Oh Please....

Stick to Lawn Bowls old son,and its Rugby League not the snoozefest call Rugby.

Has this author been asleep for the past few decades? One of the major trends in Australian professional sport has been a decline in on-field violence.. that is, fisticuffs and violent action outside the rules of the game. I follow AFL and although blows are still exchanged on the field, it is nothing compared to what use to happen in, say, the 70s and 80s. One major reason for this is easy to identify. Back then, players were still part time with full time jobs off the field and stood to lose much less if they were suspended for a few games for thumping an opposing player. Now they are mostly full time professionals who know that they will lose good money and career prospects if they do something stupid.
Similarly the off field antics of footballers would have been far more scandalous but mostly ignored in the 70s, but thanks to the growing cult of the celebrity everyone now pays attention, and footballers have to avoid making fools of themselves or get chucked out of their clubs. Barry Hall had to go.
I know less about NFL but my impression is that the trends are the same. The players are more professional these days and the sponsors don't like to be associated with bad boys.
Then there is long noted increasing public distaste for inter-personal violence. A lot could be said on this point but for starters you should note the general decline in boxing as a sport. Its still around but its glory days are over.
Perhaps the author shoudl rethink his thesis.

It's just boys being boys man! You're such a Pansy.

'No violent manner can continue unsanctioned for long. Even in Australia, the popularity of sports will, and has suffered. Australian sports researchers have shown, notably in such contact sports as rugby, that limitless violence will disillusion and dismay. Parents will encourage children to switch codes. The ranks of one sport will be thinned in favour of less brutal endeavours. In the end, the sporting fraternity may just have to accept that, when it comes to numbers, the cleansing effect of a good biff on the sporting field may not be well liked. Even acceptable vices have their limited uses.'

Haha. Tell him he's dreamin'.

'Limitless violence'? Rubbish! People get suspended you know.

It always amuses me when I read stuff like this. It's almost as if the writer lives in a bubble. Just because it's trendy for mothers of Eastern suburbs or North shore kids to like soccer, doesn't mean there isn't plenty of unwashed masses out west who love the last bastion of allowable brutality. The numbers may indeed get a little smaller (Depending on how many yuppies want to pretend their worldly and jump on the 'world game' bandwagon), but there will always be a niche for blood sports.

No matter how much the likes of antiseptic might bang on about the feminisation of society or infiltrating rugby league with feminists, half the population is still made up of men, many of whom by nature love to see and/or be involved in a physical struggle. Just quietly, there are still many women who love it as well.

I would imagine that sport is viewed on the Tv at about 99 to 1 in comparison to being watched live at the venue.

It really is quite simple. If you don't like it, don't watch it.