Are Sportspersons Good Moral Role Models?
PHYSICAL CULTURE AND SPORT. STUDIES AND RESEARCH DOI: 10.2478/pcssr-2014-0023 Are Sportspersons Good Moral Role Models? Authors’ contribution: Roger Melin A) conception and design of the study School of Humanities and Media, Sweden B) acquisition of data C) analysis and interpretation of data D) manuscript preparation E) obtaining funding ABSTRACT It has been thought that sportspersons, through their participation in sport, acquire moral attitudes and behavior that make them good moral role models. These moral attitudes and behavior can be called the ethos of sport, and consist of the principles of fair play and courage, justice, and honesty. In this article, it is argued that this belief is mistaken. Through four very common examples of sporting practice, it is shown that sport, contrary to providing a good basis for proper moral behavior, promotes what otherwise would be called non-moral attitudes and behavior. As a conclusion, it is pointed out that sportspersons might very well be good moral role models, but that they would be moral role models in spite of the fact that they are involved in sporting activities. KEYWORDS ethos of sport, role model, sporting practice Introduction In a football game between Lazio and Napoli in 2012 in the Italian league, the Lazio player Miroslav Klose receives a ball that he manages to put inside the opponents‘ net, and the referee judges it to be a goal. Klose at first celebrates the goal, but later he realizes that the decision was not correct, since he used his hand to score the goal. He informs the referee, who changes his decision and awards a free kick to the defending team due to Klose‘s foul play (E.
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