For this sports study, I decided to look at the game of men’s ice hockey, which is defined as a game played on ice between two teams who skate around to score the puck into the opposing team’s goal. The players are all men, and there are typically 6 players competing against each other on the ice at a time. There are two goalies, one per each team, defending their goal from the opposing team, and the other five are trying to both defend their goal and score into the other team’s goal. As this sport is very popular in the northern hemisphere where it is colder, the typical audience is those from colder climates and are majority those aged between 18 and 34, and the majority of ice hockey fans are white. However, the sport is still played in warmer climates, although the sport must be played indoors at an ice rink since the warmer climates do not have frozen ponds or outdoor ice rinks throughout the year, making the ice hockey fan base much smaller than other sports in the United States. However, the sport is extremely popular in Canada where the average temperatures throughout the year are much colder, as well as it being the sport’s country of origin. The object of the game is to hit a small puck across the ice before then hitting it into a goal with a hockey stick, and the players may use physical force to win the puck from their opponent, making the game very violent in nature and geared more towards the male population. My personal view of the interplay between sports and gender is that the general population regards male sports to be more “masculine” and, in consequence, more interesting and popular than female sports because of stereotypes that men are stronger and more athletic than women, which especially can be seen in men’s ice hockey due to its violent nature, associated with masculinity. “Wildness” can be easily seen in this sport when considering the speed, physical blows between the players, and the frequent fights that break out between the teams. To me, it is wild that the violent aspects of the sport are ingrained within the rules of regulation for the game.
Anna Ranslem
I loved your example of ice hockey. I’ve watched a couple games, and I can definitely tell that “wildness” and violence is appealing in this sport due to teammate reactions and fan reactions when blows happen between players. I also agree with your comments about people and fans finding “masculine” sports more appealing- you explained that well. Great job!
Although I’ve never watched Ice hockey, your description sounds like the sport is very akin to American football. I suppose contact sports like football and hockey are violent by nature and that’s why they have an appeal towards male fans. Honestly my only ice hockey experience is from watching the the film ‘Threat Level Midnight’ by the legendary producer Micheal Scott. (just a joke :P).