Introduction
The strategic prominence of sports cannot be over emphasized. From the inception of the Olympics and sports event such as the FIFA world cup, it is a testimony that sports have played a major role in bringing people together. Through the different sports events all around the world, special gatherings have been a witness. Individuals either directly or indirectly take part in ensuring that the sports events are a success. However, it should be noted that while sports has played a major part in bringing people together, it has not been short of controversies. A number of controversial issues have been reported either involving players or the fans themselves (Rowe, 20).
Summary of the sports story
In the year 2011, the New York Times sensational reported two different sports incidences involving a common phenomenon. The New York Times was categorically explicit about reporting the racial issues experienced in the English premier league (Longman, 1). John Terry, who was at that time the England captain and also doubling up as Chelsea captain was accused of racial slurs against Anton Ferdinand who was then a QPR defender. The subsequent story, similar to John Terry’s, was one involving Luis Suarez of Liverpool and Manchester defender Patrice Evra. On this occasion, the Liverpool player is accused of having racially abused his counterpart during a premier league match. The player was charged for having abused the France international and was slapped with a fine of over about sixty three thousand dollars. The focus of attention, however, vestiges on the John Terry’s case. The case ensured public row among the players, fans and members of the public. The allegations quickly brought in two distinguished organizations who are directly involved with the player affairs and soccer as a whole. The first organization to be pulled into the gaffe was the FA of England (Longman, 1). The organization reacted swiftly to the allegations of racial claims as the one in charge of football in England. While the FA was doing its investigations, another organization popularly known as KICK IT OUT joined the investigation (Longman, 1). KICK IT OUT is the organization that is in charge of dealing with discrimination of players in the English premier league (Longman, 1).
A number of media stations came out to assist in producing some documentation concerning the racial charge against the former England captain. One of such media stations was The Guardian. At that point, there were videos that had gone viral showing that Terry had abused Ferdinand through a racial slur. The player denied the claims, noting that he had only refused the claims of Ferdinand during a match day. The FA of England could not agree with the player with such claims and agreed to investigate the matter into conclusion. At this point in time, the media and members of the public accused the England national team administration of treating the matter casually by not relieving Terry of the captaincy (Longman, 1). Consequently, the Chelsea team was greatly accused of being trivial and not treating the matter with the seriousness it deserved. After sometimes, due to pressure from the members of the fourth estate and the general public, the FA delivered a verdict noting that Terry’s claims were false and raised serious credibility issues. The FA passed a verdict of slapping the former England captain with a four-match ban a verdict that the player did not appeal the verdict. Consequently, Terry was forced to apologize to Ferdinand. The matter went to a full trial in a court of law. In the trial, a number of theories came up with trying to outline the trivial nature of the case. The court, after hearing the case, dismissed all the charges against John Terry (Longman, 1).
Analysis
Sports and society compliment supplement one another to a larger extent. The activities in the sporting world directly reflect what happens in the society. Drawing on the theoretical approaches, examining the narrative and the construction of the story can be understood from different perspectives. The reports of the racial incidence turned events into stories (Carrington and McDonald, 17). Consequently, stories framed events and sustained and to some extent challenged cultural norms in a manner never seen. Sporting activities and the individual events have always informed the basis over which a number of issues in sports can be understood. The different models developed over time can be of help understanding sporting events and the impact on society as a whole. The racial story turned from one event to another due to a number of issues. The events of the story can be put into perspective based on the general importance it had on the society. In analyzing the activities of this event, number theoretical models are critical in drawing an understanding.
The story quickly moved through the systems to a larger system and soon became a public phenomenon. The transaction model can best be used to understand the controversial issues surrounding the event (Jowett, 76). In effect, the transactional system works in three parts. These parts include the media, the organization and the culture. The organization in this context had to do with the football association in England. Ordinarily, the story would not have gone through any serious investigation if there were no proper systems laid down to cub vices such as racism. The story got into the larger part of the society because the organization took a rather responsive approach in dealing with the matter (Russell and Matt, 176). It cannot go unnoticed that the federation puts a team to quickly investigate the matter to bring it to a conclusive end. In the sports society, not many of the stories get noticed or spilled into the public. In this particular incident, the federation had to take responsibility and deal with the matter decisively to ensure that there was no suspicion based on the events on the story. The sports media is a critical component in relaying the sports news. Intelligence that flows to the public comes directly from the media desks of respective media houses (Pedersen, 14). Under normal circumstances, the media are charged with the responsibility of giving pertinent sports information to the society concerning the proceedings in sports. On this incidence, the media fraternity best helped provide information that helped in the investigation of the matter.
The media should, however, be understood based on the level of reporting. The first area of response was to relay information to the general public. In this case, the sports desk of every single department plays a part in stating the occurrences and the formation of the story. Secondly, the media provided the clips that helped in providing evidence of what exactly had happened. The clips were a critical incentive in a wider sense. If there were nothing recorded concerning the story, nothing could have provided the basis over which the story is understood. In this sense, it should be noted that the media in any social sphere play a critical part in informing the public based on the events in the society. The various sporting activities are express reflections of what happens in the society. To some extent, the racial abuse by Terry on a fellow player could have been a sample of what happens in the story. Before the story of John Terry’s racial slur, there had been a number of events similar to the racial claims. The incidence was a testimony that there were racial tendencies still rooted in the society. The players who engage in the sporting activities are nothing but the same people who makeup the larger society. Terry should not have been condemned wholesale for the situation. Case in point is that what the player did could have been what happens in the day-to-day activities of the society. The problem is that such stories are never reported, nor do the media find them to relay them to the public. The media played a critical role in producing the story and even covering the proceedings of the events. The media kept the general public informed about what was happening. The message that was being communicated to the society was that the racial discrimination was unnecessary, though still rooted down into the story.
