Etica Managerului Cluburilor Sportive En 1 [622592]

1. Introduction
• overrating of the success , measured by extrinsic rewards (trophies, scholarships, rising
income). In order to achieve this objective, some managers encourage non -ethical behavior
(faking of results or the use of banned substances by athlete s).
• search of prestige and material rewards . Success leads to image, prestige, recognition. A
successful sports club can attract more and better players, growing sponsorships,
improvement of the facilities offered. Not only the manager stands to gain but a lso the
coaches, the athletes, their families and the other employees.
• own interest . The decisions are taken by non- ethical managers to better serve their own
purpose. This behavior may become a habit in the club managed by them as the manager is a model for employees, even in matters of morality. Perpetuating the attitude and behavior
of the leader, athletes can leave the club in favor of another, without taking into account
loyalty and other ethical principles. In a similar way, coaches, referees or even managers of
sports clubs can orient toward those organizations which provide more benefits and higher
income.
This pressure of inner impulses requires an ethical training for managers of sports clubs, so
that they have an ethical behavior, understand and assimilate the moral principles and know what to do
and what decisions to take when faced with an ethical dilemma.
A good sports manager must have vast knowledge of sports, educational training, in particular
in the field of sports administration, profess ional attitude, in addition to personal attributes, such as
intelligence, fairness, flexibility, integrity, honesty, leadership qualities and a sincere interest in sports management.

2. The purpose of the research
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the unethical situations in which a manager can learn,
with special emphasis on the sports betting industry.

3. The research methodology
We analyzed the critical literature, seeking to bring a series of personal contributions, using
case studies to suppo rt argumentatia.

4. Ethical issues frequently encountered
One of the ethical issues in sports management refers to violence, abuse or exploitation of
underage athletes. The manager's responsibility refers not only to his behavior directly toward athletes ,
but also to the surveillance of other employees who work with youth athletes (for instance, coaches). The
activity of a sports club manager is assessed in the light of the measures taken to prevent and, in the case
of infringements, to penalize violence, harassment, discrimination, doping or pressures put on the
athletes. The Manager must encourage and promote the principle of sportmanship, fair -play, as well as
equality between athletes, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religion or health problems.
The club manager must provide equal opportunities in employment, without using criteria
other than competence and professionalism . Experience has revealed the occurrence of numerous cases
in which preferential recruitment is done, in favor of acquaintance s or some people who in turn may
provide advantages and privileges.
A stringent problem in sports is that of pressures put on athletes to make performance .
These pressures made by the manager, directly or indirectly, may lead the athletes to adopt a wrong moral
behavior and to resort to prohibited substances in order to increase their potential.
The use of these substances or of prohibited methods is risky not only as they decrease the
ethical level of the sports club, but also by its impact on the physical and mental health of those who
resort to them. An even more serious problem is the emergence of new substances and new methods that
contribute to increasing performance, yet they're not listed internationally.
The manager must provide a free, open and t ransparent climate in the club he/she manages,
that would not encourage such methods. He/she should take the necessary steps to educate and inform the
athletes about the risks of doping and to intensify anti -dope tests in addition to those mandatory at
national level.
The frequent cases of young people who die suddenly while practicing a sport must be a
warning sign for managerial activity and must determine the manager to provide the necessary framework
for periodical medical checks of both physical and me ntal health of the athletes of the club.

