The opening weekend of the English football league was highlighted by a rare piece of sportsmanship courtesy of Doncaster Rovers manager Paul Dickov.
The League 1 game was already in added time when Bury goalkeeper Chris Walton kicked the ball out of play because of an injury to a Doncaster player. As is now unspoken tradition, after such an incident you give the ball back to your opponents. From the subsequent throw-in, Doncaster’s Harry Forrester unfortunately mistimed his kick which went sailing over the head of the Bury goalkeeper into the goal.
Although it was clearly unintentional, the referee had no choice but to let the goal stand. At first Dickov tried to get the referee to blow for a foul throw, which would have negated the goal, but that didn’t work.
So with seconds remaining, Dickov ordered his team to let Bury score an equaliser. From the ensuing kick-off, Doncaster allowed Bury’s Leon Clarke to “dribble” the ball unchallenged down the field to score the easiest goal ever in his career.
Dickov, who played much of his career at Manchester City, said he “didn’t think twice” about making that decision. “You can’t win a game like that,” he said.
Bury manager, David Flitcroft, praised Dickov’s actions saying he had “put football in a good place’’ with his sportsmanship. “If you lose morality, the game has no substance for me,” said the Bury manager.
Forrester also apologised for his unintended goal.
“Apologies to Bury for the shank,’’ he said. “I haven’t got that placement from 40 yards I can assure you. It was totally accidental.”
Regrettably, in football these days we do not get too many examples of good sportsmanship, but it is not totally unprecedented.
Perhaps the most famous incident of its kind, although with some complications, took place in 1999 when Arsenal were playing Sheffield United in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Just as in the case at Doncaster, United goalkeeper Alan Kelly kicked the ball into touch because one of his team was injured. Ray Parlour’s throw-in went to Kanu who he expected to kick the ball gently back to the ‘keeper. Instead Kanu passed it across the goalmouth to Marc Overmars who banged in what turned out to be the winning goal in an Arsenal 2-1 victory.
Kanu, who had only just joined Arsenal, claimed that he was not aware of the unwritten law of giving the ball back to the other side.
Clearly embarrassed, manager Arsene Wenger retrieved the situation by immediately offering to replay the game, which they did, also winning 2-1. Wenger came up smelling of roses. Not only did he display good sportsmanship, he also won. Now that combination doesn’t happen very often. Fair play and decency are usually equated with losing.
Of course it was a good PR move by Wenger. If Arsenal had sneaked through to the next round of the Cup through devious means they would have been abused for the rest of the season by fans and press alike.
Another famous sportsmanship incident featuring Arsenal occurred a couple of years earlier, in 1997. Arsenal were hosting Liverpool at Highbury and in a tight game Robbie Fowler broke through and appeared to have been brought down by goalkeeper Alan Seaman. Fowler immediately got up and shook his head, clearly saying to the referee “He didn’t touch me”.
The referee either didn’t hear or didn’t want to hear and insisted on a penalty kick. Fowler took it himself but it was rather weak and Seaman saved it, only to see the ball rebound to Jason McAteer who promptly scored and Liverpool went on to win 2-1.
Fowler was later rewarded with an Fifa Fair Play award.
Another unusual incident took place when Leiceter City and Nottingham Forest met in the Carling Cup in 2007. Forest led 1-0 at half time, but during the break Leicester’s Clive Clark collapsed in the dressing room and the ref abandoned the match.
Three weeks later, when the game was replayed, Leicester allowed Forest ‘keeper Paul Smith to run down the pitch without being challenged to restore their lead. Despite this display of sportsmanship, Leicester went on to win.
One of the most famous cases of good sportsmanship came from the unlikeliest source, Pablio di Canio playing for West Ham against Everton at Goodison Park. Just before the final whistle the ball was crossed into the middle where Di Canio had a great chance of scoring the winning goal.
Instead, to everyone’s astonishment he caught the ball and pointed out to the referee that Everton goalie was lying on the ground, apparently badly injured.
In one of the most bizarre scenes ever, the stunned Everton crowd, who had been loudly jeering the Italian the entire match ended up giving him a standing ovation.
West Ham manager Harry Redknapp couldn’t believe it. Deep down, Harry must have been furious Di Canio hadn’t blasted the ball home and earned three precious away points. Instead Redknapp came out with “We’re very proud of him,” although he didn’t sound too convincing.
When Redknapp added: “The other lads are probably beating him up in the dressing room at the moment,” you got the feeling that Harry wouldn’t have minded joining in.
As we enter the second week of the season it might be time to recall the words of US sportswriter Grantland Rice:
For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks — not that you won or lost
But how you played the game.