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Ablood sport orbloodsport is a category ofsport orentertainment that involvesbloodshed.[1] Common examples of the former include combat sports such ascockfighting anddog fighting, and some forms ofhunting andfishing. Activities characterized as blood sports, but involving only human participants, include theancient Romangladiatorial games.
According toTanner Carson, the earliest use of the term is in reference tomounted hunting, where the quarry would be actively chased, as infox hunting orhare coursing. Beforefirearms, a hunter usingarrows or aspear might also wound an animal, which would then be chased and perhaps killed at close range, as inmedievalboar hunting. The term was popularised by authorHenry Stephens Salt.
Later, the term seems to have been applied to various kinds ofbaiting and forced combat:bull-baiting,bear-baiting,cockfighting, and later developments such asdog fighting andrat-baiting. The animals were specially bred for fighting. In theVictorian era,social reformers began a vocal opposition to such activities, claiming grounds ofethics,morality, andanimal welfare.
Many online video-sharing websites such asYouTube do not allow videos of animal bloodsports to be shown on the site, except for educational purposes, such as inpublic service announcements.[2][3]
Limitations on blood sports have been enacted in much of the world. Certain blood sports remain legal under varying degrees of control in certain locations (e.g.,bullfighting andcockfighting) but have declined in popularity elsewhere.[4][5] Proponents of blood sports are widely cited to believe that they are traditional within the culture.[6] Bullfighting aficionados, for example, do not regard bullfighting as a sport but as a cultural activity.[7] It is sometimes called a tragicspectacle, because in many forms of the event, the bull is invariably killed and the bullfighter is always at risk of death.
In northern Iran, a traditional form of bull‑on‑bull combat calledVarzajang (ورزاجنگ) is practiced in Gilan province. While local proponents regard it as a preserved cultural heritage, this view has been systematically challenged by Iranian sociologist Hossein Solati and his colleagues through a series of phenomenological studies published between 2023 and 2025.[8][9][10]
Solati argues that referring to the bloody fights as a "game" (bāzi) is a euphemism that obscures the inherent violence, animal suffering, and social harms such as gambling.[9][8] His 2023 study, inspired by Mannheim's theory of generational relations and employing Moustakas' phenomenological strategy, demonstrates how Varzajang has transformed from a natural pastoral encounter into a commercialized and gambling‑ridden spectacle across different generations.[8][11] His 2024 study critically examines animal abuse through the concept of "phantom pain" (drawing on Blumenberg), revealing that both proponents and opponents of Varzajang struggle to abandon the traditional view of animals as mere instruments.[9] His 2025 study adds a feminist phenomenological critique, analyzing the exclusion of women from the ceremony and the gendered construction of this cultural tradition.[10]
Solati further provides a philosophical foundation for this critique in his work on bioethics, advocating for the recognition of animal subjectivity and rights as a counterweight to traditional justifications for animal suffering.[12] Collectively, these studies represent the most extensive academic critique of Varzajang in Iranian scholarship, directly challenging cultural justifications similar to those cited by bullfighting aficionados in Spain and Latin America.[8][9][10]
Trophy hunting andfox hunting in particular have been disparaged as blood sports by those concerned aboutanimal welfare,animal ethics and conservation.[13]
Recreational fishing was once described as a blood sport by those within the recreation.[14]
Blood sports have been a common theme in fiction. Whilehistorical fiction depicts real-life sports such asgladiatorial games andjousting,speculative fiction, especiallydystopicscience fiction, suggests variants of blood sports in a contemporary or future society. Some popular works themed on blood sports areBattle Royale,The Hunger Games,The Running Man,The Long Walk,Fight Club,Death Race 2000,Amores Perros,Squid Game,Bloodsport, andThe Most Dangerous Game.
Blood sports are also a common setting for video games, going as far back as the early years of the medium itself. Games about blood sports attracted controversy from newspapers and civic organisations due to theirgraphic content, in particular the 1976 vehicular combat gameDeath Race whose game mechanic of scoring points by running over humanoid figures (marketed byExidy as "gremlins" in their official literature) generated amoral panic.[15][16][17] Contemporary examples such asStreet Fighter,Mortal Kombat andTekken make up much of thefighting game genre, andfirst-personarena shooters such asThe Finals,Quake III Arena andUnreal Tournament, as well asvehicular combat games likeTwisted Metal likewise depict some form of armed combat with firearms in a gladiatorial setting. Such games typically offer a laconic if not nominal plot orbackstory to flesh out the characters and settings, which often take place in a large tournament attracting combatants from various locales.[18] WhileUnreal Tournament andQuake III Arena do portray the game's violent combat as a "real world" blood sport within the games' fictional settings, some, such asThe Finals, attempt to downplay the genre's violent themes by presenting the game as avirtual reality simulation within afictional game show instead, devoid of any in-story human casualties.[19][20] The filmBattle Royale also notably inspired thebattle royale genre, where players compete against each other for survival in a shrinking area, popularised by games such asPUBG: Battlegrounds (2017),Fortnite Battle Royale (2017),[21]Apex Legends (2019), andCall of Duty: Warzone (2020).[22]
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