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Human Rights in Youth Sport

The human rights of children have been recognized in the 1989 UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child, and ratified by 192 countries. Paulo David’s work
makes it clear, however, that too often competitive sport fails to recognize the
value of respect for international child rights norms and standards.
Human Rights in Youth Sport offers critical analysis of some very real problems
within youth sport and argues that the future development of sport depends on
the creation of a child-centred sport system. Areas of particular concern include
issues of:

●
Over-training
●
Physical, emotional and sexual abuse
● Doping and medical ethics
● Education
●
Child labour
●
Accountability of governments, sports federations, coaches and parents

The text should be essential reading for anybody with an interest in the ethics of
sport, youth sport, coaching and sports development.
With a foreword by Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights.

Paulo David works at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) as Secretary of the Committee on the Rights of the
Child. He began his career as a sports journalist before moving into the human
rights field.
Ethics and Sport
Series Editors
Mike McNamee
University of Gloucestershire
Jim Parry
University of Leeds

The Ethics and Sport series aims to encourage critical reflection on the practice of
sport, and to stimulate professional evaluation and development. Each volume
explores new work relating philosophical ethics and the social and cultural study of
ethical issues. Each is different in scope, appeal, focus and treatment but a balance
is sought between local and international focus, perennial and contemporary
issues, level of audience, teaching and research application, and variety of practi-
cal concerns.
Also available in this series:

Ethics and Sport

Edited by Mike McNamee and Jim Parry

Values in Sport
Elitism, nationalism, gender equality and the scientific manufacture of winners
Edited by Torbjörn Tännsjö and Claudio Tamburrini

Spoilsports
Understanding and preventing sexual exploitation in sport
Celia Brackenridge

Fair Play in Sport

A moral norm system
Sigmund Loland

Sport, Professionalism and Pain

Ethnographies of injury and risk
David Howe
Human Rights in Youth Sport

Paulo David
First published 2005
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park,
Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
© 2005 Paulo David
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-51103-4 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-34265-8 (Adobe eReader Format)

ISBN 0–415–30558–6 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–30559–4 (pbk)

This book is dedicated to Emily, my daughter, and to all other

young athletes whose experience of competitive sport should be
summed up in three letters: joy.
Contents

List of tables vii

Foreword by Mary Robinson viii
Series editors’ preface ix
Acknowledgements x
Abbreviations xii

PART I
The conceptual frame 1
1 Introduction 3
2 A black hole: absence of debate, data and research 9
3 The rule of law enters the sports arena 16

PART II
In the best interests of the child? 31
4 Winning at any cost 33
5 The age of innocence: minimum ages for competing 39

PART III
Abuse and violence: the integrity of the young athlete 51
6 Sharp practice: intensive training and child abuse 53
7 Bearing the brunt: physical abuse and violence 63
8 Below the belt: psychological and emotional abuse 80
9 Foul play: sexual abuse and violence 92
10 Dicing with death: doping and medical ethics 102
vi Contents
PART IV
The economics of sports and its impact on the rights
of young athletes 123
11 Work to rule: economic exploitation and child labour 125
12 Factories of champions: moulding athletes in specialized
sport centres 144
13 Play the market: trafficking and sale of young athletes 160

PART V
Empowering young athletes 179
14 Writing on the wall: the right to education 181
15 A power of good: civil rights of young athletes 189
16 A fair field: non-discrimination 202

PART VI
Is it just a game? Responsibilities of adults 211
17 Reaping the fruits: responsibilities, rights and duties
of the parents 213
18 Pass the baton: accountability of coaches, officials
and managers 224

PART VII
Reversing trends: human rights as a powerful tool 233
19 Forging a new future: towards a child-centred sport system 235
20 Olympic values and the rights of the child 250
21 The human rights approach: an added value for
the competitive sport system 256

Appendix: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 265

Bibliography 286
Index 323
Tables

2.1 Child rights violations in competitive sports: scope, 11

knowledge and awareness
3.1 From the needs-based to the rights-based approach 21
6.1 Typology of main forms of abuse, neglect and violence
in competitive sports 56
9.1 Characteristics of sports systems that potentially increase
the vulnerability of young athletes to sexual abuse 96
11.1 Impact of the commercialization of sports on the human
rights of young athletes 127
17.1 Convention on the Rights of the Child: key obligations
for parents with regard to young athletes 216
18.1 Convention on the Rights of the Child: key obligations
for coaches, and volunteers and professionals in sports
with regard to young athletes 226
19.1 A child-centred sport system: ten fundamental principles 237
Foreword

Since its adoption in 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child has made an enormous impact on how the world thinks about the well-being
of children. The Convention is the most widely accepted international human
rights instrument, ratified by 192 countries. It has helped shape the policies and
views of almost every part of society, from schools to social agencies, from labour
unions to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), from private corporations to
professional groups and cultural associations.
But as Paulo David’s work makes clear, one of the few areas that has yet to recog-
nize the value of respect for international child rights norms and standards is
competitive sports. This book represents a significant step in deepening our under-
standing of the links between competitive sport and its implications on the rights of
young athletes.
It contains numerous examples of the abuse that some children and adolescents, in
particular, experience in the name of sport. Abuse such as that suffered by footballer
Luciano Djim, who was ‘traded’ like a commodity between his home in the Central
African Republic and Belgium. Djim – and so many others like him – was brought to
Europe illegally, lured by false promises of a career with a professional football club. He
ended up abandoned on streets that were not paved with gold.
Human rights can play a crucial role in preventing and combating unacceptable
sport-related abuses. Those who are committed to advancing this cause must do more to
convince those in positions of authority that human rights are more than just good ideas
or abstract objectives. States have freely accepted legal obligations under international
human rights law and have agreed to be held accountable for their implementation.
The specific status of children requires us to be even more vigilant. Competitive
sports can fail children and be the cause of child abuse, exploitation, violence or
other violations of rights. Paulo David’s book reminds us that if we hope to see
human rights norms realized in the lives of all people everywhere, we must begin by
recognizing the potential for abuses close to home, even in an organized activity such
as competitive sports.
Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson was President of Ireland (1990–7) and United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (1997–2002). She is currently Executive Director of the
Ethical Globalization Initiative.
Series editors’ preface

In this first full length book treatment of the ethical issues surrounding youth’s
engagement in sport from a Human Rights perspective, Paolo David breaks new
and important ground. The exploitation of children in sport is critically charted
from its roots in the elite sport systems of Ancient Greece through to the twenty
first century where pressures of commercialisation have forced academics,
coaches, educators, parents and policy makers to view the engagement of chil-
dren in sports with greater gravity.
David’s book is a sophisticated elaboration of the way in which a legally
enforced and universalistic moral language can help us both to detect abuses and
prevent them. The central tool in his armoury is the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child. David comprehensively gathers data on
children’s experiences in sport from a range of social scientific research fields. In
this way, he articulates the economic, psychological and social dimensions of
abuse, exploitation, harassment, neglect and even violence that have at times
characterised children’s engagement in sport, especially at the elite level.
Perhaps the most important contribution of this book to the ongoing debates
about children’s sporting experiences is the clear ethico-legal framework for the
protection and promotion of children’s well-being in sport that it sets out. In
addition to charting the rights that children should enjoy in sports, he also artic-
ulates key obligations or responsibilities that are held, knowingly or otherwise, by
parents, coaches and officials alike. David argues, with considerable force, that
sports organisations and individuals involved in their coaching, teaching and
governance must wake up to the fact that the rights he articulates and contextu-
alises here are not the product of naïve idealism, but rather the a matter of urgent
moral and legal moment.

Mike McNamee, University of Swansea

Jim Parry, University of Leeds
Acknowledgements

This book is the result of a decade of reflection and work on an unexplored issue:
the human rights of young athletes. Its objective is to explore the human rights
dimensions of youth sports and the way these rights are, or are not, respected.
A decade ago I often felt lonely and isolated when debating this issue. It was
simply taboo, in both the human rights and the sport worlds. In this context, I am
indebted to Judge Jean Zermatten who, from the beginning, encouraged me to
persevere in my work on this subject, which he felt was important. My recent, but
crucial, meeting with Professor Celia Brackenridge was decisive in persuading me
to publish this book and I thank her for her support.
Over the past ten years, I have also received the support and advice of many
friends, relatives and colleagues, too numerous to list here. My thanks go to all of
them, but especially to Nigel Cantwell for having introduced me to children’s
rights and for always faithfully supporting my projects. I am also grateful to all
those who convinced me of the importance of human rights, whether through
their knowledge or their behaviour, and who constantly inspired me. They
include Eric de Decker, Massimo Lorenzi, Ricardo Leonardi, Soussan Raadi-
Azarhkhchi, Thomas Hammarberg, Jaap Doek, Theo van Boven and the late
Pierre Dufresne. In particular, I greatly appreciate and acknowledge the support
of Professor Jaap Doek, whose dedicated efforts led to the presentation of this
study as a PhD thesis in law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free
University of Amsterdam).
During her five years as United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (1998–2003), Mrs Mary Robinson demonstrated her immense courage,
competence and commitment to defend the cause of the victims of human rights
violations. I greatly appreciate having had the privilege to work closely with her
on child rights issues and having been inspired by her powerful personality.
I also wish to thank Sue Pfiffner, who had the challenging task of being the
first reader of my manuscript. Her substantive contribution, editorial advice and
cheerful support have been critical.
I will be forever grateful for the love and inexhaustible support of my late
mother Kati David and my wife Jean Milligan. My mother, who was also an
author, taught me the meaning of perseverance, without huge doses of which this
book would certainly never have seen the light of day. She always insisted that
 Acknowledgements xi
many of our perceived limits are simply imposed by our mental barriers, barriers
that each and every one of us can break down if we but dare to try. Finally, with-
out Jean’s patience and support, I would not have been able to complete this book,
the fruit of a long process of reflection and research. Working on this project in
my spare time, mostly early in the morning or late at night, I was fortunate enough
to be able to count on Jean, who was always ready to go that bit further to give me
the time and space I needed. Her ability to provide sound advice, expert guidance
and constructive criticism on the most diverse issues is impressive and often saved
me from total intellectual loneliness. I am grateful to her and to our three chil-
dren, Simon, Emily and Owen, for having been so generous during this adventure.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that the opinions expressed in this book, as
well as any mistakes or misinterpretations, are mine and mine alone.
Geneva, September 2004
Abbreviations

ADR alternative dispute resolution programme for amateur sport

(Canada)
AFC Asian Football Confederation
AFM African Football Management
AIS Australian Institute of Sport
ASA Amateur Swimming Association
ASI Anti-Slavery International
ATP Association de Tennis Professionnel (Professional Tennis
Association)
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
BFC Brazilian Football Confederation
BMA British Medical Association
CAF Confederation of African Football
CAN Canadian Association of National Team Athletes
CAS Court of Arbitration for Sport
CASA National Commission on Sports and Substance Abuse
CAT Convention against Torture
CDDS Committee for the Development of Sport (Council of Europe)
CPSU Child Protection in Sport Unit
DCI Defence for Children International
EFTA European Free Trade Association
ENGSO European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation
EPO erythropoietin
EU European Union
FFT Fédération Française de Tennis (French Tennis Federation)
FGM female genital mutilation
FIFA Fédération Internationale de Football Assocation (International
Football Federation)
FIG International Federation of Gymnastics
FINA Fédération Internationale de Natation (International Swimming
Federation)
FIS International Ski Federation
FIVB International Volleyball Federation
 Abbeviations xiii
FMH Fédération des Médecins Suisses (Swiss Doctors’ Federation)
GDP gross domestic product
GDR German Democratic Republic
GMC General Medical Council (UK)
HCG human chorionic gonadotrophin
HGH human growth hormone
HIV human immunodeficiency virus
IAAF International Athletic Federation
IABA International Amateur Boxing Association
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
IFJ International Federation of Journalists
IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation
ILO International Labour Organization
IMG International Management Group
INSEP Institut national du sport et de l’éducation physique
(French national sports institute)
IOC International Olympic Committee
ISF International Snowboard Federation
ISO International Organization for Standardization
IT information technology
ITF International Tennis Federation
LPGA Ladies’ Professional Golf Association
MLB Major League Baseball
MLS Major League Soccer
NASO National Association of Sports Officials
NATA National Athletic Trainers Association
NBA National Basketball Association
NCAA National Collegiate Athletic Association
NFL National Football League
NFHS National Federation of State High School Associations
NGO non-governmental organization
NHL National Hockey League
NOC-NSF Dutch Olympic Committee and Dutch Sport Federation
NSPCC National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
NYSSF National Youth Sport Safety Foundation
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights
PAYS Parents Association for Youth Sports
PCA Positive Coaching Alliance
STDs sexually transmitted diseases
TAC American Track and Field Federation
TOYA Training of Young Athletes Study
TSSAA Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association
UAE United Arab Emirates
UEFA Union of European Football Associations
xiv Abbreviations
UN United Nations
UNDCCP UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
UNDP UN Development Programme
UNESCO UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF UN Children’s Fund
UN INCB UN International Narcotic Control Board
USOC United States Olympic Committee
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
WADA World Anti-Doping Agency
WHO World Health Organization
WMA World Medical Association
WTA Women’s Tennis Association
Part I
The conceptual frame
1 Introduction

The right policy in regard to physical training is to avoid an excessive early train-
ing, which stunts the proper development of the body … In the lists of Olympic
victors there are only two or three cases of the same person having won in the
men’s events who had previously won in the boys’; and the reason is that early
training and the compulsory exercises which it involved, had resulted in loss of
strength.
(Aristotle 1995: 303)

At a time when the sports world is plagued by excessive commercialization, dop-

ing, corruption, illicit behaviour and blind ambition, can human rights improve
the quality of youth sports and the status of young athletes? This book is a first
attempt to understand the human rights implications of involving children in
competitive sports. It clearly demonstrates that human rights and competitive
sport are closely interwoven, despite the fact that they have ignored each other
for decades. It also reveals that, of all domains, sport is one of the few that has not
yet been penetrated by children’s rights. If we are to understand better how
human rights can improve the protection of all young athletes’ rights, the link
between human rights and sports must be explored attentively.
For the past 30 years, the sports community has to a large extent avoided asking
itself the fundamental questions that emerge from young athletes’ involvement in
elite sports and to which human rights can provide unique guidance and responses.
Questions such as: does participating in competitive sport put children at risk?
Does intensive training qualify as child labour? Is four hours of training a day truly
beneficial for a four-year-old? Is it normal for a 16-year-old gymnast, who has
dropped out of school and trains seven hours a day, to be only 1.30 metres tall and
weigh less than 30 kilograms? Do physical and sexual abuse and anorexia occur
more frequently in sports than in other environments? Should promising young
football or basketball players be harassed by companies who want to put them
under contract or traded between clubs for thousands of dollars without being
properly informed and consulted? Should they be punished for absorbing illegal
performance-enhancing drugs? Do young athletes have a right to privacy and, if so,
what does this amount to?
4 Introduction
Looking at the human rights of young athletes leads us to an unexpected para-
dox: although the issue is becoming increasingly controversial, it has not yet
reached the point where it is openly debated and researched. Many questions are
still taboo, carefully swept under the carpet; others are timidly beginning to
attract polite attention. As yet, we cannot evaluate the beneficial and harmful
aspects of competitive sports for young people, nor do we have the scientific tools
necessary to understand the exact situation across the entire spectrum of human
rights. In some fields, we can evaluate the level of respect for rights; in others, we
rely on speculations or are simply unable to go beyond raising questions.
In addition, both public and sports authorities have so far turned their backs on
the debate concerning the rights-based dimensions of sports. The result is that they
often find themselves paralysed and feel threatened when faced with difficult
issues, and therefore lack the power to react constructively to prevent situations in
which children are put at risk. But human rights law can make a major contribu-
tion to competitive sports by virtue of its legal nature, from which obligations,
responsibility and accountability ensue and which provides objective procedural,
analytical and management tools (Kidd and Donnelly 2000).
Human rights can greatly contribute to improving the quality of support
given to young athletes; competitive sports can in turn reinforce the human
rights system.

