Unsurprisingly, if you look at the players that always give their full effort, always put their bodies on the line and represent the sport in a gracious manner, acting as true ambassadors of the beautiful game, they normally have one thing in common – a history of cricket. But like I said, it is of no surprise. Across the world, from India to England, cricket is known as the “gentlemen’s game” and a quick look at players past and present who have plied their trade in England’s top flight, reveals that the model pros often could have been county or international cricketers instead of footballers.
During his football career, Gary Lineker did a few things that not many can say they’ve done and each one required either a huge amount of responsibility or incredible self-discipline – traits that are not only admirable, but perhaps gentlemanly. One of them was his unparalleled disciplinary record. The former Barcelona striker, who also played for Tottenham and Everton as well as hometown club Leicester, went his entire career, for club and country, without ever being booked – be it a yellow or red card. In 1990, his twelfth season of a sixteen year career, the prolific striker received the FIFA Fair Play Award. One lesser known fact about Lineker was his ability in cricket.
Before signing his first contract for Leicester City on leaving school in 1977, Lineker was as much a cricketer as he was a footballer and believed his career was destined to be made in the former: “I was captain of the Leicestershire Schools cricket team from 11 to 16 and thought at the time I would probably have more chance afterwards in cricket than football.” Fortunately, for English football, Lineker made it in The Beautiful Game: however, his on the pitch conduct and the manner in which he carried himself, was rooted in cricket.
A look at other players who have made it and have made it big in the Premier League, such as Phil Neville, James Milner and Joe Hart – all capped for England, too – all lead back to a history in cricket, prior to going professional in the Beautiful Game over the Gentlemen’s Game. Joe Hart was “one of the most highly-rated players in the country,” with an 85mph bowl on him; Phil Neville was captain and opening batsmen for England u-15s; and James Milner played for the Yorkshire Schools cricket team. Then there was the small matter of the man who won England the World Cup with his Cup Final hat-trick against West Germany – Geoff Hurst. He too had his values honed and harnessed in cricket, retiring from the sport two years prior to winning the World Cup with England.
However, one feature less gentlemanly than most in cricket is sledging and at the weekend it crept into the spotlight when former Shrewsbury County Cricket player Joe Hart sledged Scott Sinclair prior to his penalty that the England ‘keeper consequentially saved. Sledging, a characteristic synonymous with cricket, is the attempt to distract or psych out an opponent through insulting or verbally hounding an opponent in order to gain an advantage.
In cricket, it provides a hot topic and discussion over whether it is purely light-hearted banter or a form of deviancy – behaviour which breaks the accepted social norms of a sport. Sledging, if deviant, is thus displaying poor sportsmanship (fairness in following the rules of the game), but is adhering to the Lombardian ethos of winning at all costs and is thus a display of gamesmanship, which is the art of winning games by using various ploys and tactics to gain an advantage without breaking the written rules.