ABSTRACT
Sport looms large in the lives of many people around the world. With the practice of sport comes the many pleasures and rewards of physical exercise, feats of athletic skill, competition and contest, self-esteem, social connection and entertaining spectacle. Important human values are found, taught, and reinforced through sport; for example, the pursuit of excellence, honesty, fair play, respect for rules and laws, non-discrimination and respect for others, the educational value of good example, ethical behaviour and peaceful existence (see, for example, International Olympic Committee (IOC), 2015; World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), 2015). Specific examples of those values grouped under the label of sportsmanship include teamwork and team spirit, playing earnestly and never giving up, accepting the umpires’ decisions, humility in victory and graciousness in defeat. All of those attri - butes demonstrate the value of sport to individuals and society as well as contri bute to a collective love of sport for both participants and spectators (for a summary of research on participant motivation and behaviour, see Sport Participation in Australia; Richards and Murphy, 2015). In significant measure, they underpin the ongoing support that governments and commercial enterprises of many kinds show for the development of sport.
