Categories
Hazing News

New Scholarship:

Conflict On the Courts

A Review of Sports-Related Violence Literature

Sarah K. Fields, Christy L. Collins, R. Dawn Comstock

First Published October 1, 2007 Research Article

Abstract

Sports-related violence is a form of interpersonal violence. Violence that occurs in and around the sporting world can have potentially severe physical and psychological repercussions for those involved. Although scholars in a wide range of disciplines have addressed three of the subsets of sports-related violence, they have done so without regard to the interconnected nature of the subsets, choosing instead to look at hazing, brawling, and foul play as independent problems. By separating hazing, brawling, and foul play and failing to recognize that their connection to sport connects them, scholars fail to see how sports-related violence is a broad example of interpersonal violence. This review describes some of the academic literature, primarily from the United States, and identifies similar themes and prevention suggestions that appear across disciplines. It also argues that the three subsets are an interconnected whole of sports-related violence that deserves more detailed study.

Keywords sports, interpersonal violence, hazing, brawling, foul play, literature review
Abrams, D.E. (2002). The challenge facing parents and coaches in youth sports: Assuring children fun and equal opportunity. Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Forum, 8, 253–292. Google Scholar
Bredemeier, B., & Shields, D. (1984). The utility of moral stage analysis in the investigation of athletic aggression. Sociology of Sport Journal, 1(2), 138–149. Google Scholar, Crossref
Bridges, J.C. (1999). Making violence part of the game: The socio-legal history of violence in American sport. Commack, NY: Krushka Books. Google Scholar
Bridgman, M.C. (2006, April 25). Coach blames players for police investigation . Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved January 5, 2006, from Lexis/Nexis database. Google Scholar
Campo, S., Poulos G., & Sipple, J.W. (2005). Prevalence and profiling: Hazing among college students and points of intervention. American Journal of Health Behavior, 29(2), 137–149. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline
Character Counts. (2005). Retrieved June 18, 2005, from http://www.charactercounts.org Google Scholar
Chiafullo, C.M. (1998). From personal foul to personal attack: How sports officials are the target of physical abuse from players, coaches, and fans alike. Seton Hall Journal of Sports Law, 8, 201–227. Google Scholar
Coakley, J.J. (2007). Sport in society (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Google Scholar
Colburn, K. (1986). Deviance and legitimacy in ice hockey. Sociological Quarterly, 27(1), 63–74. Google Scholar, Crossref
Comstock, R.D., & Fields, S.K. (2005). The fair sex? Foul play among female rugby players. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 8(1), 101–110. Google Scholar
Crow, R.B., & Rosner, S.R. (2002). Institutional and organizational liability for hazing in intercollegiate and professional team sports. St. John’s Law Review, 76, 87–114. Google Scholar
Diamos, J. (2005, August 9). N.H.L. reinstates Canucks’ Bertuzzi . New York Times. Retrieved August 10, 2005 , from http://www.nytimes.com Google Scholar
Dixon, M. (2001). Chalk talk. Hazing in high schools: Ending the hidden tradition. Journal of Law and Education, 30, 357–363. Google Scholar
Egan, E. (2004, June 1). Kids speak out. Sports Illustrated for Kids. Retrieved June 1, 2005, from http://www.nerac.com Google Scholar
Feldman, D.L. (2003). Note. Pandora’s box is open: Criminal prosecution implemented. Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal , 2, 310–327. Google Scholar
Fields-Meyer, T. (2003, November 3). Too cruel for school. People. Retrieved June 1, 2005, from http://www.nerac.com Google Scholar
Finke, R.C., Gerberich, S.G., Madden, M., Funk, S., Murray, K., Priest, J.D., et al. (1988). Shoulder injuries in hockey. Journal of Orthopedic Sports and Physical Therapy, 10(2), 54–58. Google Scholar
Finkel, M. (2002). Traumatic injuries caused by hazing practices . American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 20(3). Retrieved October 20, 2004, from http://home.mdconsult.com Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline
Gershel, J.C., Katz-Sidlow, R.J., Small, E., & Zandieh, S. (2003). Hazing in suburban middle school and high school athletes. Journal of Adolescent Health, 32(5), 333–335. Google Scholar, Crossref, Medline
Goldstein, A.P. (1996). Violence in America. Palo Alto, CA: Davis-Black. Google Scholar
Heinzmann, G. (2002, March). Parental violence in youth sports. Parks and Recreation, pp. 66–73. Google Scholar
Holman, M. (2004). A search for a theoretical understanding of hazing practices in athletics. In J. Johnson & M. Holman (Eds.), Making the team: Inside the world of sport initiations and hazing. Toronto: CanadianScholars Press, Inc. Google Scholar
Hoover, N.C. (1999). National survey: Initiation rites and athletics for NCAA sports teams. Retrieved February 14, 2005, from http://www.alfred.edu/sports_hazing/docs/hazing.pdf Google Scholar
Hoover, N.C., & Pollard, N.J. (2000). Initiation rites in American high schools: A national survey. Retrieved December 17, 2004, from http://www.alfred.edu/hs_hazing/ Google Scholar
Juhn, M.S., Brolinson, P.G., Duffey, T., Stockard, A., Vangelos, Z.A., Emaus, E., et al. (2002). Position statement: Violence and injury in ice hockey. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 12(1), 46–51. Google Scholar
