Value Deviation in Sports

Written by Dr. Hamada Alantably

Since its historical inception, sports in all their various activities were established as a source of innocent entertainment, moral education, health, and the cultivation of ethical values through fair competition. Indeed, they served as an advocate for peace; even the idea of the Olympics in ancient Greek history was a call to reject violence and war, succeeding in bringing warring parties together to meet under the umbrella of sports in peace and safety. However, the old saying rings true in the realm of sports: “When money appears and becomes the goal, it entrenches values of moral corruption.” History could not have anticipated that the noble values instilled by sports would become a mere memory after money came to dominate athletics, overshadowing sporting values and causing sports to lose all their meaning and worth.

This is the reality of sports today, which no one expected once money became the driving force behind athletics. The lines have blurred, and the sports arena has witnessed a state of severe overlap and duality. You find officials who are also media figures, decision-makers without principles, and club administrations locked in intense conflict and greed over work that is supposed to be voluntary. Money has marked the end of amateurism and ushered in professionalism, which has become the largest field for investment, overshadowing amateurism as the amateur’s ceiling itself has shifted toward professional aspirations. Professionalism has become one of the greatest sources of exorbitant wealth—not only for players but also for coaches, agents, brokers, sports marketers, and advertisers. This has signaled the emergence of a new set of values associated with the principle that “the end justifies the means.”

Our sports arenas, in all their varieties, stand as witnesses to numerous practices unfolding within their grounds. Sports are no longer solely defined by sportsmanship, honorable victory, and knightly ethics. Once the language of money became the governing and dominant force, other concepts accompanied professionalism: lying, feigning injury, cheating, and deception. The belief that “the end justifies the means” has taken hold, and doping has become a means to step onto the podium, regardless of the consequences. So profound is this that a study conducted prior to a championship asked participating athletes: “If you were told that taking this performance-enhancing drug would land you on the podium to win the championship, but you might lose your life afterward, what would you choose?” The shocking response was that the majority of athletes stated they would accept taking the drug, claim the podium, and let whatever happens afterward, happen.

Here, we must pause for a long study and analysis of these phenomena and this value imbalance, which has become the dominant feature of the local and global sports scene, so that the spiral toward the abyss does not continue. If it does, we will lose what the sports movement in the world was founded upon, and what we have sought to instill in the souls of our children through the promotion of sports—to protect them from signs of societal deviation in a world that is extremely open to everything. This is a sounding alarm for the future of sports under the current professional system.

By Dr. Hamada Alantably