The Death of Sportsmanship: Why We Miss the Spirit of the Game

Winning at all costs has officially broken sports. The ancient, unwritten rule that honor matters more than the scoreboard is fading away. Even golf, the historic bastion of etiquette and self-regulation, is losing its grip on decency. When we sacrifice fairness for a trophy, we corrupt the very reason sports exist.

From the PGA Tour to the Local Club

This rot isn’t confined to television screens; it has trickled down into our weekend friendly rounds. I experienced this firsthand during a casual game with a long-time friend. He sliced his tee shot deep into the rough and lost his ball. We all searched, but the mandatory three-minute clock ran out. Just as it did, he magically "found" it.

When I pointed out the time limit, the excuses started: first, he argued that the three minutes weren't up; then, he claimed he hadn’t started searching yet—only his caddie had. I had to pull out Rule 18.2 to show him that the search time begins when the player or caddie looks. All of this bitter lawyering was over a measly ₹200 pot. He won the argument in his own mind, but it cost him a friendship. I have never played a competitive round with him since.

Weaponising the Crowd at the Ryder Cup

This petty mindset mirrors what we see at the absolute pinnacle of global sport. Consider the hostile spectacle at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. In a bygone era of true sportsmanship, an American player facing a European opponent being actively heckled by a hostile home crowd might have stepped forward and conceded the hole. Conceding would say: "I want to beat you on merit, not because my fans sabotaged your swing." It may have also quietened the crowd.

Instead, the modern approach is the exact opposite. Players like Bryson DeChambeau actively riled up the crowd, weaponising a "tsunami" of partisan noise to rattle his opponents. Meanwhile, U.S. Captain Keegan Bradley did nothing to intervene. Leadership stood by, absorbing the unfair advantage with a shrug and prioritizing a hostile point over an honorable match.

As noted in a blistering New York Times piece on the Ryder Cup's toxic atmosphere, this behavior holds up a mirror to the broader, Trump-driven coarseness overtaking modern public life. The "mob mentality" on the fairway has mirrored our political arenas, where personal insults and a total breakdown of civility are now celebrated as winning strategies.

The Indian Arena: Deemaks, Cockroaches, and Crudity

We do not have to look to American golf to see this degradation of public grace. India’s public discourse has succumbed to the exact same sickness, flowing directly from the very top of our public institutions:

• Political Dehumanisation: Years ago, Home Minister Amit Shah set a chilling tone by likening illegal immigrants to "deemaks" (termites).
• Misogynistic Dogwhistles: Prime Minister Narendra Modi famously lowered the bar at an election rally by mocking a woman as a "50-crore girlfriend".
• Institutional Collapse: Most alarmingly, in a shocking courtroom outburst, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant described frustrated, unemployed youth on social media as "cockroaches" and "parasites of society".

When the judges and political titans of our democracy handle the rules of civility with such utter contempt, it is no wonder the common citizen feels vindicated in cheating their friend out of ₹200 on a golf course.

The IPL Sickness: Mocking Greatness Instead of Celebrating It

This cultural decay has naturally poisoned our national religion: cricket. We saw it manifested in its ugliest form during the IPL 2026 Eliminator match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.

A 15-year-old prodigy, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, played a historic, jaw-dropping innings of 97 runs off just 29 balls. It was a breathtaking masterclass of fearless batting that should have united the stadium in pure awe. Instead, when Praful Hinge finally dismissed the young prodigy just three runs short of a century, Hinge aggressively mocked and taunted the dejected teenager, getting directly in his face with a venomous send-off. When a seasoned bowler's first instinct upon dismissing a child genius is to humiliate him rather than marvel at the carnage he just witnessed, sport has lost its way. To his credit Abhishek Sharma came up to congratulate the young Sooryavanshi. ​

From Self-Regulation to "Whatever You Can Get Away With"
To understand why this matters, we have to look at the high human purpose of sport. Humanity possesses deeply ingrained, natural aggressive tendencies. In his foundational work Authority and the Individual, philosopher Bertrand Russell noted that ordinary human beings cannot be happy without competition. He argued that our fierce, primitive impulses must be channeled into forms that are not injurious to society. Sport is that channel—a peaceful surrogate for war. But this safety valve only works if it is governed by a strict contract of fairness.

Today, sport has shifted to an era of hyper-policing. Athletes operate on a cynical philosophy of "it's only illegal if the referee sees it." This has forced every major sport to rely heavily on Video Assistant Referees (VAR) and microscopic reviews. We need more referees because players can no longer be trusted to play fair on their own.

Glimmers of Hope: The Keepers of the Spirit
Yet, the fire of true sportsmanship has not been entirely extinguished. Look no further than golf's Sahith Theegala. During the 2024 FedExCup Playoffs, Theegala called a crucial two-stroke penalty on himself because he felt his club might have touched a few grains of sand on his backswing. Nobody else saw it, but his conscience did. He chose honesty over a higher leaderboard finish.

An even more radical antidote can be found in Ultimate Frisbee. At the highest levels, Ultimate operates entirely without traditional referees. Instead, players are responsible for calling their own fouls, settling differences calmly and amicably. It is living proof that intense competition can coexist with mutual respect and self-governance.

A Vital Appeal: How We Introduce the Next Generation
These examples prove that the "whatever you can get away with" mindset is a choice, not an inevitability. If you are a parent, coach, or friend introducing someone to a sport, you carry a profound responsibility. Do not begin by teaching them how to exploit a loophole or bend a boundary.

• First, inculcate a radical respect for the opponent. Without them, the game cannot exist.
• Second, anchor them in unyielding integrity. A victory built on a lie or a hidden foul is entirely hollow.
• Finally, warn them never to let their competitive instincts master their character.

Aggression in sports is a natural fire meant to warm the spirit of competition, not a wildfire meant to incinerate human decency. Let us teach the next generation that how they play the game matters infinitely more than the score.

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