Playing Responsibly in a Sport

Sports are mostly governed by some kind of unwritten code or rules, which ensure fair play, and enable consistent adjudication of a winner. In professional sport, results of competitions are usually detailed, and this information can be widely reported or announced in sports media. However, in most other sports, especially during play, it is not so easy to measure the actual and total outcome of a sport activity. There are many factors that influence the outcome of a sporting competition or event, such as player skill, weather conditions, fitness, luck and injuries. Therefore, the interpretation of the outcomes of sports events is very difficult.

A professional sports league or team follows a certain code of conduct, with every participant following the same code of conduct when playing, wearing the same uniforms and having the same access to resources during the course of a game. The playing regulations in professional sports vary considerably from country to country. For example, in the United States, soccer and baseball, along with other baseball and softball sports, do not allow players to wear padded helmets.

Non-physical activities in sports differ greatly from traditional physical activity in the sense that they are less rigidly supervised and involve less uniformity of behavior. They therefore have different legal implications. In most countries, professional and amateur athletes have certain protections against discrimination, harassment and other physical harm based on their gender, race, sexual orientation and age. The participation of minors in non-physical sports is also a controversial issue, in some countries being allowed, in others being banned altogether.