On-field Violence, Fighting, Injuries: A Sociological Analysis Report

This report delves into the pervasive issue of on-field violence, encompassing fighting and injuries within sports. It commences with an introduction outlining the significance of the topic and poses key research questions concerning the impact of on-field behavior, fan violence, and player interactions. A detailed case study of the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot is presented, highlighting the role of fan behavior and the consequences of sports-related violence. The report then examines a separate case involving a fight between NFL players. Drawing from these examples, the conclusion emphasizes the need for violence prevention strategies, including player and coach management, the promotion of sportsmanship among fans, the use of law enforcement, and the implementation of codes of conduct. The report concludes with recommendations aimed at mitigating violence and fostering a safer and more respectful environment within sports. The report highlights that the majority of the participants in the Vancouver riot were under 18 years old.

Running head: ON-FIELD VIOLENCE, FIGHTING, INJURIES
On-field Violence, Fighting, Injuries
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1ON-FIELD VIOLENCE, FIGHTING, INJURIES
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Research Question......................................................................................................................2
Case Study..................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion and proposed solution.............................................................................................4
Recommendation........................................................................................................................4
References:.................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The prevention of Violence in the sports activities is a concept that has at present
become inextricably associated with the sports events in near about each and every country.
Violence in sports is referred to as physical assault which is intended at causing physical
injury and pain to the other players (Felson, 2017). It involves the execution of the aggressive
behaviours which harm other individuals and happens out of the set rules and regulations of
sports. As per the recent survey, there has been an increase in the frequency and severity of
violence in sports. However, although the violence in sports is often stem from the players,
the other people like media, fans and coaches too have at present contributed to the outbreak
of violence in the sports (Schneider, 2015). They make riots and contribute to public
disturbance.
This paper is going to elaborate on the same- On-field Violence, Fighting, and
injuries. It would research about this social problem of violence in sports and would examine
the same with a detailed case study on it.
Research Question
The research questions for this paper are as follows:
 Does on-field sports violence behaviour results in off-field violence?
 Can Fan violence be prevented?
 Do violence and fight in between the players in the field depicts superiority of one
over other?

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Case Study
On 15th June, 2011, a public riot broke out in the downtown core of Vancouver in
British Columbia in Canada (Dawson & Davies, 2018). It took place right after the
announcement that Boston Bruins had win over Vancouver Canucks in the game seven of
Stanley Cup finals that won the Stanley Cup for Boston (Demers, 2015). It was reported that
around 140 people were injured at the time of this incident. The Canucks jersey and the
Boston Bruins flags were set to fire and some of the rioters again overturned some vehicles in
front of the post office. People were jumping over these vehicles and they ultimately set that
afire after it was over tuned (Franks & Evans, 2015). Around 4 people were injured, a total of
9 police officers were stabbed and more than 100 people were arrested and seized by the
police men. After the riot, the people were eager enough to see the role that social media
might play in fuelling up the entire riot. It indeed played a very crucial role both before and
after the riot (Rizza, Pereira & Curvelo, 2014). By means of this and police investigation, it
was found that a large number of people who were involved in the riot were under the age of
18 years. More than 880 charges were laid against 300 people and four years after the
incident, the police finished their investigation on the case and end up with charges against 2
suspects (Dawson & Davies, 2018). Furthermore, about five million dollars of property was
damaged, 140 non-fatal injuries were been recorded and several people were stabbed but yet
the violence on the hockey field is still encouraged and glorified.
Apart from this, one of the more memorable yet significant fights till date is the fight
that took place in the year 2010 when the wide receiver of Houston Texans- Tennessee Titans
and Andre Johnson cornerback Cortland Finnegan engaged into a fight in the mid of the play.
Both of them had been going at it all day long and in the play right before the fight, Andre
Johnson pushed Cortland Finnegan and this made his helmet to come off. In the next play
again, both of them were pushing each other and they pull their helmets off before making a

