ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how competitive, organized team sports are used to create a sense of 'other', in order to artificially boost the perception that people fit into neat categories. It also examines how sport pits groups against each other. This sense of 'in-group' and 'out-group' serves to divide communities and reify stereotypes of those people perceive as being different. Thus, the chapter examines how sport takes sports' cultural penchant for in-group and out-group and builds on this to produce or reproduce stereotypes and hate, all based on team affiliation. The primary purpose of the chapter is to highlight that in order for members of one sporting team to unite, they must be united in opposition to the players of another team. The chapter suggests that if people were serious about the Olympics bringing nations together, athletes would march into the Olympic venue according to their sport, not their nation. What the Olympics really reflects is symbolic warfare.
