Here’s the scene: Germany v England, crucial qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup (soccer if you must. An accidental collision between two players in the middle of the field. No foul. Germany have possession, but seeing that the English player was injured and needs treatment, the German guy deliberately kicks the ball out of play, stopping the game and letting the English player get his treatment. He also conceded possession to England.
After the injured guy is ready to continue, the English restart by kicking the ball straight out of play in a harmless position at the German end of the field, to give them their possession back. There is nothing in the rules that forces any of them to do any of this, but it’s standard procedure under an unwritten “gentlemen’s agreement”.
If anyone doesn’t “play the game” in this way, the will crowd slaughter him (it happens once in a blue moon).
Any similar behaviour in American sports?
(BTW, I’m writing this at half time. Current score Germany 1 England 2)
The only thing I can think of is in the Tour de France this year when Lance slowed down and pedaled slowly waiting for Jan Ullrich to catch up after he went flying off the course. No, I wouldn’t exactly say bike racing is an American sport, though.
Unless…you count when Chan Ho Park serves up a fatty to a old-time, fan favorite in his last appearance in the Major League Baseball All-star game…
Paolo di Canio springs to mind … the temperamental Italian striker caught the ball from a cross rather than score when Everton’s keeper Paul Gerrard lay injured. Last year, wasn’t it? I think he won a UEFA award for sportsmanship as a result.
I can only think of Walter Johnson, Hall of Fame pitcher for the Washington Senators. Johnson’s fastball was legendary and Johnson himself so nice that he didn’t want to hurt anyone with it, did not like to pitch inside to batters. Johnson is also known to have thrown fat pitches down the middle (and telling the batter what was coming) if he had a friend at bat on the other team (as long as the Senators had the lead, that is).
(Side note: Ty Cobb - who never won any sportsmanship awards of his own - knew of Johnson’s kindness and took advantage of it, crowding the plate until Johnson was throwing far outside, then backing off the plate to hit the ball.)
I’ve heard it happen in golf, when the pros admit to an infraction that no one else would have seen. No cites for you, unfortunately, but I remember reading about it in John Feinstein’s “A Good Walk Spoiled”
In snooker all most, if not all, players will call a foul on themselves without waiting for intervention from the referee.
In UK horse racing, John Francome and Peter Scudamore shared the National Hunt Jockeys Championship for the 1981-82 season. If my memory serves, Scudamore was ahead when he suffered an injury. Francome reached Scudamore’s total of winners and promptly retired for the season.
True indeed. You may have guessed from my username that I was at both the Everton-West Ham games last season (I live in Barking anyway so WHU are my “local” team these days), and recall that it was a warmly received gesture. I don’t remember a UEFA award specifically, although I wouldn’t be surprised. I do remember that Gerrard presented di Canio with an award from Everton FC before the return fixture at Upton Park. Sadly the game itself was a less than warm-spirited affair with Stuart Pearce being sent off in a 2-0 win for my lads.
Crunchy Frog, from the little baseball info that crosses the Atlantic, it seems that Ty Cobb was a good player but a bit of a sh*t otherwise, no?
Again not exactly an American sport. But I’ve seen players in Hockey(Mcginnis and Shanahan are the two I specifically remember doing it) take a weak wrister over the net instead of really nailing it when a guy is helpless on the ice in front of them.
Im not Crunchy, but I will say this: Ty Cobb was the most hated player ever to play the game. He was a jerk. Everyone hated him. When he died, all of seven major leaguers attended his funeral. More later, as I’m short on time now.
That’s putting it mildly. Cobb was arguably the nastiest person to ever play baseball.
BTW - on the topic of the OP, wasn’t there a college football (American football) game where the coach noticed his team had been given extra time on the clock they didn’t deserve, brought the matter to attention, and his team’s last touchdown was negated as a result? They lost the game, but the coach said, “We wouldn’t wanted to have won that way.” Or something along those lines.
I remember a Liverpool game from a few years back in which they were awarded a penalty after someone from the opposing team (don’t remember who it was) seemed to bring Robbie Fowler down in the box. Fowler told the ref there was no contact, but was given the penalty anyway. His miss seemed quite intentional.
Pity for the other team that another Liverpool player (McAteer?) knocked it in on the rebound.
John Landy in the Mile Race at the 1956 National Championships in Melbourne. He was expected to win the race and set a new world record.