Another important issue with profound ethical implications on sports competitions is
represented by the recent amplitude of the sports betting industry . Sporting bet consists in placing a sum
of money on an antici pated particular result of the competition. Often, this universe of the bets exceeds
the limits of the legal framework, gaining impressive financial dimensions. Gains involved are very large,
although, in reality, the value of the black market of betting i s difficult to estimate.
That is the justification why the competitions results are influenced by the huge sums invested
in the bets. The betting industry is also interconnected with the development of specialized sites, and of theme books aimed to help gamblers to multiply the money invested or, better said, played.
At the same time, diversified strategies that can be used in the sports betting industry gained
momentum, strategies adapted to various sports (soccer, handball, boxing, martial arts, etc.). Worldwide,
there are bodies empowered to monitor the evolution of sports betting and the related gains. They must find solutions for the implementation of effective measures so that the integrity of the sport activity would not be impaired.
Gamblers must understand that sports betting market is very complex, and it can bring both
significant gains and important losses. In order to avoid a financial drama, players (gamblers) have to
study in detail all the aspects involved, to analyze the odds and to inve st only amounts that they own or
can get in safely.
At EU level, there is no harmonized legislation in the field of gambling industry in general, or
of sports betting, in particular. Each Member State has its own legislation, which can be applied
independently of the Community legislation, unique in the region. Harmonization at European level could
be useful for better monitoring, regulation, implementation, and, possibly, penalization.
In the literature , the following typology of bets is known:
• live be ts – they are placed during the effective duration of a particular sporting event. They
are a new type, used at a few bookmakers in the world, and they are also difficult to
monitor.
• classical bets – they can be placed only before the effective start of th e sporting event. They
can be placed online or at betting agencies, and the stake for a simple bet may be much greater than in the case of live betting.
In recent years, online sports betting market has reached an increasingly higher amplitude,
with a val ue closing to that of the traditional market. Online market has a number of advantages offered to
bettors: time -saving, extended accessibility, necessity to only have a bank card, and access to the Internet
in order to place bets or to cash out the gains o btained, as well as a high possibility of choosing the
bookmaker that offers the best conditions for this purpose.
Sports betting market in Romania has become increasingly more attractive to the
multinational companies in the trade. Therefore, sites with Romanian- language interface of major
international bookmakers have expanded increasingly, offering opportunities to the numerous bettors
from Romania.
In Romania, legislation includes sports betting in the gaming category, being taxed
excessively, in comp arison with other countries (United Kingdom), where they are associated with
entertainment. This is why sports betting market in other countries is at a very high level compared to our country.

5.Ethical implications of sports betting industry
As sports b ets are considered gambling, they can lead to corruption and to affecting the
integrity of the activity of the athletes and its participants, those being the main criticisms to the field.
There is fear that the athletes, teams, referees, sports competition s can be manipulated so that to lead to
the prediction made by certain groups of bettors.
The consequences are the decreasing confidence in sports and in sponsorships given by
companies to teams and players, who do not want to associate their name, their brand with a possible
scandal. The scale of online betting market led to increased corruption, to increased tax evasion and to increased stake for bettors. From this reality to faking match results in sports is but a step, a very
important one though, that makes the transition from moral to immoral and even from legal to illegal.
The authors emphasize the importance of sport in the ethical education of the participants: the
role of team solidarity, self control, discipline, fair -play, respect for the letter and spirit of the law and the
rules of the game.
Fixed matches are a fictional competition, whose final goal is to achieve a predetermined
result, with high stakes on the betting market. Sometimes, for strategic reasons, matches are lost