CHILD RIGHTS IN SPORTS: ENSURING FUTURE SUCCESS

In 1990, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child1 entered
into force and generated immense hopes for those working for and with children
and adolescents. Obviously, to think that an international human rights treaty
alone would solve all child-related problems was naïve; but it was right to expect
an unprecedented innovative and dynamic approach to young people through
the explicit recognition of their human rights for the first time ever.
The Convention has, for example, helped raise awareness about violations of
children’s rights. Until the late 1980s, authorities still considered reports of such
violations – including sexual abuse and exploitation, child labour, trafficking and
sale, forced military recruitment, early and forced marriages, children living in
poverty, etc. – as false or largely exaggerated. The Convention has generated the
emergence of a loose, but not negligible, child rights community bringing
together individuals – practitioners, activists, lawyers, government officials, aca-
demics and many others – who refer in their daily work to the international
norms and standards it recognizes, which are legally binding in all states of the
world (with the exception of Somalia and the United States). This is partly the
result of the systematic and expert involvement of non-governmental groups,
first in welfare – and later in child rights – programmes and policies (David
1993a).
Since its adoption in 1989 by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly,
the Convention has made an impact on a wide spectrum of groups in society,
 Introduction 5
from families to schools, courts to labour unions, associations to public authori-
ties. But amazingly, one of the few areas – if not the only one – that has yet to
integrate international child rights norms and standards is competitive sports. To
understand why sports authorities have failed to consider the rights of young ath-
letes, we need to look at some long-standing, widespread practices and beliefs in
the sports world.
Part I of this book sets the conceptual framework to explore the signification
of considering competitive sport for young people from a human rights perspec-
tive. Part II questions whether the key principle of the ‘best interests of the child’
is compatible with their early involvement in competitive sports, while Part III
examines the abuse and violence to which children are sometimes victim and
which threaten their integrity and dignity. Part IV explores economic exploita-
tion: whether competitive sport can be considered child labour for some young
athletes, to what extent they are instruments of sport’s commercial interests, and
the occurrence of trafficking and sale of child and adolescent athletes.
Empowering each human being to ensure that they are treated with dignity is a
fundamental human rights principle and Part V analyses whether young athletes
benefit from this basic right. Part VI addresses the responsibilities of adults in
respecting the rights of young athletes and the book concludes in Part VII by sug-
gesting some key measures to improve guaranteeing the human rights of youth in
competitive sport.

POSITIVE IMAGE VERSUS NEGATIVE TRENDS?

With a few exceptions, this book is not based on new research, facts and infor-
mation; rather it suggests a new analysis of competitive sports from an angle that
has so far been neglected: child rights. For, whilst an impressive wealth of
research on the impact of competitive sports and intensive training on young
athletes now exists, we are still incapable of gauging whether and how these ath-
letes benefit from their rights.
Today, the status of children and their living conditions are given more polit-
ical and academic consideration than before and much information on the
subject has become available and is easily accessible. The media is full of stories
of child abuse, sexual molestation, violence, child soldiers, and so on. One con-
sequence of this mass of information is that it is all too easy to believe that never
before have children been treated so badly. But, in fact, the reverse is true: the
further back one goes in history, the lower the level of child care (de Mause 1974;
Fletcher and Hussey 1999). Similarly, in reading this book, the reader might feel
overwhelmed by the magnitude and variety of abusive situations described. This
merits clarification: the book’s focus is limited to the respect of rights and it
therefore emphasizes violation of those rights; consequently, it reflects only one
specific aspect of a wider, more positive context. Also, the sporting world is not
immune (although it often tries to pretend otherwise) to similar phenomena that
affect children outside sports, such as sexual abuse, economic exploitation, etc.
6 Introduction
The mistreatment of children in sports is not new, either. In Ancient Greece,
children took part in sports competitions from an early age, and little attention
was paid to possible negative effects. In the sixth century BC, child athletes, aged
about 12 years old, were selected and sent to sport schools to become professional
athletes. Boys – and also girls in some sports – had to endure intensive training,
follow strict discipline and diets, take drugs and obey the sexual demands of their
trainers. In the fifth century BC, both child and adult athletes changed clubs for a
better salary, even if it meant changing their nationality (Vanoyeke 1992).
Another significant problem is the failure of the human rights and sporting
communities to interact; both are poorly informed of the other’s activities.
Discussion of the rights of athletes often overlooks the human rights of these
individuals, although as abuses come to light, problems such as doping and
labour rights are forcing people to take a hard look at the treatment of athletes.
Finally, as the image of children’s sports is overwhelmingly positive (Coakley
1998: 96–102; Papp and Pristoka 1995), sports institutions, which are tradition-
ally self-regulating and independently financed, have tended to brush aside any
problems and been able to escape formal scrutiny or questions of accountability.
Individual empowerment has never been part of the sporting culture as it has
in, for example, the arts or politics. This is perhaps one of the reasons why the
sports world resists outside examination and reacts negatively to those evoking
the human rights of all athletes, whether children or adults. One example was
the sports community’s reaction to the Bosman case in 1995, in which the
European Court of Justice overturned the European football authorities’ rules in
order to protect footballers’ right to freedom of movement. The European
Union’s image in the eyes of many was irrevocably tarnished.
Rather than viewing critics as disgruntled detractors out to harm the phenom-
enal success of sports in general, sports authorities would do well to accept that
criticism can be constructive and that problems are not taboo. If they do not, they
run the risk of seeing the ideal that sport represents – and its lucrative business
deals – destroyed. Enhancing the promotion and protection of athletes’ human
rights should not be perceived as a threat, but as a way to increase the confidence
of athletes and the general public in the integrity of sporting institutions.

A GROWING AWARENESS

As I repeat elsewhere in this book, researching and understanding this topic was
often a lonely endeavour, especially a decade ago when I began to look at the impli-
cations of children’s rights in sports. It was, however, a subject I felt drawn to, having
experienced – at a modest level – elite competitive sports as an adolescent, before
becoming a sports journalist and then specializing in children’s rights. I began to
view sports from a broader social perspective, using human rights as the basis.
My passion for sports began at a young age, but even as an adolescent, certain
activities troubled me. I was a member of the Swiss under-21 field-hockey team
and was surprised to be given two pills, ‘vitamins’ according to my coach, before
 Introduction 7
an important match. I discreetly discarded the pills, as did a team-mate, although
the other 14 players swallowed them with no qualms. I still have no idea of the
specific ingredients of those tablets or the effect that taking them would have
had. I could not understand how an adult could expect me to swallow pills with-
out proper explanation or discussion. In Switzerland, field hockey was, and is,
very much an amateur sport. If this could happen in field hockey, what about in
more popular or even professional sports?
During my career as a sports journalist, my articles frequently upset the sports
world, which was more accustomed to being honoured than criticized for its
often unethical, sometimes illegal, practices. Suspicion about the illegal use of
performance-enhancing drugs was already widespread but discussion on how to
put a stop to it was non-existent. What shocked me most was the complicity of
much of the media in promoting a distorted picture of professional sports to the
general public and, as sports became big business, many reporters sought to
develop privileged relationships with stars or large corporate sponsors rather than
protect their professional integrity. Later, when I specialized in children’s human
rights, I came to realize how little those rights were given attention and pro-
tected in competitive sports.

AVOIDING THE GREY ZONES

This book does not debate the value of sports competitions nor advocate an end
to them. Competition is a long-standing reality, neither good nor bad. It is a
social process (Martens 1978: 104) involving children and adolescents in which
adults need to enforce proper safeguards to prevent systematic patterns of abuse
and exploitation. Building an ethical and sustainable form of competitive sports
system is not exclusively a human rights matter, but human rights do provide a
theoretical and operative framework, including the critical role of participation,
to address the complex issues raised.
Although insufficient in-depth knowledge and data exist in the field, I would
estimate – very roughly – that some 70 per cent of children involved in compet-
itive sports greatly benefit and are empowered by their activity; 20 per cent are
potentially at risk of different types of abuse, violence and/or exploitation; and
10 per cent are victims of some form of violation of their human rights. This is, of
course, not a scientific estimation; it is an approximate attempt to understand
the global benefits and shortcomings of the sports system for children. In view of
the unprecedented number of children participating in competitive sports, even
if only 1 per cent of them are victims of some kind of abuse, that still represents,
worldwide, tens of thousands of young athletes every year. Numbers such as these
justify mobilization and action. By its very nature, this book focuses essentially
on the 30 per cent of young athletes whose human rights are challenged by com-
petitive sports. My own sports experience was extremely beneficial throughout
my youth and, in my social and professional life today, I still profit from the
knowledge and experience I acquired.
8 Introduction
It is obviously impossible to reach the zero-risk target and avoid all grey zones;
nevertheless, due to the fact that little has been done as yet, a huge potential
exists to improve the struggle against and prevention of child rights violations in
competitive sports. One of the Convention’s main strengths is to provide high
visibility to children and to place them at the centre of decision-making
processes; this is urgently needed in the sports world, where too often adults see
first and foremost the athlete and only afterwards the child.
Competitive sports frequently reveal major tensions between the interests of
the child and those of adults. In sports, the principle of the best interests of the
child should always be a primary consideration, as enshrined in the Convention
on the Rights of the Child (see Chapters 17 and 18). Experience shows that the
measures necessary to guarantee child rights are often wrongly perceived as being
a threat to political and sports authorities and interests. But if they are not prop-
erly addressed today, how will these groups face the possible emergence of the
genetically engineered athlete tomorrow (see Chapter 10)?

NOTES

1 The full text of the Convention on the Rights of the Child can be found in the
Appendix on page 265.
2 A black hole
Absence of debate, data and research

Perhaps never in the history of sport and leisure studies has so much interest [in
sexual abuse in sport] been generated by so few data.
(Brackenridge 2001: 8)

Statistical indicators are a powerful tool in the struggle for human rights …
developing and using indicators for human rights has become a cutting-edge area
of advocacy. Working together, governments, activists, lawyers, statisticians and
development specialists are breaking ground in using statistics to push for change
– in perceptions, policies and practices.
(United Nations Development Programme 2000: 89)

Since the early 1990s, academic and popular literature on the involvement of
children and adolescents in competitive sports has flourished, reflecting the
increased importance given to the practice of sports by young people. Scientific
research from a wide variety of fields, ranging from the medical to the sociolog-
ical, has without doubt contributed to our understanding of the implications
for young athletes of their participation in sports. Popular literature provides
parents and coaches with practical advice on how to improve the quality of ser-
vices given to young athletes and avoid abuses. Despite the amount of
knowledge available, however, studying the human rights of athletes is still
problematic, in part because no tradition of applying human rights to sport has
ever existed.
A particularity of human rights is that – in addition to identifying emerging
issues – it looks at well-known situations from its own specific perspective,
often revealing new dimensions. For example, the human rights community
may not be the only one examining the health status of a population, but it will
do so from a rights-based perspective. The medical community might be satis-
fied with a statistic indicating that 93 per cent of children are immunized in a
specific country. The human rights community will want to study the 7 per
cent remaining in order to understand whether patterns of discrimination pre-
vail. If, among this 7 per cent, it finds that 93 per cent are girls belonging to
indigenous families, the community will signal its concern and try to propose
solutions.
10 A black hole
The same rationale applies to competitive sports. We can find out how many
children join football clubs in a given country, and perhaps the percentage of
young athletes who reach the top and make an adequate living from the sport.
We cannot determine, however, how good the training and supervision are in
sports clubs, nor what happens to those – the majority in this case – who drop out
of the system. In addition, scientific data on prohibited or illegal behaviour or
activities – in the case of sports, these include doping, trafficking and sale of ath-
letes, and physical, psychological or sexual abuse – are poorly documented in part
because they are difficult to gather. But these are precisely the subjects that the
human rights community must examine.
This book covers a multitude of human rights issues; almost all of them could
justify a separate publication. Racial discrimination among young athletes is a
perfect example; it is an issue already addressed in the literature (see Chapter 16)
though rarely from a rights standpoint. Similarly, from a rights perspective, it is
not enough to study in isolation the health status of very young athletes who
train four or five hours a day; rather, their situation with regard to education, dis-
crimination, family and social relations, sponsors, civil rights, etc., also needs to
be taken into consideration. One of the reasons for examining young athletes’
human rights as a whole is to emphasize the principles of interdependence and
indivisibility of all human rights.
Limited awareness about the human rights of young athletes in the context
of competitive sports results logically in limited research and data on the issue
(see Table 2.1 opposite). In turn, awareness is hindered by the weakness of data
collection and research. Some important issues remain entirely undocumented
and, consequently, a number of topics developed in this book are supported
with scarce, fragmentary or, at worst, anecdotal information. In this last case,
no hasty conclusions are provided, rather issues are identified and questions
raised.
Part III of the book, dealing with the physical and psychological integrity of
the athlete, benefits from a substantial body of academic research on health and
sport issues. At national and international levels, a wealth of academic journals
covers almost all health aspects of sports, ranging from psychology to legal and
ethical issues. Whilst these tools are important in assessing to what extent young
athletes enjoy their rights, they are not sufficient. Monitoring children’s rights and
monitoring childhood might require different tools and serve different purposes
(Casas 1996: 49–56). Traditional health indicators and statistics support analysis
about health status, but not necessarily about correctly assessing the exercise of the
right to health. Tools to understand issues such as access, accountability and the
general levels of enjoyment of the right to health – especially by vulnerable and
discriminated groups in the population1 – are still scarce, sometimes non-existent.
A UN expert body considers that four elements need to be addressed when assess-
ing the right to health: availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality (UN
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 2000: para. 12).
Similarly, scientific knowledge and evidence are lacking in other aspects of
human rights in sport. While the academic world has upgraded its work since the
Table 2.1 Child rights violations in competitive sports: scope, knowledge and awareness
Situation Convention Geographical Estimated number Identified in high Empirical research Level of awareness
on the Rights scope of children yearly level and/or mass studies and knowledge
of the Child affecteda sport in societyb
Health-related Article 24 Mainly in the Western world Several thousands High level Since the 1970s Medium
risks of intensive as well as Eastern European
training and some Asian countries
Physical Article 19 Worldwide Several thousands High level and Very scarce still, only Very low
abuse mass sport since the 1990s
Psychological Article 19 Worldwide Several thousands High level Very scarce still, only Very low
abuse and mass sport since the 1990s
Sexual abuse Article 19 Worldwide Several thousands High level and Increasing body of research Low to medium
mass sport since the 1990s
Violence Article 19 Worldwide Unknown High level and Very scarce, mainly Low to medium
mass sport since the 1990s
Doping Article 24 Worldwide Several tens High level and Increasing body of research, Low to medium
of thousands mass sport only since the 1990s
Economic exploitation Article 32 Worldwide Unknown High level Non-existent Non-existent
Trafficking Article 35 Mainly the Americas, Africa, At least 1,000 High level A few isolated studies Almost
and sale Western and Eastern Europe non-existent
Transfers and Article 15 Mainly the Americas, Africa, Unknown High level and Non-existent Non-existent
freedom of association Western and Eastern Europe mass sport
Right to Articles 28 Worldwide Unknown High level and Non-existent Non-existent
education and 29 mass sport
Civil rights and Articles 12 Worldwide Unknown High level and Non-existent Non-existent
freedoms of athletes to 17 mass sport
Discrimination Article 2 Worldwide Tens of thousands High level and Important body of research, Medium
mass sport especially since the 1970s
a Conservative estimates.
b The level of knowledge and awareness in the academic world is obviously higher than in society as a whole, especially with regard to health-related issues.
12 A black hole
1980s in fields such as sport sociology, sport ethics and sport law, human rights is
not directly covered by these new sciences. This suggests that the academic com-
munity needs to involve itself to a far greater extent if we are to understand
holistically the human rights implications of youth competitive sports.
The paucity of existing tools to monitor the rights of young athletes is not
unique to the sports world. Despite the fact that most countries have a central
agency to collect population statistics and data, few are as yet capable of collect-
ing data required to monitor either adequately or, most importantly,
independently all the areas covered by the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 2002). This may be due to a
number of factors: political, technical, budgetary, scientific and cultural.
Most of the information sources used in this book are of North American and
Western European origin simply because a significant number of studies, investi-
gations and media coverage on the general topic of children and sport exist in
these countries, which is not the case in other parts of the world. Therefore, the
fact that a country is or is not mentioned in this book is not intended to reflect in
any way its relative overall achievements in regard to the implementation and
protection of the human rights of young athletes.

