Worst sportsmanship ever? Worst sportsmanship ever.

The team in black, down 1-0 with 5 minutes left in a game, had a player get go down "injured" and the white team, as is soccer custom, kicked the ball out of bounds to allow for him to recover. Instead of throwing it back to the white team, the team in black rushed a throw in, and the "injured" player miraculously sprung from the ground to take the shot that created the equalizer.

Not that I ever support a fight breaking out, but if a team ever had cause for fisticuffs, the team in white does.

Also, I should mention this happened in Italy. Shocking.

I saw this happen in a game in Argentina.

The ref just called an injury stoppage at the throw in and insisted the "injured" player be hauled off on a stretcher (even though he was ambulatory) and let him stand on the sideline until the next stoppage.

The Italian ref was obviously a rookie.

Mickey Mantle: "A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide"

Watch as the player (#9) runs away to hide.

"Sportsmanship, next to the Church, is the greatest teacher of morals."
Herbert Hoover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SyiQN2yu5w

This was just as bad or worse...

My fav.

Like a piece of gum on my shoe"

Purplegeezer wrote:The Italian ref was obviously a rookie.

COUGH or on the take COUGH COUGH..

My favorite:


At least the FA had the stones to ban one of the best strikers in the game for an entire year... I'm looking at you David Stern.

Cantona's only regret about the whole incident? "That I didn't kick him harder."

At least he's honest.

DaTruRochin wrote:

Purplegeezer wrote:The Italian ref was obviously a rookie.

COUGH or on the take COUGH COUGH..

My favorite:


At least the FA had the stones to ban one of the best strikers in the game for an entire year... I'm looking at you David Stern.

Cantona's only regret about the whole incident? "That I didn't kick him harder."

At least he's honest.

Ashley Cole would have just flashed his Red Ryder BB gun at the guy, or called on his pals Smith & Wesson.

Sorry, that wasn't fair. It was an AIR gun...

Honestly, I think what happened in that Italian game is worse than the fighting with the fans stuff in terms of sportsmanship. Fighting with fans just makes someone hot-tempered and an ass (and, of course, those fans aren't shining examples of civility themselves).

But faking an injury, taking advantage of a long-standing tradition in soccer of "fair play" for injuries, and then scoring an equalizer off of it? Disgusting.

I wish I could find it, but just a month or two ago there was a video of a team (in England, I think) that accidentally scored when trying to pass the ball back to a team in an injury situation just like this. (It wasn't meant to be a shot, but the keeper was out of position and it got past him.) On the ensuing kick-off, the team that had just scored all stood still and allowed the opposing team to score an uncontested goal.

Where does kicking a team's beloved owl mascot off the field rate?



I should note that the offender is facing potential criminal charges...

I gotta admit. That trumps Alonzo kicking vanGundy off the court...

Stonehouse wrote:
I wish I could find it, but just a month or two ago there was a video of a team (in England, I think) that accidentally scored when trying to pass the ball back to a team in an injury situation just like this. (It wasn't meant to be a shot, but the keeper was out of position and it got past him.) On the ensuing kick-off, the team that had just scored all stood still and allowed the opposing team to score an uncontested goal.

Holland nearly scored on Spain like this in the World Cup Final. Casillas was able to knock the ball out and Holland rolled the corner kick back to him.

Stonehouse wrote:Honestly, I think what happened in that Italian game is worse than the fighting with the fans stuff in terms of sportsmanship. Fighting with fans just makes someone hot-tempered and an ass (and, of course, those fans aren't shining examples of civility themselves).

I have to disagree. Love it or hate it...heckling is commonplace in sports whether it's civil or not. That doesn't give 6'7, 260 lb. Ron Artest an excuse to climb up into the stands and start whaling on a fan... The players have to have a thick skin and ignore that kind of stuff or their careers will be cut short. Professional athletes get heckled every day and some even receive death threats. But, ignoring those things or finding more mature ways to deal with them has to be the way to go.

onetouchfootball wrote:Professional athletes get heckled every day and some even receive death threats. But, ignoring those things or finding more mature ways to deal with them has to be the way to go.

Well, except in golf or tennis. Never could figure out why a golfer needs total silence to hit a stationary ball, but a batter has to hit a ball coming at him at 90 mph with a stadium full of hecklers.