After reading Daniel’s post concerning his experience
playing semi-professional soccer in Northern France, it was interesting to see
the similarities between my own experiences as well as those highlighted by
Trothen in the article “Holy
Acceptable Violence? Violence in Hockey and Christian Atonement Theories”. To
an even greater degree, it seems that Daniel, as a semi-professional soccer
player who was paid, felt the pressures to sacrifice his own body for the
greater good of the team. Also, in a manner similar to my own experience
playing higher-level sports, he justifies his self-sacrifice by seeing it as an
essential part of his duty to his teammates, which he calls “family”. He even
goes a step further by likening his experience of joy, passion and intensity as
a player to the religious-like emotions Bain-Selbo refers to in his discussion
of devoted college football fans in the Southern United States (Bain-Selbo,
2008).
Montage of some of the hardships faced by professional soccer players
However,
although Daniel and my experiences are similar in that we are both able to
recognize the “self-sacrifice, pain and suffering” outlined by Trothen, along
with the parallels drawn to the various theories of atonement, one gets the
impression that Daniel feels that the benefits definitely do outweigh the risks
(Trothen, 2008). Based on his level of commitment, this reaction is not
surprising…one is likely willing to sacrifice more when the potential gain is
greater. However, the difference in opinion highlights a more important point.
From Daniel’s discussion, it becomes clear that many serious, and clearly
intelligent, athletes are fully conscious of the sacrifices they make.
Moreover, once the sacrifices have been made, they may not regret them, which
is seen when he admits that the phrase “fire in your heart… ice in your head”,
to him, still represents the “epitome of mental fortitude”. Thus if a subset of
high performance athletes are convinced of the benefits derived form the high
degree of self-harm they inflict upon themselves, can limitations be imposed
that would successfully deter this behaviour? Furthermore, as certain atonement
theories, such as the satisfaction and penal substitutionary theories, depict
Jesus as a self-sacrificing hero, this may highlight the fact that the self-sacrifice
observed in sports may be a typical human response, which either informed or is
informed by these theories (Trothen, 2009). Ultimately, Daniel’s response
further highlights the moral ambiguity of much of the violence seen in
competitive sports as well as the challenges in trying to limit it.
Portugal's Cristiano Rinaldo crying after a hard loss to France during the 2006 FIFA World Cup
Bain-Selbo, Eric. “Ecstasy, Joy, and Sorrow: The Religious Experience
of Southern College Football.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture
20 (2008), 13 pp.
Trothen, Tracy. “Holy Acceptable Violence? Violence in Hockey and
Christian Atonement Theories.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture
21 (2009), 42 pp
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