An old-fashioned cricket lover’s reaction to Thierry Henry’s handball — an obviously unsporting act that helped catapult France into the World Cup football Finals at the expense of a luckless Ireland — might have been, “it isn’t cricket.” The talented French striker did take less than exemplary advantage of a refereeing error, one of omission rather than commission, at a crucial stage in the game. But then, on the same scale of judgment, much of cricket “isn’t cricket.” Would a similar incident in a major, high-stakes international cricket tournament elicit as much invective as Henry’s transgression did in the British press? A cricketing equivalent might be the case of a top-rated batsman not ‘walking’ after edging to the keeper. (The rationalisation would essentially be the same as Henry’s, “I’m not the ref.”) Just as there is nothing in the laws of cricket that compels a batsman to ‘walk’ following an umpiring error, there is no rule in football that required Henry to call the attention of the referee to his own handling of the ball. For a Brian Lara or Adam Gilchrist or Kumar Sangakkara — three ‘walkers’ — there have been dozens of batsmen who have stayed put to take advantage of their good fortune. Gundappa Viswanath, a gem of a sportsman, recalled Bob Taylor at a critical stage in the Golden Jubilee Test between India and England in Bombay in 1980.
When it comes to chivalry, the track record of sport is actually mixed. To be fair to today’s players, their counterparts in the old days were not subjected to the scrutiny of multiple camera angles, Super Slo-mo, Snickometer, and Hawk Eye. As the stakes have skyrocketed in an era of hyper-commercialisation, sportsmen have often struggled to maintain high standards of fair play in the constant glare of spotlight. Relying on proven technology to minimise, if not to eliminate, subjective human error will certainly help. The Decision Review System being tried out in the ongoing Test series between New Zealand and Pakistan is a step in the right direction. The DRS delivered on the first day of the Dunedin Test when TV umpire Rudi Koertzen reversed Simon Taufel’s leg before wicket verdict against Brendon McCullum. In football, Michel Platini’s proposal to place more officials behind the goal for spotting errors holds a lot of promise; it has been put on trial in the UEFA Europa League. It would be naïve to expect sportsmen to be moral exemplars in the heat of battle. But review systems would help keep them on the straight and narrow and might eventually even lead to self-regulation. Who knows? Maybe, we will see more Laras, Gilchrists and Sangakkaras in the future.
Comments:
There may not be any rule in soccer that required Henry to call the attention of the referee to his own handling of the ball,still by doing so,his act would have,besides establishing his true sportsmanship,sent his stock so high in the world of sports that he may even have been almost deified in the eyes of all soccer lovers the world over.As rightly pointed out by you,there are also no such rules in cricket but "walking" is what has extablished the greatness of Lara,Gilchrist,Sangakkara more than their cricketing performances and records.
I am pained to find that Sachin Tendulkar has not been included in the list of batsmen who display fair play.
You have rightly said that,"Just as there is nothing in the laws of cricket that compels a batsman to ‘walk’ following an umpiring error, there is no rule in football that required Henry to call the attention of the referee to his own handling of the ball. For a Brian Lara or Adam Gilchrist or Kumar Sangakkara — three ‘walkers’ — there have been dozens of batsmen who have stayed put to take advantage of their good fortune. Gundappa Viswanath, a gem of a sportsman, recalled Bob Taylor at a critical stage in the Golden Jubilee Test between India and England in Bombay in 1980". Errors are quite common in any game. Accepting it is a sportman. It needs no law to accept any error made by the referee after all sports is for entertainment only.
Thierry Henry's handball was perhaps as he said a reflex action. But if he had felt so, nothing prevented him from drawing the attention of the refree to his misdeed. He has not been a good sportsman. He has famously butted his head last season in a very unsportsmanlike act.
As it is being discussed, walking is not there in the rule books. Sachin Tendulkar doesnt walk. Fine! Neither does he squirm when given out unfairly. There have been a zillion incidents one can recall, the most bizzare being the Shoulder Before Wicket. Inspite of all the brouhaha, he chose to remain silent. He is one who respects the game as it is now. Fine, Gilchrists and Laras may seem to be a step ahead of Sachin. Though I dont recall any incident in particular, acts such as sledging, typically Australian, might push Gilchrist down the order!