As a schoolboy, as well as cricket and rugby, I was taught boxing. We all thought it was a great joke to head out of the classroom and spend half an hour behind the sheds bashing each other on the jaw with padded fists.
These days there’s less support for what some regard as extreme contact sports, but there’s no denying their popularity. This afternoon, a new contact sport makes its debut at Sydney’s Acer Arena: “ultimate fighting,” an exciting mix of boxing, ju-jitsu and wrestling guaranteed to draw the crowds.
I’m not suggesting we all turn off televised sport and take up chess and curling, and I do love my rugby, but every contact sport carries the danger of serious injury, including brain injury.
And in a world saturated with screen violence, and real-life violence, I wonder what kind of message the promotion of boxing and “ultimate fighting” sends to our children.
Broadcast on 2CH Sydneyon 21 Feb 2010.