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few punches towards each other. Due to high tensions in this sport, most of the interactions
end with the other teammates who were involved in it so that they could protect their
teammate.
Sadly, there are many instances as such where the football players act violently on
field.
Conclusion and proposed solution
Hence, it can be stated from the above discussion that violence in sports depicts
aggressive behaviours against the sports’ rules and regulations. It has been found from the
mentioned case study of Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot of 2011 that majority of the people
who were involved in the riot were belonging from the age range of below 18 years.
However, not only violence takes place in hockey, but in each and every sport and mostly, it
happens in football. It is also regarded as one of the most violent sports of all times. The
players in the football field run around each other and hit each other every now and then and
this makes the possibility of getting physical altercation of them on the field. From the second
case study provided, it was because of the football players who act out very violently on field.
Today the violent and aggressive fan behaviour has become a game day tradition that each
and every sports security professionals are working hard to limit and to eliminate.
Recommendation
 In order to prevent such sports violence, it is very important for the players as well as
the coaches to manage real situations. A coach could take the role of an arbitrator
within the training process and could punish the illegal and unfair actions so that the
players could learns how master these situations of extreme reactions as well as
understand that the referee could also be wrong at certain situation.

5ON-FIELD VIOLENCE, FIGHTING, INJURIES
 It is very important for the players to depict an image of non-violence in front of their
fans. It is important for the fans to learn sportsmanship by emphasizing that sport is
fun for playing and that the outcome or the result of sport could either be in favour or
be not. They must understand that the result of the game is not the most vital aspect of
the entire game. It is a game, one or the other has to lose. Hence, there is no point of
fighting with each other and harming one another for the sake of a game. They must
enrol within themselves a non-competitive sense of sports where there is not any
score. They must be encouraged for recognising the talent of the opposition parties or
players as well and must avoid unethical, aggressive and violent behaviours.
 Using law officials is the best in such cases. The police offices have the entire
authority of stopping the happening of violence and for marinating a control of the
sporting events. The existence of law officials helps in the prevention of sports
violence by means of reminding the participants that there are some consequences for
the violence.
 Handing out guidelines and communicating with the spectators about the issue of
what the players consider to be the act of violence along with the ramifications of the
violent actions. One of the major source of sports violence is regarded to be
Hooliganism and that takes place when the fans take some action that could result in
harm like rushing a field right after the victory.
 Furthermore, the players, coaches and the parents of the players must sign a code of
sportsmanship in order to make sure that everyone who is involved in the very sport is
responsible for prevention of violence. With the same, it must also define what could
be the consequence of the very action that is against the code of sportsmanship. They
must be ensured that each and every one is sure enough and understand when the line
from aggressive play to the creation of violence has been crossed. It is also to note

6ON-FIELD VIOLENCE, FIGHTING, INJURIES
that the coaches and the parents must be a very good example of good sportsmanship
for the young players.
 Furthermore, from the first case study it has been depicted that the majority of the
participants of the very riot were below the age of 18 years. Hence, they must taught
what sportsmanship is and must be understood that it is game and it should not be
taken so seriously. It is to note that sport is one of the major source of enjoyment as
can help in building up of self-esteem, nurturing social contact and teaching various
lessons of life. The adolescent take their favourite players as their role models and
hence, they react. It is natural but at the same time, it is also true that sports is just a
source of enjoyment. It has been emerged with an objective of developing unity
instead of creating violence.

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References:
Dawson, S. E., & Davies, G. (2018). Who’s Policing the Crowd? A Typology of Officers
Who Policed the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice.
Dawson, S. E., & Davies, G. (2018). Who’s Policing the Crowd? A Typology of Officers
Who Policed the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice.
Demers, S. (2015). Riding a probabilistic support vector machine to the Stanley Cup. Journal
of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 11(4), 205-218. exclusion in sport. In Sport and
Contested Identities (pp. 120-139).
Felson, R. B. (2017). Predatory and dispute-related violence: A social interactionist approach.
In Routine activity and rational choice (pp. 103-125).
Franks, P., & Evans, L. (2015, July). Social media and trust in North American local
government law enforcement. In Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on
Social Media 2015: ECSM 2015 (p. 157).
Rizza, C., Pereira, Â. G., & Curvelo, P. (2014). “Do-it-yourself justice”: considerations of
social media use in a crisis situation: the case of the 2011 Vancouver
riots. International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and
Management (IJISCRAM), 6(4), 42-59.

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Schneider, C. J. (2015). Public criminology and the 2011 Vancouver riot: Public perceptions
of crime and justice in the 21st century. Radical Criminology, (5), 21-45.