The cultural issues in sports in are a big deal to a larger extent. When discussing culture, it is critical to examine the sports culture and the societal culture (Witmer, 52). In this case, the belief system forms the basis of understanding. The sports culture as it is should be able to promote or propagate the essence of proper interrelationships among the groups. In sports, the expectation is that engagement be based on mutual respect and understanding (Bloom, 143). Following the racial incidence and the reaction of various groups, it was only clear what the culture of the game dictated. The response of the federation, the players and the public showed that the vice was not the culture intended (Schirato, 12). The uproar from other quarters caused other groups to awaken to the reality that a cultural aspect was being abused. The culture that can be understood from this point of view has all to do with non discrimination. In any place where there is a culture mess up, chaos is bound to occur. In the case of Terry and Ferdinand racial case, the issue of critical importance was that a discriminatory tendency had crept back into the society (Bloom, 20).
The reaction from the different groups proved the point that a number of issues had not gone right. Though the white players dominated the soccer teams in England, the black people were a significant part of the soccer fraternity. The cultural norm in this context and the uproar from different quarters only confirmed that the cultural agenda in this context was that of non-discrimination but that of inclusivity. Societies that are dominated by particular groups are sometimes bound to experience certain challenges. Gaining acceptance in such societies sometimes calls for everyone to consider the wellbeing of the society by including everyone in the system. Aspects of human behavior play a big role in influencing the culture of a given society. The way in which societies are choreographed depend so much on human behavior. Terry might have been influenced by certain aspects of human behavior to make the racial slurs.
The theoretical narrative of the story can be understood from a number of perspectives. Fisher’s narrative approach can derive a number of issues that can bring to understanding the basis of the topic of discussion (Larson, 82). Fisher in the development of his theory noted that understanding stories could be made possible based narrative. The assessment of the story can be based on a number of theoretical grounding as appropriate. The essence of the story is to tell the sequence of the events as they are. Analyzing the story into details requires that there is some basis over which facts are based. When the story took place, the first contact person was the person who had been abused in this case Ferdinand. From Ferdinand’s narrative, the media and consequently the football association and the courts then picked the story. The narratives from both the plaintiff and the accused formed the basis over some issues which could be brought into perspective. Without a narrative, it becomes difficult to understand the basis over which the story is developed. The stories act as reinforcement materials in coming up with some conclusive details.
The coherence of the story was a little bit in question to some extent (Hyvärinen, 12). While the FA did their investigation and reached a conclusion that Terry was guilty, the courts thought otherwise about the whole idea. The FA gave Terry a five-match ban. In effect, it meant that Terry was indeed guilty and, in fact, went ahead to apologize to the counterpart. There is a bit of incoherency in the story because it was expected that the courts would cement the claims by the FA. This effectively puts into jeopardy the claims based on the story. The charactereological tendency in the story no doubt fits the bill. The characters in this sports story bare the confirmation that the story had indeed taken place. When the former England captain was asked about the incidence, denial was the order of the response. The plaintiff in this case Ferdinand admitted to being abused racially. The story holds together because of the involvement of the characters in the abuse incidence. At the event, there were no such characters in the narrative; there would be no basis over which the story is given further consideration (Kent, 301).
The essence of Actional tendencies can be seen from a number of perspectives in so far as this story is concerned (Agnew, 96). Before John Terry’s racial slur against his counterpart, there had been other incidences reported concerning the racial abuse. Consistency can be seen in the sense that the story was not the only one experienced over time. However, it should be noted that putting a narrative into perspective, a number of issues have to be put into perspective to ensure that there is consistency in the reported communication. Without any consistent, the story cannot have any meaning. The racial abuse story reached to the very heights because there was an element of consistency with every stakeholder taking a responsive approach towards dealing with the story (Price and Saeed, 39). A comparative analysis between the sports story and the others that have been reported before, there is a general agreement that the story has a number of similarities in context with the others that have happened earlier.
The story as reported cannot be in any way be categorized as a myth. The story happened in real time. Through the different reports by media houses and the investigations done, it can be concluded that the story had some relevance to the extent to which the information given at that time was concerned. Sports story as choreographed gives a sense of reflection to a given extent. While investigations raised a number of issues, the basis of the story is the most critical. A general understanding of the story is based on the effect of sporting activities to the society and vice versa. It should be noted that the society plays a big part in the sporting activities. Sport is one of the single most components that help the society to achieve some level of growth. Spirits help people to interact, hence, influencing relationships.
Conclusion
The occurrences in the racial story provide a broad perspective over which a number of issues can be understood. By using the theoretical models, clear understanding of the events in the story is brought into perspective. The characters in the story and the different information centers provide the audience with a conclusive determination as to what the story is all about. In understanding the basis of a given story, it is important to understand the coherence, characterology and action tendency of the story. These elements provide a basis over which conclusive investigations are done. Over and above, sports have grown over the decades. Event though sporting activities continue to grow, it should be noted that controversies such as the John Terry racial abuse on the counterpart would always occur (Lomax, 49). These negative tendencies can, however, be dealt with appropriately.
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