Sport and violence in Europe

Hooliganism, violent behaviour in stadiums, a notable increase in racist and xenophobic attitudes, doping, corruption, cheating, wheeling-and-dealing: has sport lost its fun side and become a serious social activity? Can it escape the influence of big business and political interference? Does its prominence in the media give rise to violent expression? Young people who no longer recognise social values have turned sport into a means of expressing the distress and problems they are facing in their own lives. Does the often dubious relationship between sport, business and politics, and the glorification of performance as a universal model lead to an economic and mental form of violence?

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