Cod of Conducet For UAAP Fans

ARE you a sports fan? Would you admit to being sane most days of the year but go slightly insane on days when your favorite team plays a game against its perceived archenemy?

Do you wear war paint on your face? Do you stomp and holler and roar like a Viking ready to conquer Greenland when your team makes its entry into the hard court or dunks one off in the face of the pretenders?

Does your heart break when your team loses—enough for you to feel out of sorts and physically ill one week after the tragic event? Do you wear your team colors proudly, even when there’s no game day? And do you feel your school name or its initials gloriously emblazoned on your chest is worth more than an honor medal pinned on your collar by your proud parent?

Sports fan-ship is such complex behavior, you’ll agree. And it’s expected—if not accepted—that the sports arena is where fans, usually adults who should know better, go just a little nuts.

Why do sports change calm, rational people in the office into rowdy, hard-to-control brats in the coliseum?

Christian End, an assistant Psychology professor at Xavier University in the US who specializes in sports-fan behavior, says “it stems from a natural tendency to conform to the standards in a particular environment. In the average workplace, it might not be typical to yell at other people. But in the stadium, it is. And in a stadium where fans are known to be confrontational...acting out becomes even more acceptable and expected. By day, you’re a CEO or attorney, careful not to offend because that would reflect badly on yourself and your business. By night, you’re just another guy who expects [X athlete] to come through in the clutch, and won’t be shy about screaming so, in the most creative and colorful language.”

In other words, the sports arena is where we all expect codes of conduct to be just a bit looser and a whole lot more accommodating. That’s why people love to watch spectator sports as much as they want to ride ziplines or roller coasters. Games are outlets and stress relievers.

Screaming is acceptable in a sports event. It’s also OK to look silly or downright crazy in outlandish attire or accessories because it’s New Year’s Eve every day your team plays an important game. Peer pressure turns up the chanting, taunting and cursing. The behaved, quiet person in a basketball game is the odd man out.

But oftentimes behavior can get out of hand. World Cup riots in the past have happened. Football hooliganism—brawls, vandalism, intimidation—has given world football a bad name. During the Crispa-Toyota era, there was a hard-to-forget case of a fan who went after another fan with a knife and hacked the rival fatally within the halls of the playing arena. The Ateneo-San Beda Championship Game of 1978 was replayed several days later behind closed doors because the actual championship game resulted in a free for all among the fans that included car-bashing incidents and confrontations outside of the sports stadium. And we all know what happened after a fan’s heckling went into overdrive and how it affected Air21 player Wynne Arboleda less than a year ago.

That is why in Season 73 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the board has adopted a Fans Code of Conduct effective this year to address “the escalating problem of violence during UAAP games, in particular, those involving players and fans.”

The code underlines courtesy toward fans but also exhorts fans to stay only in their ticketed seats, “avoid disruptive behavior, including foul or abusive language or obscene gestures (i.e., fighting, taunting, or engaging in any action that may harm, endanger, threaten, or bring discomfort to anyone in the stadium).” Fans wil be warned first, then ejected from the facility if they repeat the misdemeanor.

“Fans carrying signs or wearing clothing with obscene, deregatory or indecent messages will be requested to discard said sign/wear the shirt inside-out. “Fans cannot bring dangerous objects within the facility.

Fans observed to be under the influence of a prohibitive substance (i.e., alcoholic beverage, dangerous drug, etc.)” will be attended to in a prompt and safe manner by facility or security personnel.

Fans will have designated smoking areas only.

Here’s to a safe, enjoyable UAAP!

Tessa Jazmines, Business Mirror