intentionally, wi th the complicity of a player, an entire team, or even of the referees, the coaches or the
managers of the organization involved. Morality interferes when the results are being rigged because
behind this scenario huge profits are hiding.
A major challenge for Sports Ethics is the illegal bets, used as a means for money laundering
or organised crime activities. These practices constitute a direct threat to fairness, to honesty. Fixed
matches offer a false result, inconsistent with reality, which eventually delude the entire sports
community. In parallel with the illegality and immorality of this phenomenon, which is increasing, there
is also arising an industry of those who sell tips for such fixed matches. The online environment and,
generally, the technological progress contribute to the increasing difficulty to monitor these activities.
The international casuistry is full of examples where the sports betting industry affects the
integrity of the athletes, coaches, or sports clubs. The principle of sportmanship is basically violated, the
financial gains becoming the sole objective. The justifications of those caught having participated in
match -rigging relate to the players' revenues being too small.
Governments must adopt a series of measures and to set clear goals in order to ensure
compliance with the law, and also with the ethics in the sports betting industry:
• minimization of the social impact of pathological (addicted) gamblers, which draw
significant amounts from the health care system of a state
• careful monitoring, prevention, fight and penalization of criminal activities
• promotion of ethical practices in decision making
• educating the population in the spirit of respect for the law and moral principles, regardless
of the activities carried
• maximiza tion the quality of life of the society
• minimization of taxes, in order to reduce the black market of sports betting
Publishing information about placing bets for the support of a team or an athlete in the media
is also dangerous and non- ethical, as it ma y lead to arranging the results of sports matches in the most
advantageous way. Globally, there are networks of organized crime, which develop on the basis of alluring athletes or other sports personalities, which they eventually blackmail, further creating a vicious
circle for the latter.
A strong ethical implication of sports betting and not only iscreating a dependency of
individuals passionate about these activities. Like any addiction and pathological condition, it has adverse
consequences on the fam ily, society and finances, and it may even lead to other ethical issues: theft, lying,
deception, violence, etc.
Online sports betting generates a series of disputes, being an environment accessible to addicts
and thus increasing the ethical and social n egative impact of this controversial industry. The comfort and
ease of use make it difficult for addicts to resist the temptation to bet significant amounts of money.
Statistics show that the number of addicted gamblers is superior to those who bet in trad itional operators
on the offline markets.
Many sports leagues around the world prohibit bets made by athletes, coaches or managers,
considering that a conflict of interests. The problem is not the sports betting itself, but the effects it
generates on th e individuals involved, and on the integrity of the game and the integrity of the sport in
general.
Sports clubs must avoid situations in which they are sponsored by bookmakers, which can
thus influence the results obtained. This can offer a greater conf idence in the fairness and morality of the
management of the respective club and, implicitly, in the scores achieved at various competitions.
As a result of the development of online bookmakers, a globally integrated market has formed,
which increase the competition in this domain and may reduce the funds for sports activities. It is
necessary that sports organizations realize the risks involved and the dynamics of sports betting industry
and not to fall into the trap of compromise, immorality and financia l gains to the detriment of
sportmanship and ethics.
Regulations at governmental level in the sports betting industry represent a first solution for
ensuring the compliance with a legal and moral framework in the sports world. The expansion of the
industr y in the online environment makes this regulatory measure to become difficult and with a weak
impact.
The main initiatives must come from the sports bodies, which, through actions taken, can
contribute to reducing corruption and matches arranged accordin g to odds fixed by bookmakers.
Such measures may include banning sports personalities to bet on their own games, promoting
the principles of transparency and continuous monitoring of irregularities observed on the betting market,

as well as the harsh san ctioning of instances of circumvention of results or of sale of information in this
regard.

6. Conclusions
In conclusion, we ca nnot say that sport is corrupt. There are numerous examples of corruption
in the sport, but at the same time, there also are measures adopted to combat or to prevent such situations.
Sports activity can attract organized crime groups, precisely because revenues in sports are considerable.
The awareness of these risks is important, because it represents a first step in ensuring an
ethical education for all participants, in the implementation of strict rules, and in promoting transparency
and harsh punishment of those found guilty of corruption or illegal betting.
In order to create a solid ethical environment in the sports club, t he manager must
demonstrate ethical leadership (this is considered the basic tool in the management of ethics), to ensure the transparency in decisions, to facilitate the ethical education of employees and athletes, to provide the
creation of a code of eth ics and its implementation.
Social responsibility and involvement in social projects should be encouraged by sports
management, which understands the importance of solidarity with the members of the community in
which they operate. Environment protection i s also important, and the manager should take action so that
the athletes or the fans taking part to a competition do not destroy nature.
It is necessary that the manager of a sports club realizes that his/her goal is not performance
with any cost and by any means. His/her moral duty is to ensure the optimal carrying out of the sports
activity, in accordance with the legal regulations and the moral principles, in a healthy ethical climate in
which sportsmanship matters more than the victory at all costs an d at all risks.