MONITORING: THE WINNING WAY

As monitoring and accountability are crucial aspects of the human rights system,
the quality of assessment methods plays a key role in properly determining the
levels of respect for human rights standards and norms. Sound human rights work
is built on reliable information, qualitative and quantitative data, statistical indi-
cators and independent fact-finding, inquiries and research; without them,
improved policies and programmes cannot be designed and progress cannot be
monitored. Set up by the Convention in 1991, the Committee on the Rights of
the Child is an international and independent UN expert body that monitors
progress made by states in implementing the treaty. The Committee (2002: para.
27) stresses the importance of data collection, which is ‘a fundamental prerequi-
site for ensuring sound monitoring of child rights. It is a means of obtaining a
picture of the child population, as well as providing a basis for designing policies
and programmes and evaluating their effectiveness.’ A national review of sport
policy in Australia made the same point:

Without data, it is impossible to make progress (or at least to know if

progress is being made and, if so, whether it bears any resemblance to the
intended outcomes). Without that data, a junior policy will not be accepted
as serious and will, if only unconsciously, be significantly marked down in
the minds of those whose behaviour and attitudes it must ultimately change
to be successful.
(Australian Sports Commission 1999: 9)
 A black hole 13
Identifying human rights indicators still remains a major challenge despite
important efforts undertaken since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in 1948 (Lindholt and Sano 2000: 58). While it is relatively
straightforward to identify, collect and analyse indicators in fields such as birth
registration, immunization, detention or provision of social security, it remains a
challenge to do so on issues such as the feeling of insecurity within a given popu-
lation, the quality of education, respect for cultural values, mental abuse or
violence, the right to food or housing, freedom of expression or religion, or inter-
ference with the right to privacy.
Economic, social and cultural rights are still poorly equipped to be scientifi-
cally monitored (Lindholt and Sano 2000: 57). Nor are civil and political rights
better off – especially when it comes to children: they are often considered a
‘non-measurable’ field (Santos Pais 1996: 142–3). As competitive sports cover
the five main groups of rights (civil, political, economic, social and cultural),
they also suffer when indicators or statistics either do not exist or are insufficient
or inadequate to provide instructive analysis. By their nature, human rights are
not systematically quantifiable:

Rights can never be fully measured merely in statistics: the issue goes far
beyond what can be captured in numbers. But this is true of all uses of statis-
tics. Nevertheless, as a tool for analysis, statistics can open the questions
behind generalities and help reveal the broader social challenges.
(United Nations Development Programme 2000: 90)

Ennew and Miljeteig (1996: 214), among others, argued that:

the Convention [on the Rights of the Child] established rights and condi-
tions that are very difficult to measure, whether in terms of achievement or
violation. In general statistics directly related to childhood are either non-
existent or of limited utility in this context.

The specific rights of children also rely on monitoring tools. Indications that
domestic law, policies and institutions have been reformed in light of the
Convention’s provisions do not suffice to prove that the rights enshrined in the
Convention are enjoyed by everyone under 18 in a specific country. Data, indi-
cators and research are indispensable in understanding the achievements and
limitations encountered by countries in implementing their obligations under
the Convention. In 1992, only a year after its establishment, the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (para. 32) declared that:

the use of appropriate indicators could contribute to a better assessment of

how the rights covered by the Convention on the Rights of the Child were
guaranteed and implemented and to an evaluation of progress achieved over
time towards the full realization of those rights.
14 A black hole
Today, child rights researchers, experts and advocates still struggle to identify sat-
isfactory information tools. After ten years of evaluating countries’ commitments
to child rights, the Committee observed:

Many States have yet to establish mechanisms to collect data of persons

under-18, and covering all the areas of the Convention. Moreover, data dis-
aggregated by various criteria (e.g. sex, age, nationality, etc.) are often
unavailable, as are statistics relating to vulnerable groups of children.
(Committee on the Rights of the Child 2002, para. 27)

Ennew and Miljeteig (1996: 221) noted that:

A vast amount of statistical data that could be collected about children’s

lives – time budgets, economic activities, domestic duties, leisure activities –
simply do not exist. Children are studied with respect to institutions of
childhood, such as schools and families … Statistics are of little use to the
human rights community if not properly disaggregated. Issues such as access,
discrimination and equity are difficult to assess in the absence of a break-
down by groups of population. It is crucial in this context to be capable to
understand to which age, gender, ethnic, social and other groups children
belong. [emphasis added]

No culture of monitoring exists in the sports domain, where authorities tradi-

tionally consider sport to be a private activity that is not open to public scrutiny
and interference. They often perpetuate the same arguments to justify this as
those used in situations where children need to be protected within their family
or community, but in many Western countries, public authorities may interfere
with parents’ right to privacy to protect the best interests of the child.
Very little research has been undertaken to study the effects of intensive train-
ing on child and adolescent athletes, though some progress has been achieved.
McPherson and Brown (1988: 274) considered that: ‘To date, there is little
empirical support for the many beliefs and hypotheses concerning the positive or
negative outcomes for character and personality development that are alleged to
be derived from involvement in competitive sport.’ Coakley (1993: 85) agreed
with this opinion:

Children construct definitions of success and failure primarily through social

interaction during or after practices or games … Unfortunately, these rela-
tionships and what happens in them has been overlooked in nearly all the
research on children in sport. This leaves a large void in our knowledge
about risks and the benefits of intensive training and participation in youth
sports.

The absence of independent monitoring in sports handicaps the capacity of both

private and public authorities to improve service and programme quality and to
 A black hole 15
assess their effectiveness. The Convention sets legally binding obligations upon
all countries, which constitutes the fundamental added value of human rights
over other approaches or measures. Alston (1996: 30) noted that: ‘There is a pre-
sumption that States Parties, in establishing a monitoring mechanism, intended
to establish an effective means for achieving accountability in relation to the
obligations contained in the Convention.’
Neither the sports world nor the human rights community have addressed the
issue of young athletes’ human rights adequately. Debate is practically non-existent
and research by and large unsatisfactory. Those wishing to pursue the accountabil-
ity of private and public authorities with regard to young athletes will only be able
to do so when proper data collection, analysis and monitoring are achieved.

NOTES

1 Such as girls, indigenous and minority groups, children living in poverty or remote
areas, children living in institutional settings, children with disabilities, street chil-
dren, etc.
3 The rule of law enters the sports
arena

It is clear that [European] Community law, and in particular the principle of non-
discrimination, the principle of free movement and the competition rules apply to
sport.
(Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Sports, Culture and Education, in
European Commission 2000)

Rules do not get in the way of the game, they make it possible.
(Rt Revd George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Grayson 2000: 7)

Sport has developed phenomenally since the 1970s and this has had a direct
impact on children. The evolution from amateurism to professionalism, despite
the long and hypocritical resistance of the International Olympic Committee
(IOC), changed the face of sports, as did increased financial, political and media
interests. Improved access to television worldwide brought sports into a new
arena and changed the meaning of winning, not only for athletes but also for
financial, social and political interest groups.
In 1970, Avery Brundage, then IOC president, called for a ban on Alpine ski-
ing, ice hockey, football and basketball in the Olympics because of
commercialization (Arlott 1975: 735). This radical threat did not prevent some
sports from rapidly moving to all-out professionalism, although, until the fall of
Communist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989, the IOC pretended that no
Olympic athlete gained personal profit by competing. Significantly, it was only in
2001 that the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the track and field
world governing body, agreed to drop the word ‘amateur’ from its name, while
leaving the abbreviation, IAAF, unchanged. In 1999, the Council of Europe esti-
mated that 3 per cent of world trade concerned sports, while the European
Commission (1999: 5) evaluated at 2 million the number of jobs created in mem-
ber states by sports activities from 1990 to 1999. Television rights for the 2006
World Cup in Germany are estimated to be worth over US$ 6 billion; in the
1960 Rome Olympic Games, they were sold for US$ 700,000.
Professionalism has undoubtedly permitted athletes to improve the quality of
their preparation and training. But it has also reduced the age of athletes who
 The rule of law enters the sports arena 17
train for and compete in high-level sports. During the 1970s, intensive training
programmes started to be systematically applied to child and adolescent athletes
in sports such as gymnastics, figure skating, diving, football, basketball, ice
hockey, swimming, athletics and tennis.
In gymnastics, for example, the average age of the three best gymnasts in
Europe dropped from 25 years in 1965, to 20 in 1969 and 18 in 1973 (Baumann
1976: 26). At the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, Nadia Comaneci, 1.50 metres
tall and weighing 39 kilos, was only 14 when she won her gold medals and sym-
bolized the birth of ‘baby-trained’ champions. Nowadays, the average age of
female gymnasts participating in senior world championships varies between
16.5 and 17.5 years, although some athletes are much younger when they com-
pete in the adult category1 (Leglise 1997: 8).
Research on the involvement of children in sports has traditionally focused on
their role in and access to sporting activities and the medical implications of such
practice. Only during the 1970s, as youngsters were increasingly perceived as
potential champions and therefore involved in intensive training schemes, did a
few practitioners and researchers go beyond the traditional medical or psycholog-
ical approaches and begin to raise the alarm about abusive situations. Marty
Ralbovsky’s provocative Lords of the locker room (1974), for example, criticized
children’s sports programmes and described coaches as dictators, fanatical about
winning, who encourage cheating and promote blind obedience and warped val-
ues. He asked why ‘no group or individual has come forward to speak out on behalf
of the civil rights of one of America’s largest and most vulnerable minorities:
young athletes’. Ralbovsky was probably the first person to articulate the concept
of young athletes’ human rights and to denounce their violation publicly.
Another major breakthrough was American sports psychologist Rainer
Martens’s Joy and Sadness in Children’s Sports, a key compilation of 36 articles
published in 1978. Although none of the articles explicitly discussed athletes’
human rights, the publication was the first to present a wide range of emerging
issues, such as fanatical behaviour by parents, coaches and sports officials; racism
and violence; excessive pressure; young athletes’ opinions about competitive
sports; and the influence of the media. The book ends with a remarkable and
visionary ‘Bill of Rights of Young Athletes’: ten rights to protect the physical,
social and psychological health of young athletes. Drafted more than ten years
before the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the document
recognized fundamental human rights principles such as non-discrimination,
human dignity, protection from physical abuse, freedom of choice and of opin-
ion, and the specific status of children.
During the 1970s, researchers also discovered precocious intensive training
schemes and new methods to detect potential champions at an early age, mainly
– but not solely – developed under state responsibility in the USSR and its satel-
lite countries in Eastern Europe (Riordan 1980). Although the first sport
‘factories’ were established as early as 1949 in the German Democratic Republic
and in 1962 in the USSR, it was the 1970s that saw an explosion of special sport
schools in most Communist countries. While this system may have allowed
18 The rule of law enters the sports arena
unprecedented access to sport, it remains an abhorrent example of a manifest
state policy which encouraged the manipulation of children and blatant viola-
tion of their fundamental human rights. Forced doping of young athletes,
compulsory and abusive training programmes, and removal from the family envi-
ronment were among the worst abuses recorded in the race for medals and state
prestige (Ungerleider 2001).
It is estimated that between 1970 and 1989, East German officials forced
between 8,000 and 10,000 athletes, many of whom were under 18 years of age, to
take performance-enhancing drugs. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, a number of
high-level officials have been prosecuted and condemned. On 10 February 2000,
for example, the German Supreme Court rejected the appeal against a 1998
court decision by Dr Bernd Pansold, who was for a long time one of the East
German swimming team’s doctors, and convicted him of causing actual bodily
harm in nine doping cases, including to eight minors aged between 13 and 18
years (Haas-Wiss and Holla 2003). As at 30 March 2003 – the deadline for sub-
mitting claims – some 300 East German sportsmen and women had claimed
reparation under a special law which set up a compensation fund for athletes who
experienced health problems caused by the country’s systematic doping system.
Among them, 185 former elite athletes had been granted financial compensation
as of 1 February 2004. Many athletes did not submit a claim, fearing that it would
reopen painful wounds, force them to disclose information about their private
lives and risk damaging their careers (Associated Press 2004).
In the West, critical analysis of children’s involvement in competitive sports
was delayed for at least 20 years largely by cold war rhetoric, even though
Western governments were also engaged, although more subtly, in the blind race
for medals and established their own detection and training systems that are still
questionable today. In 2000, in a court case that is still pending, a judge,
Pierguido Soprani, accused the Italian authorities of financing from 1981 to
1996, through the Italian Olympic Committee, a national medical centre in
Ferrare that researched and administered drugs to elite athletes (Rodeaud 2000).
The end of the cold war (1989) offered new opportunities to question established
sporting methods and policies and their impact on the development of children
and adolescents.

THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: ADDED

VALUE AND AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH

The origins of human rights can be traced back at least as far as England’s Magna
Carta (1215), although this document dealt only with the rights of barons. The
English Habeas Corpus Act (1679), the American Bill of Rights (1791) and the
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) have, among oth-
ers, contributed to a consolidation of the concept of human rights. But the first
international instrument adopted by the international community was the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, although a number of other international
 The rule of law enters the sports arena 19
treaties that were accepted earlier, such as the 1926 Convention against Slavery,
clearly included some human rights elements (Weissbrodt 1988).
International law developed sharply during the twentieth century; this nor-
mative work resulted in the form of treaties, including in the field of human
rights. Seven international legally binding human rights treaties constitute today
the core of the human rights body.2 They impose legal obligations on those states
that have ratified them, and states commit to implement the provisions of the
treaty to which it is party (Steiner and Alston 1996: 31–8, 709). Each of these
seven treaties also establishes an independent and international expert body, ser-
viced by the United Nations, which is mandated to monitor periodically the
implementation of each treaty by states parties.
Human rights can be defined as legal guarantees intending to protect individ-
uals from any form of state interference or negligence resulting in abuse or
neglect. They imply individual entitlements between the duty-bearers (state)
and the rights-holders (individuals). As human rights law is evolving, it is
increasingly accepted that non-state actors can also carry some level of indirect
responsibility to respect human rights (see below). Many consider that there are
three generations of rights (Harris 1991). The ‘first generation’ consists of the
civil and political rights that emphasize individuals’ freedoms, which have tradi-
tionally been given priority by Western states. The ‘second generation’ covers
economic, social and cultural rights, which initially were recognized mainly by
socialist states. The ‘third generation’ emerged during the 1970s and has been
claimed predominantly by developing countries. These rights affirm that, in
addition to the first two generations, collective rights exist that need to be rec-
ognized and enforced. Examples include the right to development and the right
to self-determination. Some believe that human rights are the first universal ide-
ology of human civilization (Weissbrodt 1988).
Human rights aim at offering the possibility to any human being to claim his
or her rights, and when violation occurs, to have access to a fair and impartial
redress procedure. Human rights ideology is composed of several fundamental
pillars. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
considers that five overarching principles are essential to guarantee a rights-
based approach: accountability, empowerment, linkage to human rights treaties,
participation and non-discrimination (OHCHR 2004). These principles imply
other values. For example, accountability also refers to the principle of trans-
parency and to combating impunity.
Child protection and welfare policies are nothing new. But children and ado-
lescents had to wait until 1989 for a full set of their human rights to be
recognized by public authorities. On 20 November 1989, the United Nations
General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Within a
decade, the Convention had been ratified by 192 states, making it the most rati-
fied international treaty in the world. Its norms and standards are therefore
almost universal. The Convention, a legally binding instrument and one of the
seven main international human rights treaties, defines the child as any human
being under 18 years of age, unless domestic law sets a lower age (article 1).
20 The rule of law enters the sports arena
Despite the existence of a legal definition referred to in the Convention, no
unique and absolute definition of childhood exists (Davin 1999). Although
other classifications have been elaborated, Jean Piaget, the pioneer of cognitive
psychology, identified four specific developmental stages from birth to approxi-
mately 16 years (Piaget 2001) that are of interest in the context of sports. The
first stage, which runs from birth to 18 months, is called the motor-sensorial
phase, during which children adapt to life requirements using their practical
intelligence and immediate perception. The second stage, from 18 months to six
years, is the acquisition phase. Children build on what they have learned in the
first stage to construct and increase their knowledge with the support of language
and mental representation. The third phase, called ‘operational’, from seven to
11 years, is the stage when children are able to project themselves in space and
time, although they still need a concrete representation of the object to use their
intelligence to the full. Adolescents aged 12 to 16 years are in the last stage,
called the formal phase, during which they are able to function and think on the
basis of abstract parameters.
The Convention’s adoption was an important benchmark as it moved chil-
dren and adolescents away from old-fashioned welfare and charity policies by
turning needs into legal rights (see Table 3.1), to which all children are entitled
by law irrespective of their social or other status (Freeman 1992a; Verhellen
1992; Cantwell 1998).
Fundamentally, the Convention suggests a new status and role for society’s
youngest members. The child is acknowledged as a fully fledged subject of rights to
whom public authorities are accountable (Verhellen 1992; Newell 1998; David
2002), rather than as a vulnerable individual in need of protection. By ratifying
this legal instrument, states not only recognize that, due to their vulnerability,
children are entitled to special protection measures, they also commit to guaran-
teeing indiscriminate access for all children to a number of provisions (health,
education and other social services) and recognizing their right to participate, in
accordance with their age and maturity, in all decision-making processes. The
right of children to express their opinions freely and have them taken into
account (article 12) is obviously one of the most innovative and challenging
rights recognized by the treaty (Freeman 1992).
The Convention’s ultimate objective is to guarantee sound development and
progressive empowerment of children and adolescents, and it provides a wide
range of safeguards to ensure their protection from all forms of abuse, neglect,
violence and exploitation. By recognizing a young person’s evolving capacity and
legal capacity, the Convention also provides that they can – in accordance with
their age and maturity – exercise their own rights (Hodgkin and Holmberg 2000).
The treaty guarantees young people a progressive autonomy that should develop
in the context of the rights, responsibilities and obligations of parents, or any
other persons in charge of their care (article 5).
The Convention is an international public law treaty. By ratifying it, states
have agreed to reform their legal system accordingly and have committed to
adopt the policies and programmes and establish the institutions and mechanisms
 The rule of law enters the sports arena 21
Table 3.1 From the needs-based to the rights-based approach

Needs-based approach Rights-based approach

Objective Meeting needs Realizing rights
Nature and process Reactive: based on charity Preventive: legal obligations
and paternalistic motivated under domestic law
goodwill, and political
decisions
Potential space for Non-discriminatory and
arbitrary decisions equality guarantees
Status of the child Passive object Subject of rights
Exercise rights, according to
age and maturity.
Recognition of the child
evolving capacities
Universal definitions No guarantee. Definition Universally recognized rights
of needs can vary arbitrarily under international law
due to socio-cultural factors (Convention on the Rights
and considerations of the Child and other inter-
national human rights treaties)
Scope of action Focuses narrowly on specific Wide range of human rights
needs when problems are Holistic and multi-sectoral
identified interdependence and indi-
visibility of social, economic,
cultural, civil and political
rights
Addresses restrictively Addresses rights linked to
child protection issues by child protection, child partici-
addressing situations pation and empowerment
identified as problematic and all other child-related
situations in society
Focus Superficial – emphasizes the Structural – emphasizes the
social and emergency context legal, institutional and policy
context
Accountability Political and moral (at best) Political and legal
No clear identification Clear identification under
between duty-holders law between duty-holders
(obligations) and claim- (obligations) and claim-
holders (entitlements) holders (entitlements)
Empowerment Needs can be meet without Realizing rights empowers
empowering
Unchallenged power Strives towards equal power-
relations sharing
Redress and remedy Arbitrary (no legal basis Access to judicial or non-
guaranteed) judicial redress guaranteed
under law
22 The rule of law enters the sports arena
necessary to ensure that all children and adolescents are able to profit from their
human rights. The Convention reflects the legal principles of indivisibility and
interdependence of all human rights as recognized in the 1993 Vienna Declaration
and Programme of Action. It is the only international human rights treaty cover-
ing in such a comprehensive manner all groups of rights – civil and political as
well as economic, social and cultural (World Conference on Human Rights
1993). Consequently, the Convention needs to be understood as a homogenous
entity; a single provision cannot be implemented or interpreted in complete iso-
lation from all the others, nor can its provisions and principles be properly
implemented if all the others are not respected. This particularity is often
referred to as the holistic approach to human rights (Santos Pais 1996).
The Convention was adopted a little more than a decade ago and it will take at
least a generation before its impact can be fully assessed. The few existing studies,
although instructive, do not provide clear indications of how successful the
Convention has been in protecting children from human rights violations and
guaranteeing freedoms (Lurie 1998; Woll 2000a; Heyns and Viljoen 2002). We can
safely say, however, that it has placed crucial issues that were still negated, ignored
or neglected during the 1980s on the agenda of many politicians, legislators and
administrators. These issues include domestic abuse and violence, economic
exploitation, sexual abuse and exploitation, trafficking and sale, children in deten-
tion, child soldiers, refugee and migrant children, children with disabilities, etc.
The Convention has certainly given force in many countries to the concept of
children capable of progressively exercising their rights. It has also proven to be
an indispensable working tool for anyone working with and for children, provid-
ing meaningful guidance in the proper design and implementation of legislation,
policies and programmes.
The traditional welfare and charity approaches to children’s rights (see Table
3.1, page 21) have given way, under the impetus of the Convention, to a much
wider recognition of the scope of their rights, including:

Accountability
The Convention sets legally binding obligations on public authorities (and their
agents). The child’s care, needs and interests do not, therefore, merely rely on
generosity and political will, but are a right and an obligation established by law.
It provides clear identification between duty-bearers (the state and its agents, and
indirectly those caring for the child) and rights-holders (children).

Normative clarity and detail

The Convention provides a full set of universally recognized norms and standards
that can be applied in any situation and in all social–cultural environments and
are agreed upon by the international community.
It is, nevertheless, recognized that full measurement of the implementation of
rights can fail to give a scientific indication of the level of respect of rights in
 The rule of law enters the sports arena 23
some specific areas (see Chapter 2). At worst, human rights norms and standards
can still serve as useful benchmarks.

Empowerment, ownership and participation

According to their evolving capacities, children are progressively empowered and
recognized as actors with their own rights instead of being simply perceived as
powerless and passive objects in the hands of adults.

Comprehensive and holistic analytical tool

Traditional research on children is usually fragmented, being rarely undertaken
from a multi-sectoral angle. By covering the most essential developmental rights
of children, the Convention frames analysis within a holistic dimension of the
child. In general, the child is examined from a medical, psychological, sociologi-
cal, legal or pedagogical angle, rather than from a holistic approach covering the
child from a multi-disciplinary angle.

Remedy
When guaranteed rights are not enforced, children, or their legal representative,
have a legal basis to complain and claim for redress in or outside the formal judi-
cial setting. However, at a time when almost any disagreement, even of ‘low
intensity’, can end up in a court case, redress and remedies for children and
respect for their rights should first be considered outside of traditional judicial
proceedings and only reach the courts as a last resort.

International scrutiny
In 1991, the Convention established the UN Committee on the Rights of the
Child, an international and independent expert body, which monitors the progress
achieved by all states parties in their efforts to implement the treaty’s provisions
and principles. By ratifying the Convention, states accept the obligation to
report to the Committee periodically and thereby to be under international
scrutiny (Lansdown 2000; Woll 2000b).
The Committee, which began its work in 1993, examines the child rights’ sit-
uation in state parties and adopts recommendations, issues general comments to
help interpret the Convention’s provisions and principles, and identifies patterns
of human rights violations and emerging trends. However, not having been
endowed with an international tribunal’s legal authority, it has to rely on ‘con-
structive dialogue’, expert advice and its moral authority to enforce respect for
the Convention.
The Committee has identified four major principles in the Convention that
should always be taken into account whenever a provision is implemented or
simply referred to: non-discrimination; the best interests of the child; the right to
24 The rule of law enters the sports arena
life, survival and development; and the right of children to express their views
freely in all matters affecting them.

RESPECTING THE RULE OF LAW IN SPORT

Like almost any other activity undertaken in modern society, sport functions
within a recognized legal framework. Whether it is paying a membership fee or a
salary, building a stadium or imposing a sanction, all sport-related actions need to
respect the established rule of law. Nevertheless, during the twentieth century,
sport more or less developed in a legal loophole, with sports federations estab-
lishing their own rules, administrative bodies and tribunals. For a long time, most
sports organizations and authorities believed that they were free from legal oblig-
ations – or even above the law (Grayson 2000: 3).
The sporting movement grew up and matured under the principles of self-
organization and self-regulation, which is perfectly acceptable as long as an
association’s internal rules and practice are defined and applied in conformity
with national and international law. The European Commission (1999b) recog-
nizes the need for sport ‘to keep its operational autonomy safe from any political
or economic manipulation’.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, legal conflicts have occasion-
ally flared up in the sporting world, especially in the field of labour rights
(Dabscheck 2000). But it was mainly during the 1990s that a pattern of legal
conflicts emerged, largely because of the increasing ineffectiveness of sport bod-
ies to regulate their own affairs in a satisfactory manner (Mangan 2000). These
conflicts essentially opposed domestic and international law with rules and deci-
sions enforced by sports federations.
The Reynolds case illustrates the strong resistance of sport organizations to
recognizing and applying legal decisions taken outside of their own internal juris-
diction. In June 1992, American athlete Butch Reynolds was suspended for two
years by the IAAF and the IOC for having absorbed illegal performance-enhanc-
ing drugs. But at the same time, Iowa’s Supreme Court and the American Track
and Field Federation (TAC) pronounced Reynolds innocent. These decisions
resulted in a paradox: Reynolds was allowed to compete at national level but, at
international level, the IAAF and IOC sanction had force of law. Reynolds then
sued the IAAF for loss of gain for the two years he was prohibited from running
outside the United States and for applying unfair sanctions (the IAAF had
declared that any athlete competing with Reynolds in the US would be sanc-
tioned and banned from international races). Although the IAAF retracted the
latter sanction, Reynolds won his case at the US Supreme Court and the IAAF
was condemned to pay almost US$ 7 million for loss of gain and more than US$
20 million in compensation. The IAAF refused to pay, but the US Supreme
Court confiscated the fine from IAAF’s US-based sponsors (Mack 1995).
Another example is the ‘Bosman ruling’. In 1995, the European Court of
Justice ruled that the transfer regulations imposed upon football players by the
 The rule of law enters the sports arena 25
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the International
Football Federation (FIFA) violated articles 48, 85 and 86 of the Rome Treaty
(1957) by severely restricting the fundamental right of freedom of movement of
citizens. UEFA was obliged to adapt its regulations to comply with European law
and to allow European football players to play in any European club. This judge-
ment was a key decision in that, in situations of conflict, it clearly reiterated the
superiority of international law over internal sports regulations and reaffirmed
the undeniable dimension of human rights in the sports domain.
Although the first sports case was put before the European Court of Justice in
1974, it is only since the Bosman ruling that the European Union (EU) has been
seriously involved in the sporting world. The European Commission stated in
1999 that:

Provisions in the EC Treaty [Amsterdam Treaty], secondary legislation,

Community policies and decisions have increasing impact on sporting prac-
tices and activities. These developments have caused a number of problems
for sport in Europe … The increase in the number of [legal] actions also
reveals that there is a gap between the real world of sports and its regulatory
framework.
(European Commission 1999a: 1)

It further affirmed (1999: 7) that:

While the [Amsterdam] Treaty contains no specific provisions on sport,3 the

Community must nevertheless ensure that the initiatives taken by the
national State authorities or sporting organisations comply with
Community law, including competition law, and respect in particular the
principles of the internal market (freedom of movement of workers, freedom
of establishment and freedom to provide services, etc.).

In a system strongly based on self-regulation, the rule of law in sports protects

athletes from any form of abuse generated by unfair rules or decisions by sport
organizations. In the past ten years, athletes have sought to uphold their rights in
three main areas: transfers from one club to another, including labour rights; dis-
ciplinary sanctions and the right to due and fair process4 (in particular, athletes
often have difficulties in ensuring that their right to appeal is upheld); and access
to justice. Other issues have also reached the courts recently, including matters
related to sexual abuse, freedom of association and doping.
Sports organizations, afraid of losing both control and power, have in general
been reluctant to allow any litigation to reach the courts. Sports federations have
long operated in an authoritarian manner and have been qualified by the EU’s
sports commissioner as functioning in a ‘defensive shell’ (European Commission
2000a: 3). In an attempt to prevent the intrusion of civil and penal law into
sports and to deal with ever-increasing lawsuits, the IOC established the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 1983. But from the start the court was seriously
26 The rule of law enters the sports arena
criticized for its lack of independence. Indeed, until overwhelming criticism led
to a full review of its status in 1994, the CAS was not only financed by the IOC,
but its members (judges) were nominated by the IOC itself.
Until the mid-1990s, some sports organizations included in their by-laws a pro-
vision prohibiting a club or an athlete from bringing any matter before the
jurisdiction of a civil or penal court, threatening them with exclusion if they did
not respect this interdiction. Some federations, such as the IAAF, even considered
life suspension for any athlete seeking judicial remedies (Blanpain 1993: 162).
During the 1990s, the CAS did become more independent and certainly
proved its worth. But, contrary to the wishes of several international sports bod-
ies, it did not become the sole mechanism for athletes to appeal against sanctions
imposed by sports federations. This was confirmed in 2002 when the Tribunal
cantonal vaudois (Vaud cantonal court), a civil court in Switzerland under whose
jurisdiction UEFA falls, ruled in a case between the Dutch football star Frank de
Boer and UEFA regarding a sanction imposed by the latter for doping (Le Temps
2002).

THE CONVENTION AND SPORTS

The Convention on the Rights of the Child does not include any direct refer-
ence to sports. Even during the treaty’s long and laborious drafting process, no
one ever suggested debating the issue of competitive sports and its impact on
children’s human rights (Detrick 1992). This was due to the positive image of
sports, a lack of awareness within governmental circles and the absence of advo-
cacy groups in this field. Sport is one of the few situations frequently encountered
by children that is not directly reflected in the Convention, even though it is the
international human rights treaty that covers by far the widest range of issues.
The Convention’s strength, however, is that it clearly suggests links with prac-
tically any situation. Of its 42 substantive provisions, 37 are of direct relevance to
child athletes. They include:

● the right to non-discrimination (article 2);

●
the principle of the best interests of the child (article 3);
●
the right to be provided appropriate direction and guidance (article 5);
●
the right to development (article 6);
● the right to an identity and nationality (article 7);
● the right not to be separated from their parents (article 9);
●
the right to have their views taken into account (article 12);
●
freedom of expression and association (articles 13 and 15);
●
protection of privacy (article 16);
● the right to access appropriate information (article 17);
●
protection from abuse and neglect and other forms of violence (article 19);
●
the right to health (article 24);
●
the right to education (articles 28 and 29);
 The rule of law enters the sports arena 27
●
the right to rest, leisure, recreation and cultural activities (article 31);
●
the right to be protected from economic exploitation (article 32), illegal
drugs (article 33), sexual exploitation (article 34), abduction, trafficking and
sale (article 35), and other forms of exploitation (article 36);
●
the right to benefit from rehabilitative care (article 39); and
●
the right to due and fair process (article 40).

