ABSTRACT
Spectators themselves might be watching sport for a variety of motives. One might think of spectatorship from a subjective and objective point of view. This chapter discusses some token spectator types and pick out some key conceptual and ethical ideas therein. It also discusses the conceptual and ethical dimensions and interrogate the relative ethical merits of both types. The chapter examines the sporting patriot and the vices of excessive partisanship. Although some gamblers have encyclopaedic knowledge about their sport, their interest in it as gamblers is whether or not events unfold in a way that maximises the return on their stake. According to J. Russell, forming sporting allegiances has evolutionary antecedents and is an expression of a human instinct to form attachments to groups. The purist is a different kind of fan; a fan of the sport, but who can ‘love it as much as the partisan loves their team’ with no allegiance to a team.
