Professional Sports Ethics

Professional Sports Ethics

Overview of the topic

Professional sports provide a way to people to measure their athletic ability through competition, but if any player has unfair or illegal advantage over other player, then it can result it in undermining the message of sportsmanship. In the 21st century, stories have started emerging about athletes resulting positive in the doping test and cheating in the game can hurt and damage the image of professional sports. Professional sports have formal and informal rules and codes to ensure that every player is provided with equal opportunity and advantage. All other sports have their own code of conduct and ethics which are observed to keep sports honest and clean from unethical and illegal activities (Thornton, Champion & Ruddell, 2011).

General codes of ethics are followed in every sport, as players can become heated during the game and it can result in personal rivalry. Every sportsman wants to win and this passion of winning makes them cross the borders between what is right and wrong. In sports, behaving unethically and cheating can cause serious damage to the image of the player and the country name as well which the player is representing. Professional sports are a battle of skills and talent where ethics play an important part to ensure that competitors have the sportsman spirit, play honestly and fairly and at the same time, treat each other with respect. This portrays a positive image to spectators who watch the game either in the sports arena or at their homes through television. Once people start liking a particular sport, they come in huge numbers to support their favourite player and team which ultimately results in positive monitory and non-monitory returns for the individual and for the whole team as well. As long as sports will remain clean and honest, people will follow it, or else people will stop showing interest which can cause serious damage to the sports industry as a whole. In order to keep the sports clean in America, the ministry of sports has formed U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to ensure that sports activities are carried out fairly. (Thornton, Champion & Ruddell, 2011).

Introduction

Ethics can be described as standards of right and wrong that usually prescribe what people ought to do, in terms of obligations, rights, fairness or any specific virtues. The concept of ethics is applied in every phase of life, whether it is business life or personal, the concept of ethics can be applied anywhere. Like personal life and business sector, ethics has a role to play in Sports as well. Every sportsman has to follow a specific set of behaviour and code of conduct in order to become successful. The study of sports ethics is as important to study for a sportsman as it is important for a business man to follow the rules and regulations. For the sports management professional, there is an advantage to the study of sports ethics. In sports, ethics was considered less important, but with the passage of time and ...