Ban It?
Posted: Thu 6 September, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts 1 Comment »Yesterday’s “big” news every time I listened was about doctors calling for cage fighting to be banned. Now, while I have absolutely no desire to see a cage fight, I don’t think it should be banned. I feel much the same way about boxing.
In both cases, while the sport is legal, it’s known about. It has support, medical personnel in attendance, rules, and a certain degree of protection and protective gear.
If the fights were to be banned, they wouldn’t stop. They’d just go underground, with no medical support, in illegal spaces, and would just be far more dangerous than the current legal situation. And I suspect that it would cause far more serious injuries – and/or deaths – if it all became illegal.
Personally, I hate boxing and fighting. But I would still far rather it were legal, and to some degree safe, than to see it banned. And that’s what the doctors calling for the ban haven’t thought about at all.
Agreed. I’ve watched some of these Ultimate Fighting things on TV and, well if you don’t like boxing you won’t like these, but they are as safe as they can be, much in the same way boxing is as safe as it can be, Formula One is as safe as it can be.
I understand the concerns here, but as you say, all sports people, involved in any kind of contact or ‘dangerous’ sport do so with the understanding that they are putting themselves at risk. That ego won’t change because it has been ‘banned’.