By John Considine
Yesterday, the Irish Times carried a story (here) saying that National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) had decided to follow a range of other Irish universities in lowering the academic entry requirements for elite athletes. The story explained how NUIG would grant a limited number of elite athletes 40 extra Central Application Office (CAO) points. This is equivalent to lowering the entry criteria by 40 points for those lucky enough to be awarded the points.
It is possible to argue that the action of NUIG was only levelling the playing field in the competition for elite talent. If they did not follow the example of their competitors then the price of getting into NUIG would be higher than the price of getting into other universities. The NUIG decision to follow their competitors removed this distortion.
There has been plenty of comment about how the decisions of the universities distorts the academic entry competition in favour of elite athletes. Those against bonus points claim that it is a perversion of the idea of fair competition that sports people cherish. They argue that sports people would be horrified if, in sporting competitions, athletes with higher IQs got favourable treatment.
Those who support the bonus point system claim that it actually levels the playing field. They claim that elite athletes are trying to compete with people who have more time to devote to study because they do not play sport to a high level. (In a recent post I showed a graph of how kids from managerial backgrounds dropped out of sport in the final year of the Leaving Certificate cycle.) Supporters of the bonus points would claim that 40 extra points would easily be achieved if the elite athletes swapped athletic activity for academic activity.
I do not wish to add to these arguments in this post. I will leave it to others to debate if elite sports people are receiving unfair treatment compared to other sports people or non sports people. I’m more interested in speculating about the different treatment of different sports. What sports will actually receive these bonus points? Will some sports get more than the "fair share" of bonus points? Will female athletes get as many bonus points as male athletes?
The Irish Times article claims that it is only athletes from sports recognised by the Irish Sports Council that are eligible for the bonus points. The Irish Sports Council provides funding under the National Governing Bodies scheme to a wide range of sports. The NGBs that have received funding include the Horseshoe Pitchers Association of Ireland, the Baton Twirling Sports Association of Ireland, the Angling Council, Speleological Union of Ireland, Irish Clay Pigeon Shooting, and the Irish Tug of War Association. I’m guessing that the competition between the Irish universities for the horseshoe pitching champion will be less than intense.
There has been plenty of comment about how the decisions of the universities distorts the academic entry competition in favour of elite athletes. Those against bonus points claim that it is a perversion of the idea of fair competition that sports people cherish. They argue that sports people would be horrified if, in sporting competitions, athletes with higher IQs got favourable treatment.
Those who support the bonus point system claim that it actually levels the playing field. They claim that elite athletes are trying to compete with people who have more time to devote to study because they do not play sport to a high level. (In a recent post I showed a graph of how kids from managerial backgrounds dropped out of sport in the final year of the Leaving Certificate cycle.) Supporters of the bonus points would claim that 40 extra points would easily be achieved if the elite athletes swapped athletic activity for academic activity.
I do not wish to add to these arguments in this post. I will leave it to others to debate if elite sports people are receiving unfair treatment compared to other sports people or non sports people. I’m more interested in speculating about the different treatment of different sports. What sports will actually receive these bonus points? Will some sports get more than the "fair share" of bonus points? Will female athletes get as many bonus points as male athletes?
The Irish Times article claims that it is only athletes from sports recognised by the Irish Sports Council that are eligible for the bonus points. The Irish Sports Council provides funding under the National Governing Bodies scheme to a wide range of sports. The NGBs that have received funding include the Horseshoe Pitchers Association of Ireland, the Baton Twirling Sports Association of Ireland, the Angling Council, Speleological Union of Ireland, Irish Clay Pigeon Shooting, and the Irish Tug of War Association. I’m guessing that the competition between the Irish universities for the horseshoe pitching champion will be less than intense.
RSS Feed