During the race a young Ron Clarke fell over in front of him and Landy trod on his shoulder with his spikes. He stopped and helped him up, brushed off his shoulders and knees and said “Sorry”. Clarke told him “Keep running, I’m all right. Run! Run!”. He was 60 yards behind the leaders by the time he started running again. He was given no chance of catching up.
John Landy went on to win the race.
In a college football game between Missouri and Colorado, Colorado, trailing by less than a touchdown, was in posession of the ball close to Missouri’s goal line with little time left on the clock. On fourth down, they failed to get a first down, but the officials mistakenly gave Colorado a fifth attempt. Colorado, knowing full well that they had used all of their downs, called the mistake to the attention of the officials who corrected the down count and gave Missouri the ball. Missouri took a knee and ended the game. This was a true instance of sportsmanship.
I cannot remember the details, and a search on google was fruitless, but this is a true story.
A few years ago a small town in a large western state (Wyoming? Idaho?) had its first state basketball champions ever. The team had a relatively easy time in the playoffs, winning even the state championships by a comfortable margin. The boys were given a hero’s reception, and the town celebrated for months.
Flash forward to track season. The track coach is checking team members’ academic eligibility, and discovers that one member is inelegible due to grades. He notifies the basketball coach, and they check their records for the basketball season, discovering that the boy, who was a seldom used sub, should have been ineligible during the playoffs. Checking the records for the games themselves, they find that he played a few minutes at the end of an early playoff game after the team had a large, comfortable lead.
Knowing that they would likely forfeit the game in question, and with it lose the state championship, the coach notified the state athletic association of the ineligible player, and were subsequently stripped of the state championship. They notified the state athletic association because they beleived it was the right thing to do. Not one player objected, and no one in the town made a fuss. Months later, when it became national news, they (coaches, team, town) expressed surprise that there was anything newsworthy about telling the truth and doing the right thing. Truly a class act.
IIRC, the second place team refused to accept the championship trophy following the forfeit. Also a very classy thing to do.
I guess “true sportsmanship” would have been if Missouri had played the down with a pass or other move, giving Colorado a slight chance of a win.
I’d certainly agree with you on that.
The situation in the OP is common in all levels of football (soccer), and hockey (both sports where possession changes frequently), but I’d struggle to recall instances in ruby union, rugby league or Australian football.
The incident mentioned by Ell is is a candidate for the greatest act of sportsmanship ever, because not only had John Landy been expected to win the mile in world record time that day, but he won and still ran 4:04. There is a recording of the race call which gets aired occasionally that still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
fox sports has a reality video show about odd sports stuff
and it had this one on the other day
these 2 football teams were playing in south america they go for a head shot and collide or gets hit with the ball the player falls down gets badly hurt and needs cpr
Both teams work on the guy and keep him alive for the 20 minutes it takes medical help to get there
Ironically 4 people that save the guy pass out due to lack of air in helping him and need breathing treatments
the upside is all he received was a mild concussion and no brain damage for a lack of air
I recently saw the movie ‘Cobb’ with Tommy Lee Jones, and they made Cobb out to be a total jerk. It’s pretty common knowledge he was like that, but seeing it in the movie made it hit home. I pretty much fast-forwarded thru most of it because he was such a jerk I had a hard time watching the movie. But one part they did show was he was supporting some players monetarily or otherwise, I think Mickey Cochrane was one of them. Not to say Cobb was Miss Congeniality, but…
And back to the OP: I guess I’ve seen it in tennis too. A player might hit a ball the official calls ‘out’, but the opposing player might know it was ‘in’, so the opposing player will automatically hit the next shot into the net or out of bounds to even it up. I can’t think of who has done this, but I have seen it by more than one person.
Golf: Here’s an example of what I was talking about, taken from the 99.rydercup.com Web site:
Bobby Jones, during a 36-hole playoff for the 1925 U.S. Open against Willie Macfarlane, called a penalty on himself in the morning round when his ball moved in the rough as he addressed it. Only Jones saw the ball shift, yet he insisted on the penalty and eventually lost to Macfarlane by a stroke. Later, Jones waved off applause for what he’d done. “You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank,” he said.
But I’ve seen players in Hockey(Mcginnis and Shanahan are the two I specifically remember doing it) take a weak wrister over the net instead of really nailing it when a guy is helpless on the ice in front of them.