Rugby Game Analysis

The sporting event that I attended this semester was the University of Arizona men’s rugby game last weekend against UCSD. I have a neighbor who plays on the team and because this was their last home game I decided to go and watch. I have never been to a rugby game before but since meeting my neighbor I have made a few friends on the team and thought it would be fun to go and support them. Since I had watched the rugby team in person I chose to watch a basketball game on TV so I could compare the two. The game I chose to watch was Kobe’s last game of his career. The overall focus of this paper will be about the crowds at each sporting event. At first when watching the two games I felt that they were very similar, but during the games I noticed

People are extremely passionate when it comes to sports and their team winning. Violence comes out in all angles of a game, especially when the team is loosing. Fans will scream and do things that are not appropriate to other fans in the heat of a game. In worst case scenarios fights will break out in the stands. During one of the lectures in class we discussed how violence in crowds is based off of intimidation factors and trying to get the fans riled up. Violence in crowds is very understudied and there are not a lot of scientific detailed accumulated about it, but there are some points that relate to the violence level that happen in a rowdy crowd. I think the more prominent and obvious one when studying crowd violence is the fact that as the action heats up in the game the fan reaction increases. While watching Kobe’s last game there was never a moment shown on TV of violence. It was all happy and excitement because most of the people there were diehard Kobe fans. When things went wrong on the camera I was able to see the coaches and the teammates reactions but never the crowds’. However, these reactions from the team and coaches were dialed down because of the simple fact that their actions were being recorded. Showing the violence that happens during games on TV would destroy the illusion they have worked so hard to build.

When watching the basketball game on TV I saw dressed up, overly passionate and physically attractive fans. While watching the rugby game in person I notices a plethora of different people because I was not looking through the lens and was able to see the crowd as a whole. The main thing I was able to take away from this assignment is that even though sports are meant to look all-inclusive but in actuality that is not always the case. Sports automatically breed aggression and violence among the fans and emphasis physical appearance on TV. I have never before viewed sports as a microcosm of society but after comparing and examining them it became clear that a lot of what happens in a sports game happens in society. Violence and aggression happen when people do not get their way and things do not go as planned. Physical appearance has a major role in which we view as desirable and interesting to look at. Also, sitting closer to an event shows dedication and interest in the activity in a classroom, hall, or gathering just as it does in sports. The one thing I would go back and change would be to watch a professional rugby game instead of trying to compare to completely different sports. I would have been able to notice a lot of differences between the two if is was the exact same