Increasingly the human rights community is realizing that private for- and non-
profit associations – including private sports entities – can have some obligations
under legally binding international human rights treaties (Clapham 1993, 1995;
Addo 1999; International Council on Human Rights Policy 2002). This level of
responsibility is sometimes referred to as the ‘horizontal effect’, i.e., the effect
that human rights have on relations between private parties, as opposed to the
effect they have on the vertical level between the individual and the state
(Detrick 1999: 31). The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2002b,
para. 653) considers that states

… have a legal obligation to respect and ensure the rights of children as

stipulated in the Convention, which includes the obligation to ensure that
non-State service providers operate in accordance with its provisions, thus
creating indirect obligations on such actors. [emphasis added]

Another UN expert body distinguishes three fundamental types of obligations

under international human rights law: the obligation to respect rights requires
states to refrain from interfering directly or indirectly with people’s enjoyment of
their human rights; the obligation to protect requires states to take measures that
prevent third parties from interfering with human rights; and the obligation to
fulfil requires states to adopt appropriate legislative, administrative, budgetary,
judicial, promotional and other measures towards the full realization of human
rights (UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 2000: para. 33;
UN Development Programme 2000: 93). These three fundamental type of oblig-
ations also apply to all sports authorities and organizations (see Figure 3.1).
State authorities are responsible for guaranteeing children’s human rights and
are directly accountable under domestic and international law. Responsibility
cascades down from the top, so other stakeholders have some liability under the
Convention. Therefore, sports bodies, whether publicly subsidized or privately
managed, and all adults in charge of the care of children, are also accountable.
The Convention clearly engages non-state actors as it recognizes in article 18
that parents (or legal guardians) have the primary responsibility for the upbring-
ing and development of the child, with the necessary support of the state, and
that the best interest of the child will be their basic concern. Parents’ rights,
duties and responsibilities are recognized in article 5, but article 19 requires that
states take all measures to protect the child, should parents fail to protect their
child’s rights.
28 The rule of law enters the sports arena
Public authorities
(State)

Parents

Respect (refrain)
Fulfil (take measures)

Private institutions Sport authorities

(i.e. sport training centres)

Protect (prevent)

Coaches Managers

Protect (prevent) Protect (prevent)

Young athletes

Figure 3.1 Convention on the Rights of the Child: human rights obligations

POLITICAL INERTIA

If the European Court of Justice, the Council of Europe and the EU have taken
the protection of some of the human rights of athletes seriously, other regional
and international political bodies have remained remarkably discreet. Neither
the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Court of Justice nor the
Commission on Human and People’s Rights of the Organization for African
Unity (now called the African Union) have seriously addressed such issues. The
UN Commission on Human Rights has not done much better, adopting a resolu-
tion in 1996 on the ‘Olympic Ideal’ which reaffirmed the ‘mutually beneficial
cooperation between the IOC and the UN’, and paying lip-service to non-dis-
crimination in sports (UN Commission on Human Rights 1996).
 The rule of law enters the sports arena 29
The seven UN human rights treaty bodies (established by the related human
rights treaties), including the Committee on the Rights of the Child, have never
addressed athletes’ human rights violations systematically, even though this
would fit perfectly into their monitoring mandate. This is probably due to the
overwhelmingly positive image of sport in these international forums, as well as
to the fact that, with a single exception, no major human rights treaty refers
directly to sports5 and that there are no independent advocacy groups active at
the international level in this field. The only sport-related treaty adopted by the
UN General Assembly (resolution 40/64) was the 1985 International
Convention Against Apartheid in Sports, which banned all South African
teams and athletes in order to combat racial discrimination in sports and prohib-
ited contact between non-South African athletes, teams and officials and those
competing under the apartheid regime.
To promote and protect the rights of young athletes adequately, the
Convention’s standards and norms need to be fully integrated into all sporting
rules, by-laws, regulations, administrative and court decisions, policies and pro-
grammes and at local, national, regional and international levels.
In 1979 already, the Council of Europe proposed a European Charter on the
Rights of the Child whose contents were both forward-looking and innovative.
Although the Charter did not cover as wide a spectrum of rights as the
Convention, the text it proposed included a visionary provision on sports. At a
time when the concept of children’s human rights was ignored if not rejected by
most states and contrary to other treaties, which refer mainly to access to mass
sports, the proposed Charter focused on abuse and exploitation issues in compet-
itive sports and stressed related civil rights issues. It declared that:

a. It should be ensured that high performance sports remain a voluntary

undertaking, that no coercion of any sort be indulged in and that human
dignity be respected at all time; b. To reduce health hazards and educational
disadvantages, regulations should be introduced in training methods and
training periods; c. Supervision should be exercised on the use of certain
drugs which can prematurely stop growth or affect sexual development; drug
detection tests during competition ought to be increased; d. The possibility
for handicapped children to participate in sporting activities should be
improved.
(Council of Europe 1979: para. 17)

Although the Charter was never adopted, it had a significant impact on the
growing recognition of children’s human rights during the 1980s. It also influ-
enced the drafting of the Convention, although the Charter’s specific provisions
regarding the rights of children in sports were, regrettably, lost in this process. No
significant international child rights treaty has since been as explicit in its text in
relation to the rights of child and adolescent athletes.
30 The rule of law enters the sports arena
NOTES

1 However, when Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina won the 2001 world champi-
onship, she was 22 years old and 1.64 metres tall. Dutch gymnast, Verona van de Leur,
aged 15 years 10 months, was the youngest participant at this competition.
2 In addition to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the other six major
human rights treaties are the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965); the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (1966); the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (1966); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (1979); the Convention against Torture (1984); and the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families (1990).
3 In 1997, however, the Intergovernmental Conference set up to revise the Maastricht
Treaty did adopt a brief declaration on sport which recognized its specificities and was
annexed to the Amsterdam Treaty.
4 See the definition of the ‘right to due and fair process’ in article 14 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (available at
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_ccpr.htm).
5 Only the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (1979) refers in its article 10 to sports: ‘States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal
rights with men in the field of education and in particular to ensure, on a basis of
equality of men and women: … (g) the same opportunities to participate actively in
sports and physical education.’
Part II
In the best interests of the child?
4 Winning at any cost

Winning isn’t everything – it’s the only thing.

(Vince Lombardi, former American football coach, in CASA 2000: ii)

Competitive sport begins where healthy sports end.

(Bertolt Brecht, German author, 1928: 145)

It is widely accepted that the practice of sports is beneficial to children and ado-
lescents and has a positive impact on their physical, mental, psychomotor and
social development (Bouchard et al. 1994; Metzl 2002: 3–16). Sport can help
young people to become more confident and progressively more autonomous,
evaluate their own progress and set objectives. It reinforces their self-esteem and
concentration, and teaches them to discipline themselves, work in a team and
handle defeat and victory, as well as encouraging fair play and socialization.
The medical world largely sees sport as a favourable activity for children’s
physical and mental well-being (Pellegrini and Smith 1998) and as essential for
the prevention of health problems (Alpert and Wilmore 1994). In addition,
sport is almost unique in that it encourages the integration of children, including
those with disabilities, of all social, cultural and ethnic origins and is an instru-
ment to promote gender equality.
If sport in general is widely considered a beneficial leisure activity, many spe-
cialists agree that competitive sports are not necessarily healthy for young people.
‘Health is not the objective of competition; it’s winning,’ said Lucio Bizzini, a for-
mer Swiss football star and today a sports psychologist (Télévision Suisse
Romande 2000). In July 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a
policy statement on the seriousness of the health-related risks of intensive train-
ing and competitive sports for young people, and qualified children engaged in
these activities as ‘at-risk populations’.
Even public authorities are beginning to consider that sports may potentially
present harmful side effects. ‘For the first time our region has ceased to regard
sport as a health-related factor, and instead considered it as an activity linked to
risk behaviour,’ said an Italian academic involved in state-sponsored research on
doping in sports (Solerti 2000: 69).
34 Winning at any cost
Once the fact that risk factors do exist in competitive sports has been accepted,
they should be carefully identified and evaluated. The human rights framework
can be of use in analysing these factors and can help to avoid unfounded and
excessive judgements. The definition of risk, too, is often based on subjective cri-
teria, as Frank Furedi, a British sociologist, pointed out (2000: 8–9):

Virtually every aspect of life today is seen as inherently dangerous, whether

it relates to health, food, technology, the environment, the Internet or per-
sonal relationships … The new concept of being ‘at risk’ lays emphasis on
vulnerability and denies human beings their capacity for resilience …
Immunising children to risk makes them more vulnerable to danger: they
never learn to handle and to manage those factors.

Scientific evaluations of the economic impact of sport on society are still very
scarce. In Switzerland, government institutions and a national health insurance
plan published an official study in 2001, which estimated the direct and indirect
economic benefits of sporting activities on health in the country at approxi-
mately 2.4 billion euros. It also revealed that the ‘cost’ of sports, mainly due to
expenses related to accidents, amounted to 2 billion euros (Government of
Switzerland 2001).
For the purpose of this book, competitive sport is broadly defined as any phys-
ical activity whose main objective, for participants, is victory. Such activity is
practised by amateur or professional athletes and organized by a defined, struc-
tured and recognized authority. It takes place in an environment strictly codified
by established rules. Although there is no standard definition of elite sports, it
can be considered to include young athletes who train a minimum of one to two
hours a day, at least five days a week. Amateur and professional levels are closely
interwoven, with the vast majority of the sporting world’s elite having been ama-
teur athletes at some point in their career.
Competitive sports are not systematically harmful to health and they can be
practised safely by talented young athletes, as long as appropriate safeguards are
in place. Many children are gifted in a particular field – whether sports, arts,
music or another subject – that they can develop in a conducive environment
and if they are properly encouraged by adults. Children with a talent for sports
have the right to expect support and guidance from their community. The
Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms in article 29(a) that: ‘States
Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to: (a) the develop-
ment of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest
potential’ (emphasis added).
To avoid becoming frustrated in ‘regular’ schools and to nurture their excep-
tional talent, gifted children are often placed in special schools and/or training
centres. Sports stars such as Steffi Graf, Boris Becker, Dominique Monceanu, Ian
Thorpe, Marion Jones, Michael Owen, Marco van Basten, Michael Jordan,
Martina Hingis, and Serena and Venus Williams all left the standard education
system at an early age to join special training and educational programmes. But,
 Winning at any cost 35
although these intensive sports programmes are intended to help young athletes
progress, in reality they often put the children at risk as they are expected to
accept great sacrifices to attain outstanding results rapidly (see Chapter 12). The
Dutch football club Ajax Amsterdam, for example, is famous for ‘producing’ tal-
ented players and, for decades, its trainers have hammered home their motto: ‘At
Ajax, we are never satisfied’ (Van Wijnen 2000: 9).

NEVER ENOUGH MEDALS

Elite youth sport often claims to respond to the needs and wishes of children. Far
too often, however, it exists largely to satisfy adults. Even more than their peers,
children involved in competitive sports grow up in a world dominated by adults
with little space for freedom, self-initiative and creativity. Adults – parents,
coaches and trainers, officials, managers and agents, journalists and sponsors –
control competitive sports at all levels. They each have their own set of interests.
Parents often live their own, sometimes frustrated, ambitions through their chil-
dren or hope their success will alleviate financial burdens (Donnelly 1993: 102;
Tofler et al. 1996: 281). Coaches and trainers need to justify their involvement
and often prepare their professional future by obtaining successful results.
Officials have to achieve satisfactory results to ensure the sustainability of their
organization and, ultimately, of their sport. Career managers and agents need to
get a return on their investment. The media wants positive results to ensure suc-
cessful television ratings and print sales, while the sports goods industry
speculates on attractive events and successful athletes to gain high visibility to
market their products.
Competitive sports also have great political significance despite the end of the
cold war (1989) and the dissolution of the East–West race for results and pres-
tige. With victories being a source of great pride in most countries, sport has long
been politicized. A few months before the Sydney Olympic Games (2000),
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, promised victorious Belorussian
athletes:

Just produce the results and you’ll have an apartment and thousands of dol-
lars and you’ll be able to provide for yourself for the rest of your life. I’ll buy
you anything you need, be it guns, boats, swimming trunks, undershorts. But
God forbid if I hear any complaints or questions on the eve of your departure
for Sydney. If you get good results, I’ll have the grounds to reward you …
(Associated Press 1999f)

