The Sportsmanship of Young Football Players: Challenge in

Developing Character of Young Football Players

Sulistiyono

, Sugiyanto

, Agus Kristiyanto

, Sapta Kunto

Sport Science Faculty, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Sportsmanship, Character, Youth Sport, Football and Coaching.

Abstract: Sportsmanship is supposed to be an obligatory character of football players and start to be habituated from

the young ages. Various player behaviors in football competition have turned out to be different than they are

expected. Aggressive behavior, fooling the referee, and provoking opponents show that sportsmanship has

not been applied properly. Based on these conditions, this research aimed at investigating how sportsmanship

among young club members of football schools in Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) Province, Indonesia.

The method chosen was survey with questionnaires as measuring instrument. The questionnaire contains self-

assessment of sportsmanship in competition atmosphere. The research findings show that the average

sportsmanship of young football players is low. The study of the training model and coaching that seeks to

develop the characters of young football players is a challenge in the future.

1 INTRODUCTION

Football competitions played from junior to senior

level employ a coaching system so that expected

achievements can be reached. Competition events are

held from regional, national and international levels

(Balyi & Way, 2014). Optimal achievements in

football competitions require maximum performance

from every individual player and performance of

football team (Astagna, Mpellizzeri, Haouachi, &

Anzi, 2013). As sport competitions, football matches

have intrinsic values that can be learned indirectly

such as hard work, spirit, team work, fairness, respect

for other values (McFee, 2012), (Brackenridge,

Pitchford, & Wilson, 2011). Football competitions

that aim at determining and choose winners, on the

other hand, have negative behaviors shown by

football players; for example, rude behavior that

makes injuries (aggression), cheating the referee

(cheating) (Kamis, Newmark, Begel, & Glick, 2016),

doping ( Morente-Sánchez & Zabala, 2013),

intimidating, harassing (Seamus & Ivan, 2006), and

being racist (Burley & Fleming, 1997), (Cleland,

2014).

Aggression behavior (Gencheva, 2015),

(Gümüşdağ, Yıldıran, Yamaner, & Kartal, 2011),

done by football players in a match results in losses

to opposing players, spectators, officials and the most

frequent victims are referees in which losses not only

in the form of injury even more terrible to the extent

of loss of human life. Felipe, et al, 2003 stated that

injury to football players is caused by collisions of

balls kicked by opponents or ball reflections (n = 129,

79.1%), foot trauma (n = 10, 6.1%), severe injuries

due to scratches from opposing players. Other

negative influence from aggression behavior is

cheating in football matches witnessed by millions of

people who are likely to imitate those negative

behaviors, especially if done by star football players

(Gladding & Villalba, 2014), (Shanklin & Miciak,

2005).

The concern on unsportsmanlike behavior

performed by football players, especially young

football players, must be considered by all

stakeholders, especially coaches. Unsportsmanlike

behaviors should be minimized and, conversely,

sportsmanship must be developed and implemented

in interaction of sport competitions or matches. In

training process, football coaches prepare athletes or

teams for achievement that are required to improve

their technical, physical, tactic skills, and also the

development of mental or athlete characters (Sandra

Peláez, Mark W. Aulls, Amanda Rossi, & Simon L.

Bacon , 2017), (D. Shields & Bredemeier, 2005).

Balyi, 2013 states that the development of athletes

at young age should pay attention to the development

of technical skills and characters. Developing and

640

Sulistiyono, ., Sugiyanto, ., Kristiyanto, A. and Kunto, S.

The Sportsmanship of Young Football Players: Challenge in Developing Character of Young Football Players.

DOI: 10.5220/0009800106400645

In Proceedings of the 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science in conjunction with the 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports

(YISHPESS and CoIS 2019), pages 640-645

ISBN: 978-989-758-457-2

fostering positive characters including sportsmanship

require proper planning and strategy (Bolter & Weiss,

2012), (Roger Rees, Howell, & Miracle, 1990) that is

reinforced by the environment (Stornes, 2001).

Directors, coaches, parents, audience and all parties

involved in the coaching process must work together

to ensure positive characters that can be built (Doty,

2006: 2).

Figure 1: Sportsmanship of Young Football Players Based Teams in Sleman Distric, Yogyakarta Province.

Austin (2010: 1) argues that participating in sports

can be used to build characters but does not happen

automatically. However, to make it happen, it requires

proper training plan. The coach is planner, executor,

and evaluator of training with this position. In this case,

the coach becomes the initiator of future changes so

that football players at all levels of competition will

have positive characters. By the underlying

background above, this research was conducted to find

out the quality of sportsmanship behavior of young

football players who are members of football clubs in

DIY Province, Indonesia. Research results are

expected to be recommendations to stakeholders to

choose and establish relevant policies related to the

training model, and the appropriate competition model

for young football players.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

2.1 Research Type

Researchers conducted survey toward young players'

sportsmanship at football clubs or schools in the

Special Region of Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia.

