Sociology of Sports - Essay Example

SOCIOLOGY OF SPORTS Module Module ID: The present paper aims to discuss the topicof sociology of sports and its significance in the individual and collective life of the members of society. The study elaborates how sports reflect human nature and behavior during the fluctuations of circumstances, as humans learn patience, tolerance and endurance along with making strife to ensure their success and achievement at the precarious state of affairs. Sports also convey the very message that man is not capable of hitting the bull’s eye by achieving all his targets by making hard efforts and struggling in an organized and disciplined manner, because favors from high heavens are essential to earn success during the course of life. In other words, both effort and fortune bring victory in human life. Sport is also the reflection of a culture and the norms, values, patterns, traditions, rituals, and beliefs of a society, which can be investigated by carefully watching a sport event. Since soccer is my heart- favorite support, I have focused the paper on the same by discussing the pleasures and enthusiasm it offers to the spectators in a wonderful and thrilling manner. Introduction: Sociology is frequently regarded as the study of human behavior, which concentrates upon people’s action, reaction and attitude during their interaction with one another in group life. Consequently, all social institutions and organizations come under the vast fold of sociology. The discipline discusses the individuals’ association with their natural and social phenomena, and nature and magnitude of their interaction with family, peers and neighbors on the one hand, and religious, educational, political and financial institutions on the other. Being an essential part of people’s everyday life, leisure time activities, including sports and games, and amusement and recreation also come under the vast fold of the subject. Sociology takes sport as an important social phenomenon, through which the individuals could demonstrate their excitement, zeal, enthusiasm and creative skills in an organized and refined manner. In addition, sports and playgrounds portray an accurate picture of the entire social structure, where man comes across friends and foes, companions and rivals, co-operation and conflict, sentiments and prudence, following the rules and displaying of emotions, struggling hard in a positive way and under strict discipline to win individually or as a team member, and demonstrating patience and endurance at the critical state of affairs, including submitting to the defeat gracefully. “Social and cultural bonding through athletics, which extends beyond the playing field to activities such as parents playing sports with their children or families and friends tailgating before their favorite team’s game, helps shape the values of those involved. (Lumpkin, 2011:34) Thus, sports certainly mean a lot in social life of all people without discrimination. I have selected soccer as my favorite sport for the present study. The main reason behind selecting the sport includes my profound interest in football since my childhood. I have been watching football at community, university and international scales for the last many years on television as well as at the playground. The credit goes to the administration at both the places, which arranges the sport event for the recreation of the people. I remember my early years when our family, teachers, neighbors and friends used to wait for the arrival of Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup and other noteworthy events associated with soccer. The magnificent opening ceremony of such remarkable sports events used to excite our passion, and we prayed for the success of our national soccer team with an unabated enthusiasm. The colorful memories of past grew with the passage of time, and my interest in the sport developed into unflinching passion to participate as a regular spectator in one of the most thrilling and popular game of the world at large. Another major reason behind focusing on soccer is its recognition as a global sport, which is played in over one hundred and twenty countries as the most enthusiastic sport. “Football has successfully outmaneuvered many other team sports, such as ice hockey, basketball or handball, and has been accepted as the number one sport with regard to media attention and audience reception worldwide” (Horne & Manzenreiter, 2002b). Being an economical sport, people belonging to all social classes can afford its kit and can play it in any playground without much concentration on building the court or ground for it. Moreover, soccer serves as a full time exercise, which involves all parts of body. It provides the opportunity of running in all corners of ground to make goals and defend one’s side by moving speedily, out of which man learns how to defend his boundaries from the external attacks and threats. In addition, soccer turns physique tough and vigorous, and keeps man alert, attentive, intelligent and sharp by enhancing his sense of judgment, perception and analysis. Thus, soccer involves both mind and body in the sport in order to win the game subsequently. Field Observation: Every sport determines some specific rules and regulations, observing of which makes the game more exciting and wonderful. While discussing football, the experts have also established the rules including the measurement of ground, goal, penalty area, specific uniform, number of players, appointment of referees, and other important things necessary for the maintenance of equality for both the teams playing the game. The experts are of the view that the soccer field or ground must be rectangular in shape, while its length should be between 100 to 130 yards, with the breadth between 50 and 100 yards in measurement. However, in the international matches, the length is determined to be between 110 