There's a correlation between war and other violence in society, and fights, injuries and aggression problems in pro and amateur sports, a roundtable discussion was told Thursday.

Sports psychologist Norman Morra, who works at the LaMarsh Centre, said the NHL is off to one of its rockiest starts ever, with 82 major penalties like fighting and six player suspensions over 42 games - an increase of 44 per cent over last year.

The seminar examining ways to reduce violence in sports was sponsored by York University's LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution.

"The cultural spillover theory says that when there's a violent war there's an increase in violence in society," said Morra.

Morra said he went into hockey arenas in the Toronto area following the Rodney King police beatings in Los Angeles and the Gulf War in the early 1990s to observe coaches and players and interviewed sports writers and hockey administrators. Despite tougher rules to help curb violence, fighting during games seemed to escalate, said Morra.

The NHL had no immediate reaction Thursday.

Hockey isn't the only sport that might be affected. But it's often singled out because fighting is forbidden in most team sports, including collegiate and international hockey, while it flourishes in the NHL and major-junior ranks because pro sports is a big money-making business, with "fighting a source of fan entertainment" and popular players like Tie Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs "settling disputes with their fists," said Morra.

Greg Malszecki, a York kinesiology and health science professor, predicted that "the CNN War on America should have a significant impact on violence in all levels of sport.

"There's a relationship between violence in sports and violence in society," said Malszecki, noting that the number of stick incidents increased significantly in the week after Boston defenceman Marty McSorley was charged with assault after slashing Vancouver's Donald Brashear. McSorley was suspended from the NHL for 18 months as a result of the attack.

Bob Bain, a basketball coach and co-ordinator of York's coaching certification program, said part of the problem in curbing violence is there's a fine line between "aggression used to achieve a certain goal," like a baseball player sliding into second and taking out the second or third basemen, "and violence with the intent to injure."

Bain said he worries that young people taking their cues from tough, popular athletes will only propagate violence if the emphasis on pro sports as entertainment isn't reduced.

"But I don't think the (team) owners are going to change until such a time that sports doesn't sell . . . or somebody is violently assaulted to the point he dies."

Bain believes coaches play a major role in promoting fair play and ethics in sport, and encouraging players to "play within the rules.

"The coaches have a tremendous responsibility simply because they are agents of socialization - they help athletes become functioning members of groups and are models, and have the right and responsibility to control and discipline, and must educate the athlete about what's acceptable and what's not."

The majority of coaches - in pro and amateur ranks - concentrate more on the technical and not the philosophical and ethical aspects of their job, said Bain.

"But even if coaches promote fair play, we won't eliminate violence from sports until we eliminate violence in society."

Lawrence Scanlan, a sports author from Kingston, Ont., said violence hurt participation rates in hockey in the 1980s, triggering the introduction of new programs to help curb the problem.

"Hockey's decline among boys amounted to a hemorrhage, nowhere more so than in Quebec and it was there in 1987 that a new vision of the game was first tried," said Scanlan, pointing to the launch in 1987 of the Fair Play system in the province which has resulted in rising hockey participation rates.

The system - which rewards sportsmanship and punishes aggression through a points system that has an effect on league standings - is now in place in many minor hockey leagues, including in Quebec and Nova Scotia, said Scanlan, author of the book Grace Under Fire, a personal and historical look at violence in hockey that's due out in the spring.

Another program aimed at reducing aggressive play is Turning Point, which was developed by the Calgary Minor Hockey Association. About 12,000 youth players compete under the program, which emphasizes values, fun, respect and positive development, said Scanlan.