AGC #031 - When is bad sportsmanship justified?

Field hockey didn’t have the 2024 Olympics’ most engaging narratives - until the end.

Bitter European rivals Germany and the Netherlands played out a 1-1 draw that sent the men’s final to a tense shootout.

Duco Telgenkamp calmly stroked home the winner for the Dutch and peeled away to celebrate gold, but then gloated in the face of crestfallen German goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneburg.

After Telgenkamp “shushed” Danneburg and swiped his helmet, German players were left furious and had to be restrained by Telgenkamp's teammates.

Now, field hockey had the world’s attention.

Most rushed to condemn Telgenkamp’s lack of sportsmanship in the ensuing social media pile-on, arguing that it was particularly unnecessary with the outcome already decided.

However, others saw it as justice being served cold.

The countries’ sporting rivalry is intense, and Telgenkamp admitted he took exception to Danneburg’s pre-match comments that suggested the Dutch were “afraid” of the Germans.

There were other flashpoints, verbal sparring, and physicality during the game, and some even claimed that Danneburg’s number (74) is a thinly veiled reference to the 1974 soccer World Cup final, won by West Germany against a heavily favored and beloved Netherlands team.

Others dismissed it as an irrelevant scuffle between two young athletes (Danneburg is 21 years old, Telgenkamp is 22), while there was also a school of thought that sport needs villains, and that a vanilla sport like field hockey could use more controversy and talking points.

There have been famous examples of poor sportsmanship that were either so violent or so calculated and deliberate, that they were universally criticized.

Mike Tyson biting Evander Holyfield’s ear (twice!) in a heavyweight boxing match in 1997 springs to mind in the former category.

Lance Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after being found guilty of one of the most sophisticated doping schemes in the history of cycling ticks the latter box.

But the most intriguing instances of bad sportsmanship are ones like Telgenkamp’s that cause barstool debates - heat-of-the-moment actions that either make the perpetrator a legendary figure for some, and a pariah for others.

I’m re-reading Sam Walker’s outstanding book on leadership, The Captain Class, as I do every couple of years before my team’s season starts.

It challenges our preconceived notions on the role of captains, citing the leaders from some of the most dominant teams across multiple sports as examples.

Many of those captains were willing to push the limits of sportsmanship in pursuit of victory:

So is it better to be a hated winner, or a loved loser?

Here are four more stories of sportspeople who did whatever it took to win - and stirred controversy along the way.

Soccer: Multiple Hands of God

The 1986 soccer World Cup quarter-final between England and Argentina is forever remembered for Diego Maradona’s handball goal that should never have stood.

The mercurial Argentine raised a fist to beat English goalkeeper Peter Shilton to a dropping ball and propel it, illegally, to the net. The goal stood as none of the officials had seen it. Argentina went on to win 2-1, with Maradona famously stating the goal was made “a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God”.

Maradona eventually acknowledged he had illegally handled the ball, adding that he considered the goal “symbolic revenge” for the United Kingdom’s victory over Argentina in the Falklands War four years earlier.

There have been numerous “Hand of God” incidents since.

William Gallas scored a decisive late goal for France to qualify for the 2010 World Cup at the Republic of Ireland’s expense, despite Thierry Henry assisting after controlling the ball multiple times with his hand.

The 2014 World Cup quarter-finals saw Uruguay’s star player Luis Suarez red carded after deliberately stopping a goal-bound Ghana shot with his hands. Uruguay survived and went on to win on penalties.

Cricket: Chappell’s underhanded underarm

The third match of a test series between Australia and New Zealand in 1981 came down to the final ball.

New Zealand needed the maximum six runs to tie the match, and therefore the series; any other outcome would see an Australian victory.

Aussie captain Greg Chappell changed the course of cricket history when instructing his younger brother, Trevor, to bowl the final ball underarm.

The action was not illegal, but it prevented Kiwi batsman Brian McKechnie from being able to hit a six-run shot, ensuring an Australian victory.

Both countries’ prime ministers condemned the incident, while the third Chappell brother, Ian, famously said on TV commentary: “No, Greg, you can’t do that!”

Formula One: Schumacher’s salacious swerve

The 1994 Formula One season went down to the wire, with Germany’s Michael Schumacher leading Damon Hill of England by one point ahead of the sixteenth and final race at the Australian Grand Prix.

Despite neither qualifying in pole position, the duo quickly took command of the race, with Schumacher just about holding off Hill for the first half.

But when Hill attempted to pass Schumacher at the Adelaide track’s fifth turn, the German turned inwards, causing a collision that ended his race as he crashed into a barrier.

Hill’s hopes were dashed too, as the wishbone of his suspension had broken in the clash, forcing his retirement.

That ensured Schumacher won the first of his seven F1 titles en route to becoming one of the sport’s greatest drivers of all time. Hill has since gone on record to say he was “100% sure it was intentional”.

Schumacher never revealed any intent, and likely never will. Having suffered a serious brain injury in a tragic skiing accident in 2013, he has not been seen in public since as his family keeps his condition private.

Volleyball: Cuba cusses out Brazil

If field hockey has Germany-Netherlands 2024, volleyball has Cuba-Brazil 1996.

In a story that’s hard to find online but is outlined in great detail in The Captain Class, Cuban captain Mireya Luis hatched a plan to give her out-of-form side an edge in the Olympic semi-finals: call the opposition names.

While “sledging“ is common in some sports, this was a new departure for women’s volleyball.

Unbeknownst to their coach, Luis had hatched a plan with her team to say “the worst things one woman can say to another” to the Brazilians.

The more tense the game got, the worse the insults became. Brazilian appeals to the umpire went largely unrewarded with just a couple of warnings, and needing just two points to win, they lost their composure and control.

After Luis hit the winning smash for Cuba, all hell broke loose, with 12 Atlanta police officers required to break up the fighting between the teams. The Cubans couldn’t depart the arena until 3am when the last angry Brazilian fans had left.

Cuba went on to win gold, but volleyball fans remain split on Luis’ actions, given they didn’t involve cheating, but violated the spirit of fair play and contributed massively to the victory.