The data on young players' sportsmanship attitudes

were obtained from all athletes who were willing to

fill the questionnaire. After being collected, the data

were then analyzed. This research’s concern is on

challenges in efforts to develop character in young

football players.

2.2 Research Target/Subject

Young players who filled in the questionnaire came

from 20 teams (football clubs and schools) with the

total number of 320 male players. They were between

12-15 years old with average age (M) 13.17 years old,

and SD = 1.15. Those research subjects have also got

the experience in some competitions as of provincial

level tournaments averaging 6. 34 times in 2 years

and have practiced football for average 3.23 years at

the time the survey was conducted.

2.3 Data, Instrument, Data Collection

Technique

The measuring instrument used to determine the

sportsmanship of young football players was

questionnaire. The questionnaire tried to reveal the

players' sportsmanship when responding to various

The Sportsmanship of Young Football Players: Challenge in Developing Character of Young Football Players

641

situations in matches or competitions. The players

were asked to assess themselves about their attitude

responds to the situation faced by the team as well as

the situation faced individually to friends, opponents,

referees, and match organizers. The data collection was

also assisted by the coaches who were still active to

provide initial explanation of the purpose of filling the

questionnaire for young football players. Then, the

data obtained were analyzed by percentage technique.

The score results obtained by players were compared

to the maximum score as illustration of quality of the

sportsmanship of young football players and the

average was analyzed referring to the quality of

sportsmanship based on origin clubs in DIY Province.

3 RESEARCH RESULT AND

DISCUSSION

3.1 Research Result

The average sportsmanship attitude of young football

players in Sleman Regency was on low category

(57%) of the maximum score 100%. Furthermore, in

terms of teams, their level of sportsmanship was

categorized as follows; 0 of 21 teams (0%) for very

low category, 18 of 21 teams (85.71%) for low

category, 3 of 21 teams (14.29%) of medium

category, and 0 of 21 teams (0%) for high and very

high categories. The young football team which has

the lowest sportsmanship attitude is R team with the

average score of 52%, while the team with the highest

average sportsmanship attitude is N team with the

score of 60.75%.

Figure 2: Number of Football Teams in Sleman Distric,

Yogyakarta Province based on their Sportsmanship

Classification.

3.2 Discussion

The research findings showed that the sportsmanship

level of young football players was on low category.

The low athletes’ sportsmanship is usually shown in

some sports with body contact and played as teams

such as football, basketball, and hockey. Coaches and

teammates play significant role in the level of

sportsmanship of young football players in Special

Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia (Kavussanu et al.,

2002; Shields et al., 1995, University & Widh, 2002;

Stephens & Bredemeier, 1996). Unsportsmanlike

behavior seems to be justified because it is done by

all team members as the responsibility of the team,

not the individual’s. The situation will get worse

when the coach agrees to aggression attitudes shown

by team members.

The atmosphere of team with sportsmanship is

influenced by how the coach spends his/ her time

conveying the values, norms, and attitudes that an

athlete should do in competition or match situation

(Bolter & Weiss, 2012). The role of coach in

developing athlete attitudes is influenced by how the

leadership model is implemented (Seamus & Ivan,

2006). The model of coaching performed by the

coach is the best model that should be done by the

coach. Situation of winning and losing in competition

or match is certain and how the coach behaves and

responds to the match situation will affect the

athletes’ attitude (Vella, Oades 2012).

Supporters or spectators at young football

matches are mostly the athletes' parents. Suporter is

one of dominant factors that influence the behavior of

players or athletes. Established values or supports that

are jointly in particular towards response to match

situation even though it may be wrong will be

considered by the players to become justification if

the supporters support. Low category of

sportsmanship performed by young football players

in DIY province was also possibly because of

influence of the supporters who have inappropriate

views on how players should behave in matches

(Wann, Carlson, & Schrader, 1999; Wann, Schrader,

& Carlson, 2000) The behavior of parents

(supporters) that justifies unsportsmanlike attitudes

and puts high pressure on children to achieve will

cause several possibilities, i.e. severe fatigue, stress

and reluctance experienced by young players. This is

in line with Thomas (2005) stating parents’ much

pressure on young athletes results in bad experience

for them to develop.

