Rethinking Aggression and Violence in Sport explores the psychological aspects of these two intrinsic elements of competitive sport. This book critically examines the important issues associated with aggression and violence in sport, including: * a review of current theory in the psychology of aggression
* exploration of how players become acclimatised to physical violence
* discussion of the psychological benefits of sanctioned and unsanctioned sport violence
* examination of the moral and ethical dimensions of the debate
* the psychological basis of spectator aggression
* case studies from a wide variety of sports. This text is a must read for researchers and students within sport studies, psychology and sociology with an interest in human violence and aggressive behaviour.

John H. Kerr is Professor of Sport Psychology in the Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences at Kokushikan University in Japan.

1. The state of play: Incidents, definitions and explanations 2. Getting started with reversal theory 3. New beginnings: A reversal theory view of violence 4. The joy of physical contact: Sanctioned aggression and violence in sport 5. When things turn ugly: Unsanctioned aggression and violence 6. Taking the hard knocks: Children's and youth sport 7. Beyond the pale: Fan violence and sports riots 8. Blood and guts: observing violence in sport 9. The final whistle: Rounding off.