The Mystery of Sports

Prejudice, according to Merriam Webster, is an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics. Presently, some countries of the world are just getting over this. There are wars, terrorism, hostility, lack of trust and bigotries at various institutions. "The white" and "the black" are in the battle of racism; this is affecting the world economic and industrial growths. However, prejudice has found it difficult to separate the world when it comes to sports, most especially football. At just concluded Brazil 2014 World Cup, millions of people from various countries chatted together, ate together, reasoned together and clapped together, but the irony of the fiesta is that all these ended when the World Cup ended. What a mystery!

The etymology of sports can be traced to existence of man. According to the Holy Books, especially Holy Bible, the first man created resident in a garden called Garden of Eden, and definitely he had no companion except his wife, but before his union with his wife, he must have been sporting with the other creatures. In other words, sport has to do with exercising the body and the initiative was naturally planted in man, meaning sport has to do with the social behavior of human race, that is, interacting faculty. From my own personal research, I have discovered that during the old Roman Empire, the Emperors then persecuted the Christian adherents at Amphitheatre where they will fight with wild animals until they were killed by the latter. The Emperors and people as at that time saw this as sport. However, history has it that around 17,000 years ago, a Cave was discovered in France; on this Cave, paintings were found and have been suggested to depict sprinting and wrestling in the Upper Paleolithic; in Libya swimming and archery were being practiced around 6000 BC. In Japan, sumo wrestling was discovered. Today, different types of sports are introduced every moment because of the skillful nature of human race.

Friendship in sports cannot be restricted to a particular race or country. This is one of the mysteries of sports. For instance, in football, there are different leagues play by different players from different countries and continents. What about the last Commonwealth games at Glasgow in Scotland? 71 countries participated in the fiesta;17 different sports were competed by 4,947 contestants for 261 events, this is fantastic! Sport has been one of the unifying weapons of the United Nations Organization and this weapon will continue to be indispensable till eternity.

The role of sports in the economic growth of a nation cannot be overlooked in the sense that sporting activities have helped both underdeveloped, developing and developed nations to discover potentials in the lives of their young folks. In the same vein, unemployment rate has been reduced drastically in the global world as a result of sporting activities. In any game or tournament that would be hosted by any country, the end returns always boost the economy of such country; investors, local traders and entrepreneurs always make money during such fiesta. In fact, sports allow artisans to exhibit their skill - creativity - finished work. My submission is that even though hosting of sporting tournament may be expensive, the profit margin is always at top gear.