The Ties that Bind

Today's blog was written by Meg Ryan, a senior accounting major in the Social Foundations of Coaching class taught by Play Like a Champion Today co-directors Clark Power and Kristin Sheehan.  Meg is also a member of the Notre Dame Track & Field and Cross Country teams. 

Imagine helping your opponent mid game. Should this be penalized? Or should the rules of the sport take precedence? After reading a recent article that has made national news this past week, this question came to mind.

Earlier this month in Saudi soccer, Al-Nahda and Al-Ittihad were playing a close match. Al-Nahda’s goalkeeper received a back pass from his teammate and realized his shoe was untied. He tried to get the referee’s attention because he would not be able to re-tie his shoes with his goalie gloves. Al-Ittihad’s striker noticed the issue and bent down to do it for him. What seemed like a great act of sportsmanship and great care for his opponent took a twist. The referee blew his whistle and ruled that the goalie had taken too much time holding the ball while his shoe was being tied. The crowded roared and both teams protested. The referee awarded Al-Ittihad with an indirect free kick on the edge of the box. Although the score was tied 2-2 and it would be a great opportunity to take the lead, the Al-Ittihad kicker intentionally missed the goal.



Two main acts of sportsmanship happened in this one short example. First, a player on the opposing team saved the goalie and tied his shoe instead of taking advantage of the goalie’s weakness. Second, the kicker chose decency over glory when awarded the free kick. He certainly could have taken the shot but he opted for sportsmanship instead.

The goalie reached out and shook the hand of the helpful striker.

This was a great example of sportsmanship and the real question deals with an idea that is not black and white. Should the Al-Nahda goalie have been penalized? Certainly the game was at a standstill with the Al-Ittihad striker deciding to help the opposing team. The crowd was roaring and applauding the action, and it was an act that would allow the game to continue in a fair way. However, the official strictly applied the rules of the game: in soccer a goal keeper cannot hold the ball for more than 6 seconds before clearing the ball out of the box. As a result, he rewarded the opposing team a free kick to penalize the goalie. Although, the rules of the game are of utmost important, I think there are certain situations, such as the one displayed above, where the rules can be bypassed. Both teams came together and neither was hurting the other team, making a penalty unnecessary. Sportsmanship is extremely important in sports and in this case since there was no true, unfair disruption the official should have let the goal keeper clear the ball from the box and let the game resume. Sportsmanship verses rules is not clear cut but I do believe that sports are a competition where athletes should respect and help their opponents, not get penalized for doing so.