In elite sports, many trainers or officials, whose expectations are often very high,
do not tolerate lack of achievement by child or adult athletes. When French fig-
ure skaters did not win any medals during the 2001 European championships,
Didier Gailhaguet, president of the French Skating Federation, complained: ‘I
am fed up. We have created an environment that leads to performance. Athletes
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 LETTER III.
METAMORPHOSES OF INSECTS.
Were a naturalist to announce to the world the discovery of an animal which for
the first five years of its life existed in the form of a serpent; which then
penetrating into the earth, and weaving a shroud of pure silk of the finest
texture, contracted itself within this covering into a body without external
mouth or limbs, and resembling more than any thing else an Egyptian mummy;
and which, lastly, after remaining in this state without food and without motion
for three years longer, should at the end of that period burst its silken
cerements, struggle through its earthy covering, and start into day a winged
bird,—what think you would be the sensation excited by this strange piece of
intelligence? After the first doubts of its truth were dispelled, what
astonishment would succeed! Amongst the learned, what surmises!—what
investigations! Amongst the vulgar, what eager curiosity and amazement! All
would be interested in the history of such an unheard-of phenomenon; even
the most torpid would flock to the sight of such a prodigy.
But you ask, "To what do all these improbable suppositions tend?" Simply to
rouse your attention to the metamorphoses of the insect world, almost as
strange and surprising, to which I am now about to direct your view,—miracles,
which, though scarcely surpassed in singularity by all that poets have feigned,
and though actually wrought every day beneath our eyes, are, because of their
commonness, and the minuteness of the objects, unheeded alike by the
ignorant and the learned.
That butterfly which amuses you with its aërial excursions, one while extracting
nectar from the tube of the honeysuckle, and then, the very image of
fickleness, flying to a rose as if to contrast the hue of its wings with that of the
flower on which it reposes—did not come into the world as you now behold it.
At its first exclusion from the egg, and for some months of its existence
afterwards, it was a worm-like caterpillar, crawling upon sixteen short legs,
greedily devouring leaves with two jaws, and seeing by means of twelve eyes
so minute as to be nearly imperceptible without the aid of a microscope. You
now view it furnished with wings capable of rapid and extensive flights: of its
sixteen feet ten have disappeared, and the remaining six are in most respects
wholly unlike those to which they have succeeded; its jaws have vanished, and
are replaced by a curled-up proboscis suited only for sipping liquid sweets; the
form of its head is entirely changed,—two long horns project from its upper
surface; and, instead of twelve invisible eyes, you behold two, very large, and
composed of at least twenty thousand convex lenses, each supposed to be a
distinct and effective eye!
Were you to push your examination further, and by dissection to compare the
internal conformation of the caterpillar with that of the butterfly, you would
witness changes even more extraordinary. In the former you would find some
thousands of muscles, which in the latter are replaced by others of a form and
structure entirely different. Nearly the whole body of the caterpillar is occupied
by a capacious stomach. In the butterfly this has become converted into an
almost imperceptible thread-like viscus; and the abdomen is now filled by two
large packets of eggs, or other organs not visible in the first state. In the
former, two spirally-convoluted tubes were filled with a silky gum; in the latter,
both tubes and silk have almost totally vanished; and changes equally great
have taken place in the economy and structure of the nerves and other organs.
What a surprising transformation! Nor was this all. The change from one form
to the other was not direct. An intermediate state not less singular intervened.
After casting its skin even to its very jaws several times, and attaining its full
growth, the caterpillar attached itself to a leaf by a silken girth. Its body greatly
contracted: its skin once more split asunder, and disclosed an oviform mass,
without exterior mouth, eyes, or limbs, and exhibiting no other symptom of life
than a slight motion when touched. In this state of death-like torpor, and
without tasting food, the insect existed for several months, until at length the
tomb burst, and out of a case not more than an inch long, and a quarter of an
inch in diameter, proceeded the butterfly before you, which covers a surface of
nearly four inches square.
Almost every insect which you see has undergone a transformation as singular
and surprising, though varied in many of its circumstances. That active little fly,
now an unbidden guest at your table[85], whose delicate palate selects your
choicest viands, one while extending his proboscis to the margin of a drop of
wine, and then gaily flying to take a more solid repast from a pear or a peach;
now gamboling with his comrades in the air, now gracefully currying his furled
wings with his taper feet,—was but the other day a disgusting grub, without
wings, without legs, without eyes, wallowing, well pleased, in the midst of a
mass of excrement.
The "grey-coated gnat," whose humming salutation, while she makes her airy
circles about your bed, gives terrific warning of the sanguinary operation in
which she is ready to engage, was a few hours ago the inhabitant of a stagnant
pool, more in shape like a fish than an insect. Then to have been taken out of
the water would have been speedily fatal; now it could as little exist in any
other element than air. Then it breathed through its tail; now through openings
in its sides. Its shapeless head, in that period of its existence, is now
exchanged for one adorned with elegantly tufted antennæ, and furnished,
instead of jaws, with an apparatus more artfully constructed than the cupping-
glasses of the phlebotomist—an apparatus which, at the same time that it
strikes in the lancets, composes a tube for pumping up the flowing blood.
The "shard-born beetle," whose "sullen horn," as he directs his "droning flight"
close past your ears in your evening walk, calling up in poetic association the
lines in which he has been alluded to by Shakespear, Collins, and Gray, was not
in his infancy an inhabitant of air; the first period of his life being spent in
gloomy solitude, as a grub, under the surface of the earth.—The shapeless
maggot, which you scarcely fail to meet with in some one of every handful of
nuts you crack, would not always have grovelled in that humble state. If your
unlucky intrusion upon its vaulted dwelling had not left it to perish in the wide
world, it would have continued to reside there until its full growth had been
attained. Then it would have gnawed itself an opening, and having entered the
earth, and passed a few months in a state of inaction, would at length have
emerged an elegant beetle furnished with a slender and very long ebony beak:
two wings, and two wing-cases, ornamented with yellow bands; six feet; and in
every respect unlike the worm from which it proceeded.
That bee—but it is needless to multiply instances. A sufficient number has been
adduced to show, that the apparently extravagant supposition with which I set
out may be paralleled in the insect world; and that the metamorphoses of its
inhabitants are scarcely less astonishing than would be the transformation of a
serpent into an eagle.
These changes I do not purpose explaining minutely in this place: they will be
adverted to more fully in subsequent letters. Here I mean merely to give you
such a general view of the subject as shall impress you with its claims to
attention, and such an explanation of the states through which insects pass,
and of the different terms made use of to designate them in each, as shall
enable you to comprehend the frequent allusions which must be made to them
in our future correspondence.
The states through which insects pass are four: the egg; the larva; the pupa;
and the imago.
The first of these need not be here adverted to. In the second, or immediately
after the exclusion from the egg, they are soft, without wings, and in shape
usually somewhat like worms. This Linné called the larva state, and an insect
when in it a larva, adopting a Latin word signifying a mask, because he
considered the real insect while under this form to be as it were masked. In the
English language we have no common term that applies to the second state of
all insects, though we have several for that of different tribes. Thus we call the
coloured and often hairy larvæ of butterflies and moths caterpillars; the white
and more compact larvæ of flies, many beetles, &c. grubs or maggots[86]; and
the depressed larvæ of many other insects worms. The two former terms I
shall sometimes use in a similar sense, rejecting the last, which ought to be
confined to true vermes; but I shall more commonly adopt Linné's term, and
call insects in their second state, larvæ[87].
In this period of their life, during which they eat voraciously and cast their skin
several times, insects live a shorter or longer period, some only a few days or
weeks, others several months or years. They then cease eating; fix themselves
in a secure place; their skin separates once more and discloses an oblong body,
and they have now attained the third state of their existence.
From the swathed appearance of most insects in this state, in which they do
not badly resemble in miniature a child trussed up like a mummy in swaddling
clothes, according to the barbarous fashion once prevalent here, and still
retained in many parts of the continent; Linné has called it the pupa state, and
an insect when under this form a pupa;—terms which will be here adopted in
the same sense. In this state, most insects eat no food; are incapable of
locomotion; and if opened seem filled with a watery fluid, in which no distinct
organs can be traced. Externally, however, the shape of the pupæ of different
tribes varies considerably, and different names have been applied to them.
Those of the beetle and bee tribes are covered with a membranous skin,
inclosing in separate and distinct sheaths the external organs, as the antennæ,
legs, and wings, which are consequently not closely applied to the body, but
have their form for the most part clearly distinguishable. To these Aristotle
originally gave the name of nymphæ[88], which was continued by
Swammerdam and other authors prior to Linné, who calls them incomplete
pupæ, and has been adopted by many English writers on insects[89].
Butterflies, moths, and some of the two-winged tribe, are in their pupa state
also inclosed in a similar membranous envelope; but their legs, antennæ, and
wings, are closely folded over the breast and sides; and the whole body
inclosed in a common case or covering of a more horny consistence, which
admits a much less distinct view of the organs beneath it. As these pupæ are
often tinged of a golden colour, they were called from this circumstance
chrysalides by the Greeks, and aureliæ by the Romans, both which terms are in
some measure become anglicized; and though not strictly applicable to
ungilded pupæ, are now often given to those of all lepidopterous insects[90].
These by Linné are denominated obtected pupæ[91].
I have said that most insects eat no food in the pupa state. This qualification is
necessary, because in the metamorphoses of insects, as in all her other
operations, nature proceeds by measured steps, and a very considerable
number (the tribe of locusts, cockroaches, bugs, spiders, &c.) not only greatly
resemble the perfect insect in form, but are equally capable with it of eating
and moving. As these insects, however, cast their skins at stated periods, and
undergo changes, though slight, in their external and internal conformation,
they are regarded also as being subject to metamorphoses. These pupæ may
be subdivided into two classes: first, those comprised, with some exceptions,
under the Linnean Aptera, which in almost every respect resemble the perfect
insect, and were called by Linné complete pupæ; and secondly, those of the
Linnean order Hemiptera, which resemble the perfect insect, except in having
only the rudiments of wings, and to which the name of semi-complete pupæ
was applied by Linné, and that of semi-nymphs by some other authors[92].
There is still a fifth kind of pupæ, which are not, as in other instances, excluded
from the skin of the larva, but remain concealed under it, and were hence
called by Linné coarctate pupæ. These, which are peculiar to flies and some
other dipterous genera, may be termed cased-nymphs[93].
When, therefore, we employ the term pupa, we may refer indifferently to the
third state of any insect, the particular order being indicated by the context, or
an explanatory epithet. The terms chrysalis, (dropping aurelia, which is
superfluous,) nymph, semi-nymph, and cased-nymph, on the other hand
definitely pointing out the particular sort of pupa meant: just as in Botany, the
common term pericarp applies to all seed-vessels, the several kinds being
designated by the names of capsule, silicle, &c.
The envelope of cased-nymphs, which is formed of the skin of the larva,
considerably altered in form and texture, may be conveniently called the
puparium[94]: but to the artificial coverings of different kinds, whether of silk,
wood, or earth, &c. which many insects of the other orders fabricate for
themselves previously to assuming the pupa state, and which have been called
by different writers, pods, cods, husks, and beans, I shall continue the more
definite French term cocon, anglicized into cocoon[95].
After remaining a shorter or longer period, some species only a few hours,
others months, others one or more years, in the pupa state, the inclosed insect,
now become mature in all its parts, bursts the case which inclosed it, quits the
pupa, and enters upon the fourth and last state.
We now see it (unless it be an apterous species) furnished with wings, capable
of propagation, and often under a form altogether different from those which it
has previously borne—a perfect beetle, butterfly, or other insect. This Linné
termed the imago state, and the animal that had attained to it the imago;
because, having laid aside its mask, and cast off its swaddling bands, being no
longer disguised or confined, or in any respect imperfect, it is now become a
true representative or image of its species. This state is in general referred to
when an insect is spoken of without the restricting terms larva or pupa.
Such being the singularity of the transformations of insects, you will not think
the ancients were so wholly unprovided with a show of argument as we are
accustomed to consider them, for their belief in the possibility of many of the
marvellous metamorphoses which their poets recount. Utterly ignorant as they
were of modern physiological discoveries, the conversion of a caterpillar into a
butterfly, must have been a fact sufficient to put to a nonplus all the sceptical
oppugners of such transformations. And however we may smile in this
enlightened age at the inference drawn not two centuries ago by Sir Theodore
Mayerne, the editor of Mouffet's work on insects, "that if animals are
transmuted so may metals[96]," it was not, in fact, with his limited knowledge
on these subjects, so very preposterous. It is even possible that some of the
wonderful tales of the ancients were grafted on the changes which they
observed to take place in insects. The death and revivification of the phœnix,
from the ashes of which, before attaining its perfect state, arose first a worm
(σκωληξ), in many of its particulars resembles what occurs in the
metamorphoses of insects. Nor is it very unlikely that the doctrine of the
metempsychosis took its rise from the same source. What argument would be
thought by those who maintained this doctrine more plausible in favour of the
transmigration of souls, than the seeming revivification of the dead chrysalis?
What more probable, than that its apparent reassumption of life should be
owing to its receiving for tenant the soul of some criminal doomed to animate
an insect of similar habits with those which had defiled his human
tenement[97]?
At the present day, however, the transformations of insects have lost that
excess of the marvellous, which might once have furnished arguments for the
fictions of the ancients, and the dreams of Paracelsus. We call them
metamorphoses and transformations, because these terms are in common use,
and are more expressive of the sudden changes that ensue than any new ones.
But, strictly, they ought rather to be termed a series of developments. A
caterpillar is not, in fact, a simple but a compound animal, containing within it
the germ of the future butterfly, inclosed in what will be the case of the pupa,
which is itself included in the three or more skins, one over the other, that will
successively cover the larva. As this increases in size these parts expand,
present themselves, and are in turn thrown off, until at length the perfect
insect, which had been concealed in this succession of masks, is displayed in its
genuine form. That this is the proper explanation of the phenomenon has been
satisfactorily proved by Swammerdam, Malpighi, and other anatomists. The
first-mentioned illustrious naturalist discovered, by accurate dissections, not
only the skins of the larva and of the pupa incased in each other, but within
them the very butterfly itself, with its organs indeed in an almost fluid state, but
still perfect in all its parts[98]. Of this fact you may convince yourself without
Swammerdam's skill, by plunging into vinegar or spirit of wine a caterpillar
about to assume the pupa state, and letting it remain there a few days for the
purpose of giving consistency to its parts; or by boiling it in water for a few
minutes. A very rough dissection will then enable you to detect the future
butterfly; and you will find that the wings, rolled up into a sort of cord, are
lodged between the first and second segment of the caterpillar; that the
antennæ and trunk are coiled up in front of the head; and that the legs,
however different their form, are actually sheathed in its legs. Malpighi
discovered the eggs of the future moth, in the chrysalis of a silkworm only a
few days old[99], and Reaumur those of another moth (Hypogymna dispar)
even in the caterpillar, and that seven or eight days before its change into the
pupa[100]. A caterpillar, then, may be regarded as a locomotive egg, having for
its embryo the included butterfly, which after a certain period assimilates to
itself the animal substances by which it is surrounded; has its organs gradually
developed; and at length breaks through the shell which incloses it.
This explanation strips the subject of every thing miraculous, yet by no means
reduces it to a simple or uninteresting operation. Our reason is confounded at
the reflection that a larva, at first not thicker than a thread, includes its own
triple, or sometimes octuple, teguments; the case of a chrysalis, and a
butterfly, all curiously folded in each other; with an apparatus of vessels for
breathing and digesting, of nerves for sensation, and of muscles for moving;
and that these various forms of existence will undergo their successive
evolutions, by aid of a few leaves received into its stomach. And still less able
are we to comprehend how this organ should at one time be capable of
digesting leaves, at another only honey; how one while a silky fluid should be
secreted, at another none; or how organs at one period essential to the
existence of the insect, should at another be cast off, and the whole system
which supported them vanish.
Nor does this explanation, though it precludes the idea of that resemblance, in
every particular, which, at one time, was thought to obtain between the
metamorphosis of insects, especially of the Lepidoptera order, and the
resurrection of the body, do away that general analogy which cannot fail to
strike every one who at all considers the subject. Even Swammerdam, whose
observations have proved that the analogy is not so complete as had been
imagined, speaking of the metamorphosis of insects, uses these strong words:
"This process is formed in so remarkable a manner in butterflies, that we see
therein the resurrection painted before our eyes, and exemplified so as to be
examined by our hands[101]." To see, indeed, a caterpillar crawling upon the
earth, sustained by the most ordinary kinds of food, which, when it has existed
a few weeks or months under this humble form, its appointed work being
finished, passes into an intermediate state of seeming death, when it is wound
up in a kind of shroud and encased in a coffin, and is most commonly buried
under the earth, (though sometimes its sepulchre is in the water, and at others
in various substances in the air,) and after this creature and others of its tribe
have remained their destined time in this death-like state, to behold earth, air,
and water, give up their several prisoners: to survey them, when, called by the
warmth of the solar beam, they burst from their sepulchres, cast off their
cerements, from this state of torpid inactivity, come forth, as a bride out of her
chamber,—to survey them, I say, arrayed in their nuptial glory, prepared to
enjoy a new and more exalted condition of life, in which all their powers are
developed, and they are arrived at the perfection of their nature; when no
longer confined to the earth they can traverse the fields of air, their food is the
nectar of flowers, and love begins his blissful reign;—who that witnesses this
interesting scene can help seeing in it a lively representation of man in his
threefold state of existence, and more especially of that happy day, when at the
call of the great Sun of Righteousness, all that are in the graves shall come
forth, the sea shall give up her dead, and death being swallowed up of life, the
nations of the blessed shall live and love to the ages of eternity?
But although the analogy between the different states of insects and those of
the body of man is only general, yet it is much more complete with respect to
his soul. He first appears in this frail body—a child of the earth, a crawling
worm, his soul being in a course of training and preparation for a more perfect
and glorious existence. Its course being finished, it casts off the earthy body,
and goes into a hidden state of being in Hades, where it rests from its works,
and is prepared for its final consummation. The time for this being arrived, it
comes forth clothed with a glorious body, not like its former, though
germinating from it, for though "it was sown an animal body, it shall be raised a
spiritual body," endowed with augmented powers, faculties and privileges
commensurate to its new and happy state. And here the parallel holds perfectly
between the insect and the man. The butterfly, the representative of the soul,
is prepared in the larva for its future state of glory; and if it be not destroyed by
the ichneumons and other enemies to which it is exposed, symbolical of the
vices that destroy the spiritual life of the soul, it will come to its state of repose
in the pupa, which is its Hades; and at length, when it assumes the imago,
break forth with new powers and beauty to its final glory and the reign of love.
So that in this view of the subject well might the Italian poet exclaim:
Non v' accorgete voi, che noi siam' vermi
Nati a formar l' angelica farfalla[102]?

