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December 197
J
among spectators or among the young
worshippers of their sports idols.
The Violent Spectator
One recent poli in Canada revealed
39% of those surveyed
Jike lo see spec–
tator sports empt into violence!
All too
often violencc is evident at sporting
cvents.
Violence was on the agenda in Boh–
ler Gymnasium when a crowd of nearly
5,000 viewed a University of Southern
CaliforniajWashington State basketball
game.
A whipped-up crowd became so infu–
riated with officials that they pelted the
Rooc
with an assortment of debrís.
After three wacníngs of an impending
techoical foul, with only 13 seconds of
play remaíning, the fans got so far out
of control that an official did assess a
technical foul on the crowd and
abruptly stopped the play. lmmediately
hundreds of screaming fans poured out
of the Washington State rooting section
onto the Roor.
This is becoming typical of far too
many games across the country. The
word "fan" has once again become
short for fanatic. Fans everywhere are
becoming fanatic, and that spells trou–
ble. The unchecked desire to win has
become so great in sorne countries that
it has led to needless deaths and
injuries.
Soccer Wars
In May of
L964,
a soccer riot took
place in Lima, Peru. Never in recent
times has a sporting event seen such
carnage. Lima's National Stadium was
packed to its 53,000 capacity. Everyone
wanted to see the outcome of the game
that would decide which team would
go to the upcoming Olympic Games
in Tokyo, Japan.
At halftime the score remained dead–
locked - 0-0. The crowd's roar had
reached fever pitch. After 23 minutes of
play in the second half, Argentina
finally scored, breaking the tie. Nine
and a half minutes before the whistle
was due to blow, Peru waged an all-out
assault on the Argentine goal. Suddenly
the ball shot ínto the net, the crowd
roared, but the referee's whistle
sounded above the noise. The goal was
dísallowed. The referee declared a foul
The
PLAIN TRUTH
against Peru, and that was the begin–
ning of the end.
In the 30 minutes that followed on
that sunny afternoon, no fewer than
325 meo, women and children lost their
lives. This Peru soccer riot remains
unparalleled in the history of modero
sports.
But greater carnage than that
occurred in July
1969,
when undeclared
war
broke out between El Salvador and
Honduras, aggravated by rioting over
another series of
soccec
matches.
The dispute was ignited when the
two nations'
soccec
teams competed in
....
43
Let it be said that the desire to win is
not necessarily a wrong desire, until it
becomes a desire to
win al
a/1 costs
-
namely, at the expense of injuring your
oppostbon, or compromtsmg good
ethics of sportsmanship. This attitude,
whether it be found in the athletes, the
coaches, or the spectators, can lead to
nothing but harm, as in the above–
mentioned cases.
Tragically, this potentially dangerous
attitude is engendered in youths at an
early age. Sportsmanship and character
are often sadly neglected even in the
youngest and most ioexperienced ama-
Arturo Mellet
WORST DISASTER IN SPORTS HISTORY
-
A riot exploding during a
soccer game in Lima, Peru, resulted in the death of scores of spectators.
The riot was caused
by
a man who stepped out onto the field to protest a
referee's decision.
the regional three-game playoff as part
of the World Soccer Cup competition.
An unknown number
were
killed,
raped, mutilated, bombed, and per–
secuted in the aftermath of this dis–
astrous game. Some 11,000 Salvadorean
settlers were deported from Honduras.
In the United States recently, a spon–
taneous riot erupted in Pittsburgh, fol–
lowing their team's victory in the
seventh game of the World Series.
Reports of rape, robbery, and an atmo·
sphere of orgy were not so much an in–
dictment of the placid game of basebaH
as they were of the fanatical modero
worship of
winning!
WHERE does the line need to be
drawn? To someone sitting in a stadium
with his emotions wrapped up in the
game action, this question will likely
never come to mind. It won't, that is,
unless that person is concerned about
his personal sportsmanship.
teur leagues and other children's sports.
And this is where future character, if
any, will be developed through good
sportsmanship.
Litde League Winning
Even in Little Leagues a "win atti–
tude" is present, engendered, more
often than not, by adults. At a recent
"Pee-Wee League" championship in the
East Los Angeles area, the players (all
J
2 or under) were in full uniform,
complete with an autographed model of
the glove their personal baseball idol
uses. The batters warmed up with spe–
cially weighted bats, just like the pros.
Wheo going to bat, each wore a batter's
glove. Assiduous managers stalked rest–
lessly up and down
in
front of the pit
shoutiog orders. The whole affair left
us with one question, "Where has all
the fun gone ?"
In an ínterview with one of the team