Respect in Sport

Guest

Is there a place for respect in sport ?

This a thought that has been on my mind lately after a rugby game last week.

In the game one of the top teams played the bottom team, because try count is a deciding factor if the points are drawn at the end of the season. the top team waived their right to convert any tries that they scored saying that it was wasting time that they wanted to use to score tries.

My personal thoughts on this decision is that its an insult to the opposing team, yes the top team were always going to win but would it have harmed to try to kick the conversions (you are allowed to drop kick the conversions which would have taken all of 10 seconds).

In the end they ran in 10 tries and then won again last night with a win away from home which meant they won the league on points and the try count was immaterial.

So I know that this post has been about a rugby game but it could apply to all sports, should you show your opponent respect even though you know your going to beat him, people enter into contests with the thought of doing their best and sometimes with the faintest hope of winning, losing is hard enough to take without disrespect being heaped on the loser by the victor.

The respect some sportsmen show officials is another facet of sport which annoys me.

Any Thoughts ?

Guest

L-g, I agree with you 100%. You participate in a sport because you love it, whether you make it to professional level or not and you practice the sport to the best of your abilities.

For another superior player to belittle or disrespect you is unacceptable and sign of bad sportsmanship.

Guest

You gotta respect everyone no matter where they are.

Even in non professional stuff.

You still gotta respect the slow cyclers that get in your way all the time!

At least they're out there giving it a go.

Guest

Well, there was a time when sport was about fun and enjoyment rather than millions of dollars.  Basically, that's all it's about in professional sport anymore, so we just have to live with it.  Yes, it is annoying, but unless we're all prepared to go and watch the local scrappers on Saturday afternoon, respect has pretty much disappeared.

Vo2

Thats part of the reason I don't watch rugby anymore. >
I'm an Ullrich fan, and I'm sad that I won't be seeing him in this year's TdF, and altho I'd like to see him beat LA to the line, I think that LA is one of our sports biggest ambassadors. The sportsmanship he showed in last years TdF, when Ullrich fell into that ditch and LA waited up, was remarkable. By doing that he took my respect for him to another level. We need more athletes like him.

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