The Egyptian fable, as it is supposed to be, of Cupid and Psyche,

seems built upon this foundation. "Psyche," says an ingenious and
learned writer, "means in Greek the human soul; and it means also a
butterfly[103], of which apparently strange double sense the
undoubted reason is, that a butterfly was a very ancient symbol of
the soul—from the prevalence of this symbol, and the consequent
coincidence of the names, it happened that the Greek sculptors
frequently represented Psyche as subject to Cupid in the shape of a
butterfly; and that even when she appears in their works under the
human form, we find her decorated with the light and filmy wings of
that gay insect[104]."
The following beautiful little poem falls in so exactly with the subject
I have been discussing, that I cannot resist the temptation I feel to
copy it for you, especially as I am not aware that it has appeared
any where but in a newspaper.
THE BUTTERFLY'S BIRTH-DAY.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE BUTTERFLY'S BALL."

The shades of night were scarcely fled;

The air was mild, the winds were still;
And slow the slanting sun-beams spread
O'er wood and lawn, o'er heath and hill:

From fleecy clouds of pearly hue

Had dropt a short but balmy shower,
That hung like gems of morning dew
On every tree and every flower:

And from the Blackbird's mellow throat

Was pour'd so loud and long a swell,
As echoed with responsive note
From mountain side and shadowy dell:

When bursting forth to life and light,

The offspring of enraptured May,
The Butterfly, on pinions bright,
Launch'd in full splendour on the day.

Unconscious of a mother's care,

No infant wretchedness she knew;
But as she felt the vernal air,
At once to full perfection grew.

Her slender form, ethereal light,

Her velvet-textured wings infold;
With all the rainbow's colours bright,
And dropt with spots of burnish'd gold.

Trembling with joy awhile she stood,

And felt the sun's enlivening ray;
Drank from the skies the vital flood,
And wonder'd at her plumage gay!

And balanced oft her broider'd wings,

Through fields of air prepared to sail:
Then on her vent'rous journey springs,
And floats along the rising gale.

Go, child of pleasure, range the fields,

Taste all the joys that spring can give,
Partake what bounteous summer yields,
And live whilst yet 'tis thine to live.

Go sip the rose's fragrant dew,

The lily's honeyed cup explore,
From flower to flower the search renew,
And rifle all the woodbine's store:
And let me trace thy vagrant flight,
Thy moments too of short repose,
And mark thee then with fresh delight
Thy golden pinions ope and close.

But hark! whilst thus I musing stand,

Pours on the gale an airy note,
And breathing from a viewless band,
Soft silvery tones around me float!

—They cease—but still a voice I hear,

A whisper'd voice of hope and joy,
"Thy hour of rest approaches near,
"Prepare thee, mortal!—thou must die!

"Yet start not!—on thy closing eyes

"Another day shall still unfold,
"A sun of milder radiance rise,
"A happier age of joys untold.

"Shall the poor worm that shocks thy sight,

"The humblest form in nature's train,
"Thus rise in new-born lustre bright,
"And yet the emblem teach in vain?

"Ah! where were once her golden eyes,

"Her glittering wings of purple pride?
"Conceal'd beneath a rude disguise,
"A shapeless mass to earth allied.

"Like thee the hapless reptile lived,

"Like thee he toil'd, like thee he spun,
"Like thine his closing hour arrived,
"His labour ceased, his web was done.

"And shalt thou, number'd with the dead,

"No happier state of being know?
"And shall no future morrow shed
"On thee a beam of brighter glow?

"Is this the bound of power divine,

"To animate an insect frame?
"Or shall not He who moulded thine
"Wake at his will the vital flame?

"Go, mortal! in thy reptile state,

"Enough to know to thee is given;
"Go, and the joyful truth relate;
"Frail child of earth! high heir of heaven!"
A question here naturally presents itself—Why are insects subject to
these changes? For what end is it that, instead of preserving like
other animals[105] the same general form from infancy to old age,
they appear at one period under a shape so different from that
which they finally assume; and why should they pass through an
intermediate state of torpidity so extraordinary? I can only answer
that such is the will of the Creator, who doubtless had the wisest
ends in view, although we are incompetent satisfactorily to discover
them. Yet one reason for this conformation may be hazarded. A very
important part assigned to insects in the economy of nature, as I
shall hereafter show, is that of speedily removing superabundant
and decaying animal and vegetable matter. For such agents an
insatiable voracity is an indispensable qualification, and not less so
unusual powers of multiplication. But these faculties are in a great
degree incompatible. An insect occupied in the work of reproduction
could not continue its voracious feeding. Its life, therefore, after
leaving the egg, is divided into three stages. In the first, as larva, it
is in a state of sterility; its sole object is the satisfying its insatiable
hunger; and, for digesting the masses of food which it consumes, its
intestines are almost all stomach. This is usually by much the
longest period of its existence. Having now laid up a store of
materials for the development of the future perfect insect, it
becomes a pupa; and during this inactive period the important
process slowly proceeds, uninterrupted by the calls of appetite. At
length the perfect insect is disclosed. It now often requires no food
at all; and scarcely ever more than a very small quantity; for the
reception of which its stomach has been contracted, in some
instances, to a tenth of its former bulk. Its almost sole object is now
the multiplication of its kind, from which it is diverted by no other
propensity; and this important duty being performed, the end of its
existence has been answered, and it expires.
It must be confessed that some objections might be thrown out
against this hypothesis, yet I think none that would not admit of a
plausible answer. To these it is foreign to my purpose now to attend,
and I shall conclude this letter by pointing out to you the variety of
new relations which this arrangement introduces into nature. One
individual unites in itself, in fact, three species, whose modes of
existence are often as different as those of the most distantly related
animals of other tribes. The same insect often lives successively in
three or four worlds. It is an inhabitant of the water during one
period; of the earth during another; and of the air during a third;
and fitted for its various abodes by new organs and instruments, and
a new form in each. Think (to use an illustration of Bonnet) but of
the cocoon of the silkworm! How many hands, how many machines
does not this little ball put into motion! Of what riches should we not
have been deprived, if the moth of the silkworm had been born a
moth, without having been previously a caterpillar! The domestic
economy of a large portion of mankind would have been formed on
a plan altogether different from that which now prevails.
I am, &c.
 LETTER IV.
INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS.
DIRECT INJURIES.

In the letter which I devoted to the defence of Entomology, I gave

you reason to expect, more effectually to obviate the objection
drawn from the supposed insignificance of insects, that I should
enter largely into the question of their importance to us both as
instruments of good and evil. This I shall now attempt; and, as I
wish to leave upon your mind a pleasant impression with respect to
my favourites, I shall begin with the last of these subjects—the
injury which they do to us.
The Almighty ordains various instruments for the punishment of
offending nations: sometimes he breaks them to pieces with the iron
rod of war; at others the elements are let loose against them;
earthquakes and floods of fire, at his word, bring sudden destruction
upon them; seasons unfriendly to vegetation threaten them with
famine; the blight and mildew realize these threats; and often, the
more to manifest and glorify his power, he employs means, at first
sight, apparently the most insignificant and inadequate to effect
their ruin; the numerous tribes of insects are his armies[106],
marshalled by him, and by his irresistible command impelled to the
work of destruction: where he directs them they lay waste the earth,
and famine and the pestilence often follow in their train.
The generality of mankind overlook or disregard these powerful,
because minute, dispensers of punishment; seldom considering in
how many ways their welfare is affected by them: but the fact is
certain, that should it please God to give them a general commission
against us, and should he excite them to attack, at the same time,
our bodies, our clothing, our houses, our cattle, and the produce of
our fields and gardens, we should soon be reduced, in every possible
respect, to a state of extreme wretchedness; the prey of the most
filthy and disgusting diseases, divested of a covering, unsheltered,
except by caves and dungeons, from the inclemency of the seasons,
exposed to all the extremities of want and famine; and in the end,
as Sir Joseph Banks, speaking on this subject, has well
observed[107], driven with all the larger animals from the face of the
earth. You may smile, perhaps, and think this a high-coloured
picture, but you will recollect—I am not stating the mischiefs that
insects commonly do, but what they would do according to all
probability, if certain counter-checks restraining them within due
limits had not been put in action; and which they actually do, as you
will see, in particular cases, when those counter-checks are
diminished or removed.
Insects may be said, without hyperbole, to have established a kind
of universal empire over the earth and its inhabitants. This is
principally conspicuous in the injuries which they occasion, for
nothing in nature that possesses or has possessed animal or
vegetable life, is safe from their inroads. Neither the cunning of the
fox, nor the swiftness of the horse or deer, nor the strength of the
buffalo, nor the ferocity of the lion or tiger, nor the armour of the
rhinoceros, nor the giant bulk or sagacity of the elephant, nor even
the authority of imperial man, who boasts himself to be the lord of
all, can secure them from becoming a prey to these despised beings.
The air affords no protection to the birds, nor the water to the fish;
insects pursue them all to their most secret conclaves and strongest
citadels, and compel them to submit to their sway. Flora's empire is
still more exposed to their cruel domination and ravages; and there
is scarcely one of her innumerable subjects, from the oak, the glory
of the forest, to the most minute lichen that grows upon its trunk,
that is not destined to be the food of these next to nonentities in our
estimation. And when life departs from man, the inferior animals, or
vegetables, they become universally, sooner or later, the inheritance
of insects.
I shall principally bespeak your attention to the injuries in question
as they affect ourselves. These may be divided into direct and
indirect. By direct injuries I mean every species of attack upon our
own persons, and by indirect, such as are made upon our property.
To the former of these I shall confine myself in the present letter.

