It is important to understand the meaning of ethics. Ethics, morals and values are used interchangeably in everyday language, though these terms are not synonyms. The concept of ethics is technically understood as a branch of philosophy that defines what is good for the individual and society and establishes the nature of obligations, or duties, that people owe themselves and to one another. But without going into the complexities of this concept, it is relevant to understand ethics as the practice of making principled choices between right and wrong: a code of conduct that guides human behaviour, a set of standards that guides our conduct. It is generally viewed as the system or set of rules, norms or laws by which attitudes and actions are determined to be either “right or wrong”. The fundamental problem of ethics is determining what constitutes proper conduct. It defines how individuals, professionals in different fields, organisations, associations, federation and corporations choose to interact with one another.
In view of the above, sports ethics is a positive concept that guides human action in sports. It is defined as the code of conduct for promoting and ensuring healthy sporting practices. Sports ethics signifies not just a certain form of behaviour but also a particular way of thinking. It promotes fair play among children and young persons via educational and preventive measures and encourages the dissemination of good practices to promote diversity in sport and combat all forms of discrimination.
Every child and young person has the right to play sport and games to gain satisfaction from the experience. The code of sports ethics applies to all levels of skills and commitment, recreational activities as well as competitive sport. It involves the elimination of all types of negative behaviour on and off the field. More importantly, it promotes equity and sporting excellence.
Sports ethics is also focused on equity in sport which should be an expression of human excellence. It has two dimensions:
(a) Institutional: Discrimination based on criteria other than performance must be rejected, rules must be applied uniformly and without resorting to arbitrary decisions.
(b) Personal: There is a moral obligation to abide by the rules, in accordance with the principles of fair play. It tries to ensure that sporting excellence must be an expression of human excellence and performance and results should emerge from the deserved and meritorious development of individual talent. The codes of sports ethics documented by the Olympic Committee and other international and national sports bodies, governments, sports federations and associations, sports sponsoring concerns and specialised research institutions provide a comprehensive view of sports ethics.
These clearly suggest that sports ethics is a set of standards that guide the conduct of all concerned with sports — the sports persons, trainers, referees, managers, administrators, parents, teachers, journalists, doctors and pharmacists, nutritional expert, sports sponsoring concerns, top level sportspersons who serve as models and even spectators. These ethical standards are universal and objective and are not based on subjective guidelines. They have been proven over time.