and 120 yards, while the width should be between 70 to 80 yards. “The field of play shall be marked with distinctive lines, not more than 5 inches in width in accordance with the plan, the longer boundary lines being called the touch-lines and the shorter the goal-lines. Football ground also determines goal area, penalty area and corner area, each one represents the purpose for the same with its title.” (Quoted in Stadiumturf.com) Such types of arrangements not only make the sport colorful and beautiful, but also provide the players with equal opportunities of displaying their talent and skills. Although I used to watch soccer matches in my home country, yet I got several opportunities of watching soccer matches during my stay in London, where the administration generally made sitting arrangements for four thousands spectators. One of my university fellows used to represent Warwickshire county team as goal-keeper. I was motivated to observe the talent, discipline, traditionalism and sportsman spirit of the European players. Description of Watching a Mega Event: I got an opportunity of watching the final match of FIFA World Cup 2006, which was held in Germany’s capital city Berlin on July 9 2006 between Italy and France. Those days, I was studying in the London School of Economics, and booked the ticket many weeks before the day when the final match was to be played. Consequently, I caught flight to reach the football ground with my classmates in order to watch the match between the teams, which have reached the Final. It was really a wonderful day, and the entire city looked captivated and bewitched by the spell of soccer. The traditional banners, signboards and hoardings were announcing the occurrence of the mega event in the city. The stadium was jam-packed with the people, who had brought flags, banners and cardboards with slogans of the boards in support of their darling team. The lush green ground of the Olympiastadion had been well decorated and organized by the administrators, and everyone looked overwhelmed with the ambition of praying for the victory of his favorite team. “Without a local fan base and local revenues, a team cannot expect to survive and prosper beyond its market of origin. Devotion is to be loyal, to repeat a purchase.” (Dolles & Söderman, 2005:22) The match started in a traditional manner, and twenty two players of Italy and France entered the ground. They had worn uniforms, which displayed their nationality. and as the referee whistled, the teams stood against one another. An overwhelming majority of the spectators belonged to the students and teenagers, belonging to both the genders, which were present to raise slogans and enchanting to support their teams. The match showed that both the teams are of equal strength, though Italy appeared to be more aggressive than its rival. The France captain Zidane opened the scoring during the first half of the game on seventh minute penalty kick, which was equaled by Italy’s Materazzi at 19th minute. It was really challenging for France, which had the captain in the person of Zinedine Zidane. As the time passed, France looked heart-favorite for winning the match. The score remained 1-1 as the traditional 90 minute time ended. However, the clash between Zidane and Materazzi led towards the former’s sending off from the ground for head-butting the latter in the chest. The match continued, and extra time also could not turn out productive in deciding the fate of the match. Consequently, the referees decided penalty shootouts, which earned victory for Italy by 5-3. The ground witnessed many emotional scenes, where the French were in tears, while the Italians and their supported started dancing, singing and chanting slogans. Materazzi was declared man of the match for his outstanding performance, while Zidane obtained the Golden Ball as the best player of the series. We returned London with magnificent memories of the match in eyes and mind. Conclusion: To conclude, it looks crystal clear that sports and games are undoubtedly regarded as the beauty of cultural and social life, which teach the people that life is not the name of joys, victories and triumphs only; on the contrary, it is the combination of joys and sorrows, which occur in life in alternation; so man should remain mentally prepared even to face the most unfavorable situation in life. Consequently, sports present different aspects of life, and help people to learn how to act, react and behave while performing their personal, domestic and professional obligations. Observing of extreme patience is particularly at the eve of announcement of the results of the sport event, where the sportsmen have to control their emotions either they win or lose. The odd behavior observed by Materazzi during the FIFA World Cup 2006 Final match, and Zidane’s severe reaction to it conveys the message that intolerance may put the certain victory in grave jeopardy. Furthermore, sports also depict the norms, values and socialization patterns of players individually and as team by examining their behavior and abiding by the rules determined for it. Hence, sports provide the opportunities of learning, creativity and recreation simultaneously. References Dolles, Harald & Söderman, Sten. (2005) Globalization of Sports - The Case of Professional Football and its International Management Challenges Retrieved on 02-06-2012 http://www.dijtokyo.org/doc/WP05_1GlobalizationOfSportsProfessionalFootballDollesSoederman.pdf Horne, J., and W. Manzenreiter (2002b): The World Cup and television football. In: Horne, J., and W. Manzenreiter (eds): Japan, Korea and the 2002 World Cup, London: Routledge, 195-212. Lumpkin, Angela. (2011) Sport as a Reflection of Society Kappa Phi Forum Retrieved on 02-06-2012 http://evincent.webs.com/Sports%20as%20a%20Reflection%20on%20Society.pdf Law I-the Field of Play Retrieved on 02-06-2012 http://www.stadiumturf.com/soccer_field.htm Read More