Coaches, friends, and parents play important role

in shaping the attitude of young football players but

there are others who contribute to the development of

young football players' attitudes in a match or

competition; that is the referee (Friman, Nyberg, &

Norlander, 2004). The sportsmanship of the football

players is highly influenced by the quality of the

YISHPESS and CoIS 2019 - The 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science (YISHPESS

2019) in conjunction with The 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports (CoIS 2019)

642

referee. Referees are somehow the reasons for

justifying unsportsmanlike behavior or

sportsmanship in low scale. Bad performance of

referees makes players act various aggression

behaviors. Referees who make inconsistent decisions

or perceived as taking another side with one team

when leading the match can trigger emotion and

anger of players. In addition, the referee's decision to

fouls committed by the players without punishing

results in repeated actions (Coakley, 1998; Shapcott

et al., 2007).

3.2.1 A Challenge on Character

Development of Young Football

Players

Sportsmanship is an attitude that is expected to be

consistently acted by young football players in

various match situations that are always changing

with various influencing factors including behaviors

of opponents, referees, spectators, coaches,

atmosphere and position of the team in a competition.

The sportsmanship performed by football players

makes the atmosphere of the match safe and

minimizes the occurrence of violence and riots in

football matches. Thus, the players’ sportsmanship is

expected to be sportive character that is attitude

characterized or consistently performed by the player

in any situation. The synergy between family

(parents), schools in formal and non-formal contexts,

and environment is very influential on sportsmanship.

Schools in this context are organizations consisting of

managers, coaches, and staff. The environment means

friends to play well together at home or at school.

3.2.2 Coach Role

A coach becomes the most important person in an

effort to develop sportsmanship in sports development

interactions. The players’ sportsmanship character and

other positive characters in sport matches, especially

football, become the challenge that must be tackled by

coaches so that they can be owned by football players

from the young age. Bredemeier and Shields (1995)

state that with the appropriate teaching and coaching

methods, and trying to focus on character

development, sports and physical activity can be the

right media for character development. Sports can be

used as a medium to develop character with planning,

meaning that the experience of sports does not

necessarily make the character of an athlete good, Doty

(2006: 6). Sport experience must be planned aimed at

developing character which means that all involved

parties, such as players, coaches, officials, and parents

(stakeholders) must create the environment that

supports the development of athletes' character.

Coakley (2001) recommends modified game rules

where participants (players) are rewarded for

sportsmanship attitudes or behaviors when playing not

only for winning the game. Hellison (2003), Parker,

and Stiehl (2004) are experts who believe that positive

characters (individual and social responsibilities) can

be developed through sport activities.

Football players sometimes make deliberate

movements to cheat the referee to get advantage so that

the team wins in a match. In this case, the coach can

actually make a discussion about morals, deceptive

attitudes and characters in discussion class session,

Schonert-Reichl, K.A. (2004). Moral dilemmas are

often experienced by players when making decisions

in match situations. Strategy of presenting moral issues

by coaches aims at generating interaction between

athletes' thinking to overcome dilemmas. It is also for

increasing moral reasoning and skills in resolving

conflicts and dilemmas they face on the playing field.

This discussion strategy of moral characters done by

the coach is appropriate to attract conscience of

athletes who engage in provocation activities against

opponents to win the game.

The attitude or character of sportsmanship in

football match is essentially an attitude that if studied

is a behavior that must be known (moral knowing),

conscious behavior (moral feeling), and behaviors

that can be implemented in various match situations

(moral action). Coaches must understand basic

theories about developing attitudes of human

behavior. Some models that have been done so far are

for example: Teaching Responsibility Through

Physical Activity (TPSR) program (Hellison, 1 995),

Sport United to Promote Education And Recreation

(SUPER) program, and Fair Play for Kids Curriculum

program (Gibbons, Ebbeck, & Weiss, 1995), (Danish,

Forneris, Hodge, & Heke, 2004). Models or strategies

and approaches in the training process must be

continuously innovated so that effective model is

especially found in the training model for young

footballers and this is a challenge that must be

accepted by young football coaches who work

professionally.

Goldstein and Iso-Ahola, (2006: 23) give six

recommendations that can control aggression of

young athletes and encourage good sportsmanship

values. The following are strategies for coaches in

efforts to strengthen students' character through the

training process in sports:

1) Rules and playing structures must be modified

to meet the needs and development of young

athletes;

The Sportsmanship of Young Football Players: Challenge in Developing Character of Young Football Players

643

2) Media and referees must encourage, facilitate,

and develop sportsmanship behavior and

punishment/sanction to inappropriate

behavior;

3) Young athletes must be encouraged to study

formally (academic class) with the same

enthusiasm as when practicing very seriously;

4) Coaches may not be promoted or fired solely

based on their record of victory; and

5) Coaches need to help each participant develop

better level of moral reasoning and develop

sport strategies and skills in education system.

