by Stephen Bate

Created on: September 18, 2008

To many of us, professional sportsmen and women are true icons. We look to them to provide us with entertainment, athletic prowess that we can never achieve and, in many cases, guidance for every day life.

This requirement for role models in our professional sportspeople puts enormous pressure on them, and whilst we want our youngsters to reflect their ethics and dedication in what they attempt to do, it should come as no surprise to discover that this attention is very much a two way street and, eventually, the environment in which we live our lives will start to reflect onto the playing fields. Certainly in terms of conduct, respect and discipline, the actions on the sports field very accurately reflect modern life.

Firstly, whilst we dream of sporting prowess and success and see that as a very different, utopian life to our own, we are being nave if we treat the two worlds as separate. We have to remember that our sporting icons are normal people. They are blessed with a gift that we only dream of, but they have the same issues as us in terms of relationships, finances and children. They may have it "easier" than us due to their salaries and their problems may be slightly different in nature to ours, but they are fundamentally the same issues, so it should be no surprise that they start to perform on the field as we do in our daily lives, as they have the same frustrations and are part of the same community.

The problem of drug taking in professional sport is a case in point. Granted many do it to improve performance, but recreational drug taking to relax and feed an addiction is exactly the same for them as it is for the rest of us.

When you look at the key weaknesses in modern society, you can see it reflected on the sports field.

One of the main weaknesses in society today is a lack of respect. We all too easily criticise or become aggressive towards other people because they are "different" in some way, or block us from achieving our selfish aims. Flip to the sports field and you see, in every game, players arguing with the officials and having temper tantrums if a decision doesn't go their way. This lack of respect for authority and a decision is entirely derived from the broader social network where respect for other people seems to have disappeared.

The modern requirement to succeed to feed personal greed can also be seen. Society rewards winners exponentially highly, and sports professional are no different, earning huge paydays for their success. They will go to almost any lengths, as in general society, to achieve this, so it mirrors every walk of normal life.

Finally, we have all become selfish and obsessed with what we can achieve. Professional sports today are all about individual success rather than team success, which exactly reflects our personal obsessions to the detriment of the community good.

Modern society is reflected in our sports people in a number of ways, but we should not be surprised that the ills of society are becoming more apparent on the field, as these ills are in all parts of society and were bound to make their way through!

Learn more about this author, Stephen Bate.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.