why does hockey allow fighting......?
 

....but in sports such as soccer, football or rugby it is not allowed?

It's a tradition thing, it's one of the things you associate with the sport

No other sports, other than Lacross which is hockey without skates, is there a bunch of grown men running around with clubs aka hockey sticks.

Hockey is an aggressive sport, even in the recreational level. Tempers flare up, or heat of the moment guys will get very physical. If there was no fighting, you would see a lot more stick work.

Not to say those other sports aren't agressive, but they are called differently.

In basketball, tempers flare up when people are fighting for the ball. But fighting has never been a part of the game. In hockey, you have dedicated people on the bench who are the enforcers who play 5 minutes in each game and sit in the penalty box for 15-20 at a time.

Plus, football players wear heavier helmets with thicker cages. Try punching some guy in the head with one of those helmets and guarenteed you will have a broken hand.

And fighting is only allowed in the NHL, and major junior levels. Amature, rec, and hockey in Europe does not allow fighting (without major suspensions).

If fighting is penalized, then its not allowed.

Its not that its allowed in the NHL and the Jr levels, its just more tolerated. If fighting was allowed, it would not be penalized...end of question.

But fighting is gonna exist wherever you have competitive gameplay...no matter what contact sport.

But with hockey in the pro level....fighting didn't necessarily become part of the game, but it did become part of the show.

I was actually watching a small documentary; here is the jist of it.
Back in the day, NHL had a rival league....i can't recall (or even wikipedia or google) which league it was, the IHL or AHL. This league didn't have close to the skill level as the NHL did, so it did what it needed to do to increase their ratings against the NHL. It turned their league into a major gong-show, which was entertaining the fans with heavier hitting and fighting. This lead to the Philadelphia Flyers honing the nickname, "The Broad Street Bullies" and the parody of a film which every hockey knows, "Slapshot" which became the mockery of the goonage of the game. This rival league ended up taking the players from the NHL which offered players bigger contracts than what they were playing for previously.

I guess after everything all said and done....NHL did what they needed to do to keep themselves alive in the american sports market.


Its part of the show...and its not going to go away because of that.

Because it's the most physical team sport there is. It's just an extension of body checks.

It's not quite the same as football, where the physical contact is just to block players.

If there was no fighting we would have a shitload of Sean Avery's in the NHL.

That's not a fair statement. The 2 minute instigator penalty is doing a good job of that.

Um, no offense...but you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
Football is by far more physical than hockey. The only time when someone is seriously injured in hockey is cheap shots whereas serious physical injury occur from football plays all the time.
Its obvious that you do not know a single thing about football...or sports in particular

you don't play sports, do you? lol

the difference between football and hockey is in football the play only lasts an average of less than 5 seconds before you reset. in hockey you could be grinding in a corner for as many as 2 minutes and when someones constantly jabbing you in the side ribs with their stick, your temper WILL flair.

Oh come on.......EA Fantasy League nerds knows just about as much as any active athlete on the playing field.

Bingo.

Imagine the defensive team went for a late hit or a low hit towards the quarter back's knees and the ref's missed the call.

No difference in hockey. Some things are part of hockey and some are not. It's these missed calls that really get players upset.

So does loosing by a wide margin.

Which is exactly why in football the hits are much harder...grinding in a corner vs collisions with 250+lb players.
theirs a reason why their are 82 games in a nhl season while their are 16 in an nfl season.

Thats a POOR excuse to instigate a fight. I've seen people do that....and its shameful.

Sorry, it was not a well thought out sentence.
Losing by a large margin fights is a poor excuse for a fight and why fighting in rec and amateur hockey is not allowed.

Again, fighting is not legal hence the penalty's for fighting. But fighting in the NHL is also used as an energy starter for the losing team, getting their players pumped up to get back into the game.

^^which you are just reiterating...that fighting is part of the show.

You're claiming physical exhaustion as the reason why there are 82 games for NHL versus 16 in NFL?

Though I cannot argue against it being a part of the gong show, but there has been games where a fight early in the game inspires the team to play better. Just like a big hit early in the game is supposed to set the tempo of a game.

It could be all pyschological, or maybe it doesn help.

But then again, the new NHL believes in selling the game to the US, which also includes more scoring and shoot outs at the end of a tie game.

So gong show it is.