Insects, as to their direct attacks upon us, may be arranged in three

principal classes. Those, namely, which seek to make us their food;
those whose object is to prevent or revenge an injury which they
either fear, or have received from us; and those which indeed offer
us no violence, but yet incommode us extremely in other ways.
I hope I shall not too much offend your delicacy if I begin the first
class of our insect assailants with a very disgusting genus, which
Providence seems to have created to punish inattention to personal
cleanliness. But though this pest of man must not be wholly passed
over, yet, since it is unfortunately too well known, it will not be at all
necessary for me to enlarge upon its history. I shall only mention
one fact which shows the astonishingly rapid increase of these
animals, where they have once gotten possession. It is a vulgar
notion, that a louse in twenty-four hours may see two generations;
but this is rather overshooting the mark. Leeuwenhoek, whose love
for science overcame the nausea that such creatures are apt to
excite, proves that their nits or eggs are not hatched till the eighth
day after they are laid, and that they do not themselves commence
laying before they are a month old. He ascertained, however, that a
single female louse may, in eight weeks, witness the birth of five
thousand descendants[108]. You remember how wolves were
extirpated from this country, but perhaps never suspected any
monarch of imposing a tribute of lice upon his subjects. Yet we are
gravely told that in Mexico and Peru such a poll-tax was exacted,
and that bags full of these treasures were found in the palace of
Montezuma[109]!!! Were our own taxes paid in such coin, what little
grumbling would there be!
Two other species of this genus, besides the common louse, are, in
this country, parasites upon the human body——But already I seem
to hear you exclaim, "Why dwell so long on creatures so odious and
nauseating, whose injuries are confined to the profanum vulgus?
Leave them therefore to the canaille—they are nothing to us." Not
so fast, my friend—recollect what historians and other writers have
recorded concerning the Phthiriasis or pedicular disease, and you
must own that, for the quelling of human pride, and to pull down the
high conceits of mortal man, this most loathsome of all maladies, or
one equally disgusting, has been the inheritance of the rich, the
wise, the noble, and the mighty; and in the list of those that have
fallen victims to it, you will find poets, philosophers, prelates,
princes, kings, and emperors. It seems more particularly to have
been a judgement of God upon oppression and tyranny, whether civil
or religious. Thus the inhuman Pheretima mentioned by Herodotus,
Antiochus Epiphanes, the Dictator Sylla, the two Herods, the
Emperor Maximin, and, not to mention more, the great persecutor of
the Protestants, Philip the Second, were carried off by it.
I say by this malady, or one equally disgusting, because it is not by
any means certain, though some learned men have so supposed,
that all these instances, and others of a similar nature, standing also
upon record, are to be referred to the same specific cause; since
there is very sufficient reason for thinking that at least three
different descriptions of insects are concerned in the various cases
that have been handed down to us under the common name of
Phthiriasis. As the subject of maladies connected with insects, or
produced by them, is both curious and interesting, although no
writer, that I am aware of, has given it full consideration, and at the
same time falls in with my general design, I hope you will not regard
me as guilty of presumption, and of intruding into the province of
medical men, if I enter rather largely into it, and state to you the
reasons that have induced me to embrace the above hypothesis,
leaving you full liberty to reject it if you do not find it consonant to
reason and fact. The three kinds of insects to which I allude, as
concerned in cases that have been deemed Phthiriasis, are lice
(Pediculi, L.) mites (Acari, L.), and Larvæ in general.
As far as the habits of the genus Pediculus, whether inhabiting man
or the inferior animals, are at present known, it does not appear,
from any well ascertained fact, that the species belonging to it are
ever subcutaneous. For this observation, as far as it relates to man, I
can produce the highest medical authority. "The louse feeds on the
surface of the skin," says the learned Dr. Mead in his Medica Sacra;
and Dr. Willan, in his palmary work on Cutaneous Diseases, remarks
with respect to the body-louse, "that the nits, or eggs, are deposited
on the small hairs of the skin," and that "the animals are found on
the skin, or on the linen, and not under the cuticle, as some authors
have represented." And he further observes, that "many marvellous
stories are related by Forestus, Schenkius and others respecting lice
bred under the skin, and discharged in swarms from abscesses,
strumous ulcers, and vesications. The mode in which Pediculi are
generated being now so well ascertained, no credit can be given to
these accounts." Thus far this great man, who however supposes (in
which opinion Dr. Bateman concurs with him) that the authors to
whom he alludes had mistaken for lice some other species of
insects, which are not unfrequently found in putrefactive sores.
If these observations be allowed their due weight, it will follow, that
a disease produced by animals residing under the cuticle cannot be a
true Phthiriasis, and therefore the death of the poet Alcman, and of
Pherecydes Syrius the philosopher, mentioned by Aristotle, must
have been occasioned by some other kind of insect. For, speaking of
the lice to which he attributes these catastrophes, he says that "they
are produced in the flesh in small pustule-like tumours, which have
no pus, and from which when punctured, they issue[110]." For the
same reason, the disorder which Dr. Heberden has described in his
Commentaries, from the communications of Sir E. Wilmot, under the
name of Morbus pedicularis, must also be a different disease, since,
with Aristotle, he likewise represents the insects as inhabiting
tumours, from which they may be extracted when opened by a
needle. He says, indeed, that in every respect they resemble the
common lice, except in being whiter; but medical men, who were
not at the same time entomologists, might easily mistake an Acarus
for a Pediculus[111].
Dr. Willan, in one case of Prurigo senilis, observed a number of small
insects on the patient's skin and linen. They were quick in their
motion, and so minute that it required some attention to discover
them. He took them at first for small Pediculi; but under a lens they
appeared to him rather to be a nondescript species of Pulex[112]; yet
the figure he gives has not the slightest likeness to the latter genus,
while it bears a striking resemblance to the former. It is not clear
whether his draughtsman meant to represent the insect with six or
with eight legs: if it had only six, it was probably a Pediculus; but if it
had eight, it would form a new genus between the Acarina and the
hexapod Aptera. Dr. Bateman, in reply to some queries put to him,
at my request, by our common and lamented friend Dr. Reeve,
relates that he understood from Dr. Willan, in conversation, that the
insect in question jumped in its motion. This circumstance he
regards as conclusive against its being a Pediculus; but such a
consequence does not necessarily follow, since it not seldom
happens that insects of the same tribe or genus either have or have
not this faculty; for instance, compare Scirtes with Cyphon, small
beetles, and Acarus Scabiei with other Acari[113].
Dr. Willan has quoted with approbation two cases from Amatus
Lusitanus, which he seems to think correctly described as Phthiriasis.
In one of them, however, which terminated fatally, the circumstances
seem rather hyperbolically stated—I mean, where it is said that two
black servants had no other employment than carrying baskets full
of these insects to the sea!! Perhaps you will think I draw largely
upon your credulity if I call upon you to believe this; I shall therefore
leave you to act as you please.—Thus much for pure Phthiriasis,
which term ought to be confined to maladies produced by lice. I
shall only further observe, that as many species as exist of these,
which are the causes of disease, so many kinds of Phthiriasis will
there be.
Acari, or mites, are the next insect sources of disease in the human
species, and that not of one, but probably of many kinds both local
and general. They are distinguished from Pediculi not only by their
form, but also often by their situation, since they frequently establish
themselves under the cuticle. With respect to local disorders, Dr.
Adams conjectures that Acari may be the cause of certain cases of
Ophthalmia. Sir J. Banks, in a letter to that gentleman, relates that
some seamen belonging to the Endeavour brig, being tormented
with a severe itching round the extremities of the eyelids, one of
them was cured by an Otaheitan woman, who with two small
splinters of bamboo extracted from between the cilia abundance of
very minute lice, which were scarcely visible without a lens, though
their motion, when laid on the thumb, was distinctly perceived.
These insects were probably synonymous with the Ciron des
paupières of Sauvages[114].—Le Jeune, a French physician quoted in
Mouffet, describes a case, in which what seems a different species,
since he calls them rather large, infested the white of the eye,
exciting an intolerable itching[115].—Dr. Mead, from the German
Ephemerides, gives an account of a woman suckling her child, from
whose breast proceeded very minute vermicles[116]. These were
probably mites, and perhaps that species, which, from its feeding
upon milk, Linné denominates Acarus Lactis. The great author last
mentioned describes an insect, a native of America, under the name
of Pediculus Ricinoides, which, upon the authority of Rolander, he
informs us, gets into the feet of people as they walk, sucks their
blood, oviposits[117] in them, and so occasions very dangerous
ulcers. It would be an Acarus, he observes, but it has only six legs.
Now Hermann affirms, that some species of Trombidium (a genus
separated by Fabricius from Acarus) have in no state more than six
legs[118]. Others of the tribe of Acarina, and the insect in question
amongst the rest, may be similarly circumstanced; or those that
Rolander examined might have been larvæ, which in this tribe are
usually hexapods.
Linné appears to have been of opinion that many contagious
diseases are caused by mites[119]. How far he was justified in this
opinion I shall not here inquire; facts alone can decide the question,
and observations made by men acquainted with Entomology as well
as the science of diseases. Considerable deference and attention,
however, are certainly due to the sentiments of so great a naturalist,
in whom these necessary qualifications were united in no common
degree. With respect to the dysentery and the itch, he affirms that
this had been manifested to his eyes. You will wish probably to know
the arguments that may be adduced in confirmation of this opinion;
I will therefore endeavour to satisfy you as well as I am able. The
following history given by Linné seems to prove the dysentery
connected with these animals.
Rolander, a student in Entomology, while he resided in the house of
the illustrious Swede, was attacked by the disease in question, which
quickly gave way to the usual remedies. Eight days after, it returned
again, and was as before soon removed. A third time, at the end of
the same period, he was seized with it. All the while he had been
living like the rest of the family, who had nevertheless escaped. This,
of course, occasioned no little inquiry into the cause of what had
happened. Linné, aware that Bartholinus had attributed the
dysentery to insects, which he professed to have seen,
recommended it to his pupil to examine his feces. Rolander,
following this advice, discovered in them innumerable animalcules,
which upon a close examination proved to be mites. It was next a
question how he alone came to be singled out by them; and thus he
accounts for it. It was his habit not to drink at his meals; but in the
night, growing thirsty, he often sipped some liquid out of a vessel
made of juniper wood. Inspecting this very narrowly, he observed, in
the chinks between the ribs, a white line, which, when viewed under
a lens, he found to consist of innumerable mites, precisely the same
with those that he had voided. Various experiments were tried with
them, and a preparation of rhubarb was found to destroy them most
effectually. He afterwards discovered them in vessels containing
acids, and often under the bung of casks[120]. In the instance here
recorded, the dysentery, or diarrhœa, was evidently produced by a
species of mite, which Linné hence called Acarus Dysenteriæ; but it
would be going too far, I apprehend, to assert that they are
invariably the cause of that disease.
That Scabies, or the itch, is occasioned by a mite, is not a doctrine
peculiar to the moderns. Mouffet mentions Abinzoar, called also
Avenzoar, a celebrated Hispano-Arabian physician of Seville, who
flourished in the twelfth century, as the most ancient author that
notices it. He calls these mites little lice that creep under the skin of
the hands, legs, and feet, exciting pustules full of fluid[121]. Joubert,
quoted by the same author, describes them under the name of
Sirones, as always being concealed beneath the epidermis, under
which they creep like moles, gnawing it, and causing a most
troublesome itching. It appears that Mouffet, or whoever was the
author of that part of the Theatrum Insectorum, was himself also
well acquainted with these animals, since he remarks that their
habitation is not in the pustule but near it: a remark afterwards
confirmed by Linné[122], and more recently by Dr. Adams[123]. In
common with the former of these authors, Mouffet further notices
the effect of warmth upon them in exciting motion[124]. Our
intelligent countryman also observes that they cannot be Pediculi,
since they live under the cuticle, which lice never do[125]. In the
epistle dedicatory, the editor speaks also of them as living in burrows
which they have excavated in the skin near a lake of water; from
which if they be extracted with a needle and put upon the nail, they
show in the sun their red head and the feet with which they
walk[126]. And to close my veteran authorities, Junius thus explains
the word Acarus, as I find him quoted in Gouldman's useful
dictionary, "A small worm, which eats under the skin, and makes
burrows in itching hands[127]."
In more modern times, microscopical figures have been added to
descriptions of the insect. Bonomo first furnished this valuable
species of elucidation. His figures, however, which are copied by
Baker in his work on the microscope, are far from accurate[128].
Those of De Geer and Dr. Adams are much more satisfactory, and
mutually confirm each other[129]. From them it is evident that the
same insect inhabits the scabies of Sweden and Madeira. Dr.
Bateman, in the letter before alluded to, informs his correspondent,
that he had seen that from Madeira, and gives it as his opinion, that
there cannot be a doubt of the existence of an Acarus Scabiei; an
opinion which he repeats in his late work on Cutaneous Diseases;
and which, according to Hermann[130], has been also rendered
unquestionable by Wichmann in his Etiologie de la Gale (Hanovre
1786), a work I have not had an opportunity of consulting. From all
this we may regard the point as so far settled, that an animal of this
kind exists at least as an occasional concomitant of scabies.
This fact being ascertained, a more complex inquiry remains, which
branches out into two distinct questions. Is scabies always produced
by these insects? Or, if this be not the case, Is the animate scabies a
distinct disease from the inanimate?
It is very remarkable that Linné, a physician as well as a naturalist;
and De Geer, one of the most accurate observers that ever existed;
should both assign the insect in question as the undoubted cause of
the common scabies of their country; the one applying to the
disease he was speaking of the epithet of communissima, and
observing the fact to be notorious, (cuique liquet,) and the other
designating it by its well known French name "La Gale[131]." And is it
not equally remarkable that such men as John Hunter, Dr. Heberden,
Dr. Bateman, Dr. Adams, and Mr. Baker, should never, in this country,
have been able to meet with it? Did it indeed exist in our common
scabies, it seems impossible that it could have escaped the
observation of the two last of these gentlemen; Dr. Adams being so
well qualified to detect it from his observations in Madeira, and Mr.
Baker from his expertness in microscopical researches. Dr. Bateman,
in the letter above quoted, says, "I have hunted it with a good
magnifier, in many cases of itch, both in and near the pustules, and
in the red streaks or furrows, but always without success." In his
work on Cutaneous Diseases he tells us, however, that he has seen
it, in one instance, when it had been taken from the diseased
surface by another practitioner. And though Dr. Willan in his book
speaks of the Acarus as the concomitant of this disease, yet his
learned friend just mentioned observes, that he admitted that it was
not to be found in ordinary cases, and indeed never seemed to have
made up his mind upon the subject. When I was at Norwich in 1812,
Dr. Reeve very kindly accompanied me to the House of Industry
there, to examine a patient whose body was very full of the pustules
of this disorder; but though we used a good magnifier, we could
discover nothing like an insect. I must observe, however, that our
examination was made in December, in severe weather, when the
cold might, perhaps, render the animal torpid, and less easy to be
discovered.
From the above facts it seems fair to infer that this animal is not
invariably the cause of scabies, but that there are cases with which it
has no connexion. Now, from this inference, would not another also
follow, that the disease produced by the insect is specifically distinct
from that in which it cannot be found? Sauvages and Dr. Adams are
both of this opinion[132], the former assigning to it the trivial name
of vermicularis; and the latter proving, by very satisfactory
arguments, that it is different from the other. If they were both
animate diseases, but derived from two distinct species of animals,
(for it seems not impossible that even our common itch may be
caused by a mite more minute than the other, and so more difficult
to find,) they would properly be considered as distinct species; much
more, therefore, if one be animate and the other inanimate. Nay
this, I should think, would lead to a doubt whether even their genus
were the same. I shall dismiss this part of my subject with the
mention of a discovery of Dr. Adams, which seems to have escaped
both Linné and De Geer—that the Acarus Scabiei is endowed with
the faculty of leaping; (in this respect resembling the insect found by
Willan in Prurigo senilis mentioned above;) for which purpose its four
posterior thighs are incrassated[133].
But besides these Acarine diseases, there seems to be one (unless
with Linné we regard the plague as of this class[134]) more fearful
and fatal than them all. You will, perhaps, conjecture I am speaking
of that described by Aristotle and Sir E. Wilmot as the Phthiriasis,
and your conjecture will be right. But some think, and those men of
merited celebrity, that mites have nothing to do in these and similar
cases, for that maggots were the parasites mistaken for lice. This,
from the passage above quoted, appears to have been Dr. Willan's
opinion, to which, in the letter so often referred to, Dr. Bateman
subscribes; adding as a reason for excluding mites from being
concerned, that "they are too minute, and never have been seen in
such numbers as to be mistaken for lice." But both vary in size,
some of the former being larger than some of the latter. And
allowing them to be ever so minute, yet when they issue in swarms,
as mites from a cheese, they would be very visible, were it only from
their motion. Besides, as they are furnished with legs, their motions
resemble those of lice infinitely more than do the contortions of
maggots. So that a mite would be deemed a louse much sooner by
an unentomological observer than would a maggot. Whether mites
have ever been seen in such numbers as to be mistaken for lice, is
the point in question; and therefore, by itself, cannot be admitted for
a valid argument. Though Acarus Scabiei does not appear to swarm
in ordinary cases, yet this is certainly no reason why other species
may not do so. Where it has once made a settlement, how
incredibly, and in how short a space of time, does the Siro or
cheese-mite multiply! Acarus Destructor and many other species are
equally rapid in their increase.—Millions of lice are said by
Lafontaine, whom Hermann calls a very exact describer, to show
themselves in Plica polonica, on the third day of the disease[135]; but
whether the last-mentioned author be correct in thinking it more
probable that they are mites[136], I have not the means of judging.
I shall now produce two instances where mites were evidently
concerned. Dr. Mead, from the German Ephemerides, relates the
miserable case of a French nobleman, from whose eyes, nostrils,
mouth, and urinary passage animalcules of a red colour, and
excessively minute, broke forth day and night, attended by the most
horrible and excruciating pains, and at length occasioned his death.
The account further says, that they were produced from his
corrupted blood. This was probably a fancy originating in their red
colour: but the whole history, whether we consider the size and
colour of the animals, or the places from which they issue, is
inapplicable to larvæ or maggots, and agrees very well with mites,
some of which, particularly Leptus autumnalis, are of a bright red
colour. The other case, and a very similar one, is that recorded by
Mouffet of Lady Penruddock; concerning whom he expressly tells us,
that Acari swarmed in every part of her body—her head, eyes, nose,
lips, gums, the soles of her feet, &c., tormenting her day and night,
till, in spite of every remedy, all the flesh of her body being
consumed, she was at length relieved by death from this terrible
state of suffering. Mouffet attributes her disease to the Acarus
Scabiei; but from the symptoms and fatal result it seems to have
been a different and much more terrific animal. He supposes, in this
instance, the insect to have been generated by drinking goat's milk
too copiously. This, if correct, would lead to a conjecture that it
might have been the A. Lactis, L.
These cases I hope will satisfy you that mites, as well as lice, are the
cause of diseases in the human frame. This, indeed, as has been
before observed, is allowed on all hands with respect to that of the
itch; and it is, certainly, not more improbable that man should be
exposed to the attack of several species of this genus, than that
three or four kinds of Pediculus should infest him. If you are
convinced by what I have written, you will concur with me in
thinking that the one are as much entitled to give their name to the
disease which they produce as the other; and the term Acariasis, by
which, with due deference to medical men, I propose to distinguish
generically all acarine diseases, will not be refused its place amongst
your Genera Morborum.
I shall now proceed to the remaining class of diseases mistaken for
Phthiriasis; those, namely, which are produced by larvæ. There are
two terms employed by ancient authors, Eulæ (Ευλαι) and Scolex
(Σκωληξ), which seem properly to denote larvæ; but there is often
such a want of precision in the language of writers unacquainted
with Natural History, that it is very difficult to make out what objects
they mean; and expressions which, strictly taken, should be
understood of larvæ, may probably sometimes have been used to
denote the cause of either the pedicular or acarine disease. Eulæ,
which term, though given by Hesychius as synonymous with Scolex,
is by Plutarch used as of different import[137], seems properly to
mean those larvæ which are generated in dead carcases, at least so
Homer has more than once applied it[138]: it is therefore a word of a
much more restricted sense than Scolex, which probably belongs to
the larvæ of every order of insects; for so Aristotle employs it, when
he says that all insects produce a Scolex, or are larviparous[139]. Yet
when Homer compares Harpalion stretched dead upon the ground to
a Scolex[140], it should seem as if he used the word for an earth-
worm, which Aristotle commonly calls by a figurative periphrasis,
"Entrails of the earth[141]." In the Holy Scriptures this word is used
to signify larvæ which prey upon and are the torment of living
bodies[142]. It may on this account, perhaps, be regarded as
generally meaning such larvæ, to whatever order or genus they
belong.
Dr. Mead, therefore, is most probably right when he considers the
disease stated by the ancients to be caused by Eulæ or Scoleches,
commonly translated worms, as distinct from Phthiriasis; and if so,
the inhuman Pheretima, who swarmed with Eulæ, and Herod
Agrippa, who was eaten of Scoleches[143], were probably neither of
them destroyed either by Pediculi or Acari, but by larvæ or maggots.
And when Galen prescribed a remedy for ulcers inhabited by
Scoleches, observing that animals similar to those generated by
putrid substances are often found in abscesses, he probably meant
the same thing. The proper appellation of this genus of diseases
would be Scolechiasis.
This dissertation may perhaps appear to you rather prolix and
tedious: yet to settle the meaning of terms is of the first importance.
To inquire what ancient writers intended by the words which they
employ, and whether such as have been usually regarded as
synonymous are really so, may often furnish us with a clue to some
useful or interesting truth; and not seldom enable us to rescue their
reputation from much of the censure which has been inconsiderately
cast upon it. Because they did not know every thing, or so much as
we do, we are too apt to think that they knew nothing. That they fell
into very considerable errors, especially in subjects connected with
Natural History, cannot be denied; but then it ought to be considered
that they possessed scarcely any of those advantages by which we
are enabled to penetrate into nature's secrets. The want of the
microscope alone was an effectual bar to their progress in this
branch of science. Yet, in some instances, when they took a general
view of a subject, they appear to have had very correct ideas. This
observation particularly applies to the philosopher of Stagyra, whose
mighty mind and lyncean eye, in spite of those mists of prejudice
and fable that enveloped the age in which he lived, enabled him in
part to pierce through the gloom, and comprehend and behold the
fair outline that gives symmetry, grace and beauty to the whole of
nature's form, though he mistook, or was not able to trace out, her
less prominent features and minor lineaments.
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