3.2.3 Parents Role

Coaches and schools’ efforts will get better results if

parents and athletes are involved to develop

sportsmanship in coaching interactions. The athletes’

parents are the ones who become supporters during

match. Sheldon & Epstein, (2015) state that parental

involvement is an effective way to develop

disciplinary attitudes which means other attitudes will

also be effectively developed if parents are involved.

The results of Sheldon's research state that

partnership programs between schools and parents

can reduce students' disciplinary violations. Parents

are expected to establish harmonious relationship

with coaches especially in formation of young

players. The important role of parents in supporting

the creation of sportsmanship includes morally

building shared commitments related to values,

kindness that becomes a mutual agreement in

providing support to athletes when competing.

3.2.4 Organization Role

Youths participating in sport clubs have strong

relationships to the decrease of aggressive behavior

(Mutz & Baur, 2009). Clubs or football schools must

make regulations related to how athletes should

behave and sanctions received if they break the rules.

The importance of this school rule is proposed by

Curvin & Mendler (1999: 8) stating that the

occurrence of negative behavior performed by

students is due to one of the contributing factors

which is unclear restrictions. By making it into school

rules and class rules to school discipline, the barriers

of student behavior at school become clear. The

importance of making school rules and classroom

rules is in accordance with the opinion of Chiu &

Chow (2011: 517) that to create a culture of good

behavior in clubs or schools will be influenced by one

of the factors, namely school rules and applied norms.

Another opinion related to the importance of rules in

schools is the opinion of Nucci & Narvaez (2008:

122) which explains that norms function to regulate

human behavior. This rule is made with the aim at

providing guidance to athletes about what actions

should be done in everyday life of schools.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The sportsmanship of the young football players in

Yogyakarta was categorized low or it can be said that

on average, the young players are bad in terms of

sportsmanship based on the average of each team.

This sportsmanship is actually influenced by many

factors including individual attitudes, coach

behaviors (Sandra Peláez et al., 2017), parental

behaviors, norms built into the team, supporters (DL

Shields, LaVoi, Bredemeier, & Power, 2016), and

referee performances (Coulomb-Cabagno, Rascle, &

Souchon, 2005). The sportsmanship of football

players allows reducing aggressive behavior which

results in various losses to players, referees, and

triggers sporting violence. The research results are

expected to be a study and a basis for appropriate

policy making by all parties involved in the

development specifically coaches.

Sports or physical activities like football should

be able to give moral values to life skills but the

reality is not as expected. A big challenge for coaches

is to be able to design training program, model, or

practice concept that is able to develop the moral

character of young football players. The training

model designed to be socialized to be able to make

changes is not as easy as it is imagined. Football is

right organization to develop character. Therefore,

organizing football training such as clubs, football

schools must support football programs as a medium

for character development of the young football

players.

REFERENCES

Astagna, C. A. C., Mpellizzeri, F. R. M. I., Haouachi, A. N.

I. S. C., & Anzi, V. I. M. 2013. Preseason Variations

In Aerobic Fitness And Performance In Elite-Standard

Football Players:Ateam Study. Journal of Strength and

Conditioning Research, 27(11), 2959–2965.

Balyi, I., & Way, R. 2014. Long-term athlete development.

Choice Reviews Online (Vol. 51).

https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.51-5081

Bolter, N. D., & Weiss, M. R. 2012. Coaching for

Character : Development of the Sportsmanship

Coaching Behaviors Scale (SCBS), 1(2), 73–90.

https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026300

YISHPESS and CoIS 2019 - The 3rd Yogyakarta International Seminar on Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science (YISHPESS

2019) in conjunction with The 2nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approach in Sports (CoIS 2019)

644

Brackenridge, C., Pitchford, A., & Wilson, M. 2011.

Respect: Results of a pilot project designed to improve

behaviour in English Football. Managing Leisure,

16(3), 1360–6719.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13606719.2011.583406

Burley, M., & Fleming, S. 1997. Racism and regionalism

in Welsh football. / Racisme et regionalisme dans le

football gallois. European Physical Education Review,

3(2), 183–194. Retrieved from

http://articles.sirc.ca/search.cfm?id=450701%0Ahttp://

ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscoho

st.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sph&AN=SPH450

701&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Cleland, J. 2014. Racism, Football Fans, and Online

Message Boards: How Social Media Has Added a New

Dimension to Racist Discourse in English Football.

Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 38(5), 415–431.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723513499922

Coulomb-Cabagno, G., Rascle, O., & Souchon, N. 2005.

Players’ gender and male referees’ decisions about

aggression in French football: A preliminary study. Sex

Roles, 52(7–8), 547–553.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-3720-z

Danish, S., Forneris, T., Hodge, K., & Heke, I. 2004. Sport

Enhancing Youth Development through Sport. World

Leisure Journal, 3(October 2014), 37–41.

https://doi.org/10.1080/04419057.2004.9674365

Friman, M., Nyberg, C., & Norlander, T. 2004. Threats and

aggression directed at football referees: An empirical

phenomenological psychological study. The

Qualitative Report, 9(4), 652–672.

Gencheva, N. 2015. Aggression in youth athletes. Research

in Kinesiology, 43(2), 205–209.

Gibbons, S. L., Ebbeck, V., & Weiss, M. R. 1995. Fair piay

for kids; effects on the moral development of children

in physical education. Research Quarterly for Exercise

and Sport, 66(3), 247–255.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.1995.10608839

Gladding, S. T., & Villalba, J. 2014. Imitation,

impersonation, and transformation: Using male role

models in films to promote maturity. Journal of

Counseling and Development, 92(1), 114–121.

https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00137.x

Gümüşdağ, H., Yıldıran, İ., Yamaner, F., & Kartal, A.

2011. Aggression and fouls in professional football.

Biomedical Human Kinetics, 3, 67–71.

https://doi.org/10.2478/v10101-011-0015-4

Journal, B., & Sport, O. F. 2017. Qualitative investigation

of coaches’ perspectives on moral education in sport,

4(4), 46–56.

Kamis, D., Newmark, T., Begel, D., & Glick, I. D. 2016.

Cheating and sports: history, diagnosis and treatment.

International Review of Psychiatry, 28(6), 551–555.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2016.1208162

McFee, G. (2012). Olympism and sport’s intrinsic value.

Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 6(2), 211–231.

https://doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2012.666994

Morente-Sánchez, J., & Zabala, M. 2013. Doping in Sport:

A Review of Elite Athletes’ Attitudes, Beliefs, and

Knowledge. Sports Medicine, 43(6), 395–411.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0037-x

Mutz, M., & Baur, J. 2009. The role of sports for violence

prevention: sport club participation and violent

behaviour among adolescents. International Journal of

Sport Policy and Politics, 1(3), 305–321.

https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940903265582

Roger Rees, C., Howell, F. M., & Miracle, A. W. 1990. Do

high school sports build character? A quasi-experiment

on a national sample. The Social Science Journal,

27(3), 303–315. https://doi.org/10.1016/0362-

3319(90)90027-H

Sandra Peláez, Mark W. Aulls, Amanda Rossi, & Simon L.

Bacon. 2017. The Coach as a Contributor to the Socio-

moral Context: A Literature Review. Journal of

Psychology Research, 3(3), 113–128.

https://doi.org/10.17265/2159-5542/2013.03.001

Seamus, K., & Ivan, W. 2006. Abuse, Intimidation and

Violence as Aspects of Managerial Control in

Professional Football in Britain and Ireland.

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 41,

147–164. Retrieved from

http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=47899

6212119FB77F4FC

Shanklin, W. L., & Miciak, A. R. 2005. Selecting Sports

Personalities as Celebrity Endorsers. Journal of

Promotion Management, 4(1), 1–11.

https://doi.org/10.1300/j057v04n01_01

Sheldon, S. B., & Epstein, J. L. 2002. Improving student

behavior and school discipline with family and

community involvement. Education and Urban Society,

35(1), 4–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/001312402237212

Shields, D., & Bredemeier, B. 2005. The sport behavior of

youth, parents and coaches. Journal of Research in…,

3(1), 43–59. Retrieved from

https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Nxs

4I_9fQYUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA43&ots=2vXlLSC7eO&

sig=glo0rzJPdDaAAxmtxthy1Vxs_i8

Shields, D. L., LaVoi, N. M., Bredemeier, B. L., & Power,

F. C. 2016. Predictors of Poor Sportspersonship in

Youth Sports: Personal Attitudes and Social Influences.

Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 29(6), 747–

762. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.29.6.747

Stornes, T. 2001. Sportspersonship in elite sports : on the

effects of personal and environmental factors on the

display of sportspersonship among elite male handball

players. European Physical Education Review,

7(200110), 283–304.

The Sportsmanship of Young Football Players: Challenge in Developing Character of Young Football Players

645