Johnson, J., & Miller, P. (2004). Changing the initiation ceremony. In J. Johnson & M. Holman (Eds.), Making the team: Inside the world of sport initiations and hazing. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, Inc. Google Scholar
Katz, J.H. (2000). Note. From the penalty box to the penitentiary: The people versus Jesse Boulerice. Rutgers Law Journal, 31, 833–872. Google Scholar
Kerr, J.H. (2005). Rethinking aggression and violence in sport. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar
Lage, L. (2005, November 18). The brawl still lives in infamy a year later. AP Wire. Accessed January 5, 2006, from Lexis/Nexis database. Google Scholar
Lance, L.M., & Ross, C.E. (2000). Views of violence in American sports: A study of college students. College Student Journal, 34(2), 191–200. Google Scholar
Lewis, E.R., & George, K.P. (1996). An initial investigation in women, men and youths playing rugby football at the same club. Sports Exercise and Injury, 2, 186–191. Google Scholar
McLeroy, K.R., Bibeau, D., Steckler, A., & Glanz, K. (1988). An ecological perspective on health promotion programs. Health Education Quarterly, 15(4), 351—377. Google Scholar, Link
Messner, M. (1990). When bodies are weapons. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 25, 203–221. Google Scholar, Link
Miedzian, M. (1991). Boys will be boys. New York : Doubleday. Google Scholar
Nagel, M.S., Southall, R.M., & O’Toole, T. (2004). Punishment in the four major North American professional sports leagues. International Sports Journal, 8(2), 15–27. Google Scholar
National standards for youth sport. (2001). Retrieved June 17, 2005, from http://www.nays.org/TimeOut/National%20Standards.pdf Google Scholar
Nuwer, H. (1990). Broken pledges. Atlanta, GA : Longstreet. Google Scholar
Nuwer, H. (1999). The wrongs of passage. Bloomington : Indiana University Press. Google Scholar
Nuwer, H. (2000). High school hazing. New York : Franklin Watts. Google Scholar
Nuwer, H. (Ed.). (2004). The hazing reader. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Google Scholar
Pappas, N.T. (2004). Athlete aggression on the rink and off the ice . Men and Masculinities, 6(3), 291–313. Google Scholar, Link
Paul, R.J. (2003). Variations in NHL attendance. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 62(2), 345–364. Google Scholar, Crossref
Pelletier, A. (2002). Note. Regulation of rites: The effect and enforcement of current anti-hazing statutes. New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, 28, 377–412. Google Scholar
Rainey, D.W. (1994). Assaults on umpires: A statewide survey. Journal of Sport Behavior, 17, 148–155. Google Scholar
Rainey, D.W., & Duggan, P. (1998). Assaults on basketball referees: A statewide survey . Journal of Sport Behavior, 21(1), 113–120. Google Scholar
Rogers, T. (2004, December 14). OHSAA gets tough on athlete-fan fights . Cleveland Plain-Dealer, p. D7. Google Scholar
Rosner, S.R., & Crow, R.B. (2002). Institutional liability for hazing in interscholastic sports. Houston Law Review, 39, 275–305. Google Scholar
Schoenfelder, C. (2001). Comment. Timeout! Prosecuting juveniles for sports-related violence and the effect on youth contact sports. Journal of Juvenile Law, 22, 139–158. Google Scholar
Schuette, J.R. (2001). Adolescent sport violence: When prosecutors play referee making criminals out of child athletes, but are they the real culprits? Northern Illinois University Law Review, 21, 515–539. Google Scholar
Shields, E.W. (1999). Intimidation and violence by males in high school athletics. Adolescence, 34(135), 503–521. Google Scholar, Medline
Smith, M.D. (1983). Violence and sport. Toronto, Canada: Butterworth. Google Scholar
Sports briefs. (2004, September 24). Deseret morning news (Salt Lake City). Retrieved August 12, 2005, from Lexis/Nexis Database. Google Scholar
Sports hazing incidents. (2000, June 3). Retrieved December 7, 2004, from http://espn.go.com/otl/hazing/list.html Google Scholar
Staurowsky, E.J. (2003). Hazing. In D. J. Cotton & J. T. Wolohan (Eds.), Law for recreation and sport managers (3rd ed., pp. 282–293). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt . Google Scholar
Tenser, J. (2005). Fans take violence in stride. Advertising Age, 76(7), 5–9. Google Scholar
Tucker, L.W., & Parks, J.B. (2001). Effects of gender and sport type on intercollegiate athlete’s perception of the legitimacy of aggressive behaviors in sport. Sociology of Sport Journal, 18, 403–413. Google Scholar, Crossref
Wahl, G., & Wertheim, L.J. (2003, December 22). A rite gone terribly wrong. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 1, 2005, from http://www.nerac.com Google Scholar
Weinstein, M.D., Smith, D.S., & Wiesenthal, D.L. (1995). Masculinity and hockey violence. Sex Roles, 33, 831–847. Google Scholar, Crossref
Young, K. (2002). In M. Gatz, M. A. Messner, & S. J. Ball-Rokeach (Eds.), Paradoxes of youth and sport (pp. 207–224). Albany: State University of New York Press. Google Scholar
Holman, M. (2004). A search for a theoretical understanding of hazing practices in athletics. In J. Johnson & M. Holman (Eds.), Making the team: Inside the world of sport initiations and hazing. Toronto: CanadianScholars Press, Inc. Google Scholar
Hoover, N.C. (1999). National survey: Initiation rites and athletics for NCAA sports teams. Retrieved December 17, 2004, from http://www.alfred.edu/sports_hazing/docs/hazing.pdf Google Scholar
Hoover, N.C., & Pollard, N.J. (2000). Initiation rites in American high schools: A national survey. Retrieved December 17, 2004, from http://www.alfred.edu/hs_hazing/ Google Scholar
Nuwer, H. (2000). High school hazing. New York : Franklin Watts. Google Scholar

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

Leave a Reply