Conflict on the courts: a review of sports-related violence literature.

Sports-related violence is a form of interpersonal violence. Violence that occurs in and around the sporting world can have potentially severe physical and psychological repercussions for those involved. Although scholars in a wide range of disciplines have addressed three of the subsets of sports-related violence, they have done so without regard to the interconnected nature of the subsets, choosing instead to look at hazing, brawling, and foul play as independent problems. By separating hazing, brawling, and foul play and failing to recognize that their connection to sport connects them, scholars fail to see how sports-related violence is a broad example of interpersonal violence. This review describes some of the academic literature, primarily from the United States, and identifies similar themes and prevention suggestions that appear across disciplines. It also argues that the three subsets are an interconnected whole of sports-related violence that deserves more detailed study.