I want to reiterate do no means do I want to infer that these two events can be placed on the same level of severity, as it would be ignorant and ridiculous to insinuate such a thing, but I am using these events to portray the ranging un-sportsmanship in the world at this moment and how there is and should never have been space for any form of violence in the the world of sport or anywhere else for that matter.

The reaction of the US and everyone else in the World in the aftermath of the Boston bombing was monumental, constant news coverage, photos and information from fellow spectators on the scene so as to crackdown on the perpetrators of this act of terrorism on a wholly public and civilian event. The over-riding act of respect shown by everyone who ran in the London Marathon the following weekend was an event that showed the world to be a grand community from which such a tragedy could only bring overseas communities closer together for the good of the world and so as to prove that strength can outgrow fear in every aspect of the word. From the tragedy of one weekend to the respect and togetherness shown by the runners in the following weekend, it shows how sport can join people from any background and past events to accept individuals for who they are and ensure any attempts to dislodge that security and togetherness would be ultimately put down.

From one major sporting incident to another. Luis Suarez never seems to be out of the spotlight for one contentious issue or another - be it racist abuse and missing handshakes prior to a game with Patrice Evra, or the most recent (and second citation of) biting another player in a football game. Both condemning events have led to Suarez having a culmination of an 18 game ban. Pundits on Football Focus and Match of the Day, as well as managers of Premier League clubs have tried to look at both sides of Suarez, the 'cannibal' and 'genius' and whether Liverpool football club can hold onto a player of such fiery temperament but also 'undoubted quality'. The immediate comparison that pundits and newspapers alike are looking to use in this incident is the infamous Cantona kick on an Eagles fan at the Manchester United vs Crystal Palace game in 1995 which ultimately led to his ban from playing football again as well as receiving a fine of £20,000. Other pundits look to Jermaine Defoe's bite on Javier Mascherano back in 2006 which earned him a yellow card on the day but no further action. With this in mind, is it fair to say that the FA really need to have a re-think as to how they deliver punishment or retrospective action at least? Do they need to gain a real understanding of how to keep punishment for the severity of actions such as Suraez's bite in relation to the image and shadow that football ends up being placed under after such controversial actions by players? In my opinion, it is the case that they need to give a definitive statement regarding the length of bans or the type of action that would be taken to prevent further similar actions as this with some form of continuity to it, rather than seemingly picking out numbers from thin air regarding player suspension length regarding the type of dangerous tackle or action undertaken during matches as it seems they are doing at the moment.

Either way, violence of any proportion, whether it is a bite or kung-fu kick, has no place in football or any other sport. Sport is there to be enjoyed by spectators and players alike, and for action to be so undetermined and random is just confirmation that sport is a confused, problem filled and controversial based environment to play and work in regarding certain actions such as these.

Thus ends another one of my blogs, including numerous tragic and controversial news headlines, I hasten to add and reiterate that I believe that mindless violence such as the examples I have talked about above shines a negative light and shadow on sport as a whole. As a result of these dark days, sport needs to find a way to resolve these issues and to influence and create what they want to leave behind, influence and a legacy for all those inspired by their sporting heroes.

Jonathan Whitehead