Sports- Debates

Debates on the topic of sport

Choose one of the topics below to debate. Start by pretending that one person is strongly for that thing and one of you is strongly against, then try to move together in some way, e.g. by compromising or one of you being convinced.

• School PE lessons in English
• Compulsory sport in high school
• Compulsory sport in university
• Women’s boxing in the Olympics
• Yoga in the Olympics
• The Olympics being hosted by non-democratic countries
• Free swimming pools
• The government trying to force people to use the stairs, e.g. by turning off escalators
• Turning roads into cycle lanes
• Lifetime bans for drug cheats
• Television replays for referees
• Goal line technology in soccer
• Public television competing to buy the most popular sports
• Commercial sponsorship of school sports
• Banning junk food companies from sponsoring sports
• The best local teams in one sport competing in a foreign league instead, e.g. the best basketball teams joining the NBA
• Banning people who have been declared bankrupt from ever owning sports teams
• Banning people who have ever been found guilty of a crime from ever owning sports teams
• Banning foreigners from owning sports teams in your country
• A limit on the number of foreign players in sports teams in your country
• Allowing everyone to compete for the country whose passport they have (whatever their previous background)
• A test that cyclists must pass before they are allowed to ride on the road
• Banning adults cycling on the pavement
• A law forcing some landowners to open their land to hikers (along designated paths)
• Your local government building a stadium for a local professional sports team
• A government policy of concentrating on sports which are more likely to lead to medals, e.g. ones your country have traditionally done well on or ones which are less competitive
• Leaving players out of the national team because of their lifestyle, e.g. because they have had an affair
• Stripping players of the captain’s armband because of their lifestyle, e.g. because of a ticket for speeding

Ask about any topics which you don’t understand, which you had difficulty discussing, etc, discussing them as a class each time.  

Have a whole class debate on topics from above.