Traditional Saint
Juniors
- Messages
- 587
Sport Rage
Forget about road rage there is a new kind of violence taking over and its called Sport Rage. This type of rage is described as the verbal, physical or mental abuse that may come from players, spectators, parents, trainers, coaches or even officials.
Recent examples of this rage in Rugby League include a brawl between a group of parents who traded blows at a Penrith district junior rugby league game at Windsor. This brawl led to the banning of a young boy from playing with the Minchinbury Jets. Earlier this year a 15 year old suffered a serious eye injury after being bashed by a spectator during a St George District Junior Rugby League Competition. Central Coast police were called to break up a brawl at a school girls match that resulted in an unconscious Year 8 player. It was also reported that a middle aged woman broke the leg off a picnic table and ran on to the field and used the broken table leg to hit the referee because she didnt like the way he controlled the game. Another incident led to a man being arrested, charged and sentenced to three months jail after he punched a referee because his son was sent to the sin bin.
The most recent statistics of sport rage offences committed are 37% by players, 22% by coaches, 19% by spectators and 17% by parents. The impact of violence in sport can lead to a decline in participation by both officials and players.
The time has come for sporting associations, clubs, teams and the government to try to implement strategies to prevent future sport rage.
Rugby league was the first sport to actually adopt the anti rage package produced by NSW Sport and Recreation. The NSW Junior Rugby League distributed more than 60,000 sport rage prevention booklets to players and parents before the start of the 2005 football season. Codes of conduct have also become popular amongst most sports.
Another approach by the Department of Sport and Recreation is identifying what type of parent are you? There is a cartoon that describes the different types of parents which enables individuals to think about themselves in regards to their attitude and the way they behave.
The first parent is the screecher. This is the person who can be heard yelling, swearing and calling profanities throughout the entire game. The over the top parent. Most people know the kind; great pass Timmy, excellent work Timmy, good boy Timmy, go Timmy and my Timmys a legend. The analyst who has everything worked out about their kid. You will hear them say things like my kids just run 3.5 seconds faster than what he did last week. The wannabe parent will be heard telling their kid I never showed you that way or do it the way I told you to. Then there is the not really there parent. This is the one with the mobile phone glued to their ear or thinks I must call the office and check my messages. Finally we come to the five star parent. This parent will be heard saying things like well played team or that was a great effort by everyone. These parental descriptions apart from being amusing are interesting and most people involved in junior league can probably relate to at least one of these descriptions. Obviously the league would like to increase the number of five star parents attending games.
There are ex players from the old school that believe there is nothing wrong with an old fashioned blue between players on the field. The character Reg Reagan promotes Bring Back The Biff and is a well supported character.
An ideal situation would be one that allows spectators, players, officials, referees and touch judges the opportunity to participate in the game without fear of harassment or violence.
In conclusion violence in league is a much debated topic. Being involved in sport can be a dangerous past time. It is important for the future of rugby league and for the safety of all involved that a certain approach should be taken towards those guilty of committing violent acts against individuals. How this can be policed is the topic of another debate.
References
Dept of Sport and Recreation, 2005, Which sport parent are you?, www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/sportrage
Van Den Nieuwenhof, L. (editor), Crossing The Line , The Australia Magazine, News Limited, 1st October 2005,
Nori, S., NSW Govt & Junior Rugby League Tackle Sport Rage, 19th Feb 2005
Forget about road rage there is a new kind of violence taking over and its called Sport Rage. This type of rage is described as the verbal, physical or mental abuse that may come from players, spectators, parents, trainers, coaches or even officials.
Recent examples of this rage in Rugby League include a brawl between a group of parents who traded blows at a Penrith district junior rugby league game at Windsor. This brawl led to the banning of a young boy from playing with the Minchinbury Jets. Earlier this year a 15 year old suffered a serious eye injury after being bashed by a spectator during a St George District Junior Rugby League Competition. Central Coast police were called to break up a brawl at a school girls match that resulted in an unconscious Year 8 player. It was also reported that a middle aged woman broke the leg off a picnic table and ran on to the field and used the broken table leg to hit the referee because she didnt like the way he controlled the game. Another incident led to a man being arrested, charged and sentenced to three months jail after he punched a referee because his son was sent to the sin bin.
The most recent statistics of sport rage offences committed are 37% by players, 22% by coaches, 19% by spectators and 17% by parents. The impact of violence in sport can lead to a decline in participation by both officials and players.
The time has come for sporting associations, clubs, teams and the government to try to implement strategies to prevent future sport rage.
Rugby league was the first sport to actually adopt the anti rage package produced by NSW Sport and Recreation. The NSW Junior Rugby League distributed more than 60,000 sport rage prevention booklets to players and parents before the start of the 2005 football season. Codes of conduct have also become popular amongst most sports.
Another approach by the Department of Sport and Recreation is identifying what type of parent are you? There is a cartoon that describes the different types of parents which enables individuals to think about themselves in regards to their attitude and the way they behave.
The first parent is the screecher. This is the person who can be heard yelling, swearing and calling profanities throughout the entire game. The over the top parent. Most people know the kind; great pass Timmy, excellent work Timmy, good boy Timmy, go Timmy and my Timmys a legend. The analyst who has everything worked out about their kid. You will hear them say things like my kids just run 3.5 seconds faster than what he did last week. The wannabe parent will be heard telling their kid I never showed you that way or do it the way I told you to. Then there is the not really there parent. This is the one with the mobile phone glued to their ear or thinks I must call the office and check my messages. Finally we come to the five star parent. This parent will be heard saying things like well played team or that was a great effort by everyone. These parental descriptions apart from being amusing are interesting and most people involved in junior league can probably relate to at least one of these descriptions. Obviously the league would like to increase the number of five star parents attending games.
There are ex players from the old school that believe there is nothing wrong with an old fashioned blue between players on the field. The character Reg Reagan promotes Bring Back The Biff and is a well supported character.
An ideal situation would be one that allows spectators, players, officials, referees and touch judges the opportunity to participate in the game without fear of harassment or violence.
In conclusion violence in league is a much debated topic. Being involved in sport can be a dangerous past time. It is important for the future of rugby league and for the safety of all involved that a certain approach should be taken towards those guilty of committing violent acts against individuals. How this can be policed is the topic of another debate.
References
Dept of Sport and Recreation, 2005, Which sport parent are you?, www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/sportrage
Van Den Nieuwenhof, L. (editor), Crossing The Line , The Australia Magazine, News Limited, 1st October 2005,
Nori, S., NSW Govt & Junior Rugby League Tackle Sport Rage, 19th Feb 2005
). If its any help - my essay was posted to DAF F7 thread on Monday 31st Oct.
