Two terms that can be often associated within sport, are sportsmanship and gamesmanship. Sportsmanship often occurs when an athlete plays fair, follows the rules of the game, respects the judgement of the officials and treats the opponents with respect. Gamesmanship is when athletes use methods that are dubious, or seemingly improper but not strictly illegal; in other words, trying to gain an advantage without breaking any rules. There have been plenty of occurrences of sportsmanship and gamesmanship within sport. Paolo Di Canio was awarded the FIFA fair play award when the Italian opted to catch the ball rather than shoot when Everton’s goalkeeper, Paul Gerrard, was on the ground injured.
Many cricket fans will remember Adam Gilchrist’s decision to ‘walk’ against Sri Lanka in the 2003 World Cup semi final when he gloved a delivery from Aravinda de Silva, even though the umpire had ruled him not out.
On the other hand, many athletes instead decide to show signs of gamesmanship by time wasting, distracting the opposition, faking an injury or trying to gain a psychological edge. ‘Sledging’ in cricket is aimed at gaining a psychological edge which involves insulting or intimidating the opposing player. The purpose is to try to weaken the opponent’s concentration, thereby causing him to make mistakes or under perform With this in mind, what makes a professional athlete decide whether to show acts of sportsmanship or gamesmanship?
One issue that can affect sportsmanship or gamesmanship within elite sport is the circumstances of the match; these can include factors such as expectations, pressure and opportunity. The question must be asked, are athletes now more inclined to show signs of gamesmanship instead of sportsmanship? Some might argue that it is becoming more understandable to show levels of gamesmanship because of the ever increasing demand placed on athletes to win. This pressure is increased by external factors such as family, coaches, team mates and supporters as well as extrinsic rewards such as medals, fame and money. These factors may influence an athlete’s decision making whilst participating in a sport; however, most athletes begin to play sport from a young age because of love, fun and enjoyment which occurs whilst participating in sport. How many times did you run around your back garden or local parks pretending to be your favourite athlete? I know I did, and this was not based on the fact my favourite athletes were gaining medals, fame and money but because of my eagerness to try and copy their ability and skill levels. Nevertheless, studies have shown in the past that individuals who are paid for working on intrinsic activities can decrease an individual’s intrinsic motivation to succeed. This could be used to explain why some athletes are persuaded in showing signs of gamesmanship because their motivation has changed from intrinsic motivation, so participating in sport for love and enjoyment factors to extrinsic motivation, so participating in sport for money, fame and medals. Famously, tennis player Andre Agassi once stated that he only played tennis for a living, even though he hated tennis with a dark and secret passion. This shows that some athlete’s motivation to succeed is solely for extrinsic rewards.
On the other hand, there have been numerous occasions of sportsmanship within sport such as the Di Canio and Gilchrist incidents. These athletes have decided that the best interest of the sport was greater than their own chances of winning. One reason why these individuals may have decided to show great levels of sportsmanship is the importance of being a positive role model. With athletes now under the watchful eye of the media more than ever, it can be argued that athletes should attempt to show sportsmanship at every opportunity, as children will attempt to copy their actions of their sporting role models whether they are acceptable or not. Children should focus on participating in sport for many reasons such as maintaining and improving fitness, socialising, learning life skills and for enjoyment. Winning should not be an important factor at a young age.
Another explanation why these athletes decided to show sportsmanship is their own moral values. The four moral values accepted within sport have been defined as justice, honesty, responsibility and beneficence. Justice means people ‘get’ what they deserve. Honesty enables athletes to be trustworthy and honest in their dealing with others including the competitors during the play. Responsibility refers to the idea that athletes are responsible for their actions. Finally, beneficence is a state of not doing harm, preventing harm, removing harm and doing well. Taking the Gilchrist incident, there was justice with the correct decision being made, even though the umpire initially got the decision incorrect. Gilchrist showed honesty by giving himself out, by walking, which allowed for the correct decision to be made. Gilchrist took responsibly for his actions by being a positive role model and playing within the spirit of the game. Finally, by walking, Gilchrist was doing what was well for the sport and not harming another team chances by showing sportsmanship.
Whilst Gilchrist will be forever remembered for his act of sportsmanship, it is uncommon for cricketers to ‘walk’, especially Australians, with Barry Richards once stated that Australians only walk when their car runs out of petrol. But what did Gilchrist gain from walking? Of course there are plenty of benefits such as being a positive role model and maintain his moral values. But by doing this, it could have harmed his team chances of success. Gilchrist stated in his autobiography that he had “zero support in the team” for his stance and that he felt that the topic made the dressing room uncomfortable. He added that he “felt isolated” and “silently accused of betraying the team”. “Implicitly I was made to feel selfish, as if I was walking for the sake of my own clean image, thereby making everyone else look dishonest.” Within any team sport, cohesion is vital to be success. It can be argued that all team members need to ‘pull in the same direction’ and have common goals, where athletes need to think about how their actions and attitude can reflect on others in the dressing room. Some might argue that Gilchrist’s decision may have affected the cohesion and cause tension within the dressing room.
Finally, I believe it is vital to note that external factors such as managers, coaches and captains philosophy can influence an athlete’s decision whether to show fair play or bend the rules. If an important member of the team, such as a manager, has a win at all cost philosophy, it can influence the rest of the squad to follow his mentality. The same can be argued if a manager’s philosophy is to show fair play, then the likelihood of the rest of the squad is to show sportsmanship at every opportunity. However, with most sports being results based business, where there is a fine line between winning and losing. It can be argued that athletes are becoming more inclined to show gestures of gamesmanship, to gain positive results, which unfortunately means the acts of sportsmanship are becoming more uncommon. Even though some might argue this is the case, we still get the occasional act of sportsmanship throughout a calendar year.
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