Mags GarganMags Gargan reports from a recent conference examining ethics in sport and its effects on young people
Doping scandals, financial corruption, abuse of power and an aggressive ‘win at all costs’ attitude that puts players’ health in danger, were all concerns expressed at a conference exploring ethics in sport.
“Sport reflects Irish society. It holds up a mirror and shows all that is good and bad,” said Dr John Scally, opening the conference hosted by the Department of Religions and Theology in Trinity College Dublin. This is the second conference on this theme organised by Dr Scally, an Assistant Professor in Ecclesiastical History and a huge sports fan, and he once again lined up an impressive array of speakers.
Broadcaster and rugby pundit George Hook kicked things off, saying sport has always been unethical, but now it is in a much wider and acceptable way. Comparing modern rugby players to ancient gladiators he said they were now “simply people paid a lot of money in order to entertain us by ensuring that by around the age of 40 they won’t be able to play a round of golf”.
While that is their choice, the ethical problem for George Hook was with how this affects children. “Young people in rugby are now playing a game that is inherently dangerous. The problem is we have a game that is played by people earning a million a year and the exact same game is played by children. The same head on tackles, the same extraordinarily dangerous positions are being taken up by 12 and 13-year-olds at the ruck, and voices are largely stilled in terms of criticism.”
He also expressed concern at young people taking supplements to bulk up their muscles, saying “what we are seeing now is increasing physical size, which is not real or sustainable”.
'Win at all costs'
The rush to win and the new ‘win at all costs’ attitude in amateur sports means “we are not doing the one thing that sport intended to do, that it was a picture of life, and particularly with team sports, children would understand even if they are not very good they play an important role”.
“We are not teaching children that this is a game for all, it is now a game only for athletes… a privileged game for the few and therein lies the tragedy.”
Football analyst and former Derry player Joe Brolly said the big problem facing the GAA is commercialism and that “we will lose that sense of community and volunteerism”. “The ‘win at all costs’ attitude which is linked to that has taken hold of the game. Coming second means oblivion,” he said. “The problem is that the entirely healthy idea that the purpose of the game is to try to win has been perverted into ‘only winning is important and everything else is irrelevant’.”
He said that we go to sport to be inspired. “It’s a game. That’s the beauty of it. Boys and girls hurl themselves into it with abandon and if they come up short, they come up short. It is about the human spirit and I think we have lost that. It is about playing and participation.”
Roscommon footballer Karol Mannion has experienced two concussions in his career and he warned that concussion is not being taken seriously enough by coaches but also by the players themselves in all sports. “We have seen at times issues of concussion where players have gone back on but I think slowly that people are coming into line.
“The whole warrior culture thing has to be out to the side, we can’t have a situation where a player is applauded for coming back on with concussion. It has to be jumped on straight away as unacceptable. When you have concussion you don’t behave rationally and it is a very hard thing to remove yourself from a big game, so the decision must be removed from the player.”
Gareth O’Callaghan, a broadcaster, therapist and mental health campaigner, spoke of his own experience of depression and expressed a concern that sports stars today are forced to be two people, the performer and the real person underneath. “When you go out on a sports field you can’t be honest with yourself. Not in the current regime. You are told the principles of what you do, you work within the principles of the sport, and that is strictly what you stick to. You do not bring that individual who got out of bed that morning onto the field,” he said.
“Sportspeople have to be encouraged to meld these two individuals together. The classic performer on the pitch or the track and the real you who sustains you once the spotlight is turned off.”
Cavan football goalkeeper Alan O’Mara also courageously spoke about his battle with depression which led him to contemplate taking his own life. “I played an All Ireland under 21 final in 2011and I let that campaign and that team, and that part of my life, consume my identity. If my life was going well on the field, then my life was good off it and if my life wasn’t going well off the field, I looked to the field to see how I could get it going better. That was quite a toxic relationship,” he said.
“When I look back now in terms of sport, we tend to think maybe a sportsperson has lost their drive or love of the game, but if you are a coach or a manager, it’s worth asking the question ‘what’s wrong’,” he said.
“When I was in school, it was a case of ‘chin up, chest out’, and you couldn’t show your feelings or emotions. But we all have mental health and I think young people today are more open to having these conversations.”
Microcosm
Colin Regan, a former Leitrim footballer, spoke about how the GAA is taking on a duty of care for mental health in his role as GAA Community and Health Manager. He said the GAA is “a microcosm of Irish society and everything that impacts Irish life is reflected through the GAA in one way another”.
He listed what the GAA is trying to do to ensure the association is “not just aware of responsibilities in responding to and supporting the health and well-being needs of members and communities, but that we can also lead that conversation”.
A motion from the small Sigerson’s club in Co. Tyrone was passed at the GAA Congress in 2013, which requires every county executive to establish a health and well-being sub committee. Eighteen clubs nationally are taking part in the healthy club project to promote positive health, developed in partnership and with the support of the HSE and the National Office for Suicide Prevention.
There is also an Alcohol & Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) Programme run by the GAA and HSE that aims to reduce the harm being caused by tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.
Suzanne Costello, CEO of Alcohol Action Ireland warned of the dangers of alcohol brands sponsoring sports, saying that it drives underage drinking. “Sport is particularly attractive because it is emotional, it is passionate, we admire sportspeople, we identify with their talent and courage and this alignment between the aspiration and the product drives consumption,” she said. “We all think advertising doesn’t affect us, but then you have to ask why so much money is spent on advertising if it doesn’t affect us.”
She challenged sporting organisations for lobbying against a ban on alcohol brands sponsoring sport. “This is not just a question of commerce, they have a special place in our society and with that special place comes special responsibilities, and in this particular case, the State and everyone else is prepared to work with them to gradually phase this out.
“This is the right thing to do. It is not just about the money,” she said.