When in a sport setting it is usually unpredictable as to whether there will wind up being an ‘assault and battery’ amongst the two opposing teams. When it does occur, many players get away with a simple, insignificant punishment such as small fine, other players may receive a short or prolonged suspension. However, the real question is why players who commit such violent acts towards one another do not receive severe punishments such as those that might occur when these same types of offenses occur outside of sport settings.
An example of such a heinous act occurred two weeks ago between two NFL opponents, The Cincinnati Bengals vs. The Oakland Raiders. Cincinnati’s ‘Pacman’ Jones scuffled with Oakland’s Amari Cooper on the ground. Jones purposely took off Cooper’s helmet and bashed his head against the helmet. The …show more content…
If there is any act of violence within a sport setting, there is virtually no punishment by these laws outside of that setting. The league, franchise, or club is the entity responsible for implementing a reasonable punishment. There are many ethical issues when delving into the prevalence of and consequences of fighting in sports. Ethical reasoning is a known issue when relating to this matter. The league or the club itself decides upon the punishment for all degrees of fighting in a professional sport. As to whether the player or players will receive fair or correct punishments is open to opinion. The process of deciding the fate of those involved in harmful forms of fighting should therefore be up for scrutiny. It is possible that there can be a change in these policies. It could take a lengthy amount of time, but will ultimately cause the enforcement of new or revised sanctions towards all athletes who commit violence towards one another, and eventually lead to a new code of conduct