“The great escape,” gasped The Australian. Fumed furious Scottish fans, "The referee robbed us."
Scotland came into their 2015 Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash with Australia in Twickenham on October 18, fighting 100-1 odds. But the Scots have forever been an indomitable lot. Scrapping hard, straining every sinew, with the rain coming down in buckets, Scotland found themselves ahead 34-32. The unthinkable was about to become reality – Australia, holders of two World Cup titles, were on the verge of being eliminated.
But, they were robbed by a moment of injustice that will rankle now for years to come. South African referee Craig Joubert awarded a penalty against Scottish player Jon Welsh for catching the ball in an offside position. Except, Joubert was wrong. Television replays showed that the ball had been handled by an Australian player before reaching Welsh, which meant that he wasn't offside. Bernand Foley converted the last-gasp penalty to send Australia through and leave the Scots heart-broken (and fuming). To add insult to injury, Joubert ran off the pitch immediately after the game, not even stopping to shake hands with the players.
Later, World Rugby, the international governing body for rugby, put out a statement confirming the decision was wrong. By then though, the damage had already been done.
World sport is full of such instances – historical wrongs where teams or players were denied what was rightfully theirs due to a mistake. Here is a look at some of them.
The Hand of God
Almost 30 years after the events on that fateful day in Mexico, the first image that comes up on a Google search for “sport cheating” is a familiar one: a fresh-faced 25-year old Diego Maradona rising up in the air, left arm outstretched, Peter Shilton, the England goal-keeper a despairing sight next to him.
“A little bit with the head of Maradona...and a little with the hand of God”, quipped Maradona, talking about that goal at the quarter-final stage against England in the 1986 World Cup. And though his next goal would go down as the Goal of the Century, it was little too late to calm down the English, who continue to harbour an intense resentment at being cheated. The fact that Maradona recently visited Ali Bin Nasser, the referee who allowed that goal and referred to him as “my eternal friend” probably did not help matters.
When 86 punches weren't enough for a gold
At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, American boxer Roy Jones Jr. was on a roll. He had entered the finals without a dropping a single round. His opening match lasted the grand total of two minutes, he won 5-0 in the second and third rounds, and was largely untroubled in the semi-final.
The final seemed to be going on expected lines. As the footage from the fight shows, Jones barely broke a sweat against his opponent Park Si-Hun, landing 86 punches to Park’s 32. Even to a complete unknown, the result was clear – Jones had comprehensively dominated his opponent.
In one of the most shocking decisions in Olympics history, three of the judges present gave the fight to Park. Bizarre scenes followed. Park looked completely distraught when he was announced the winner and was booed during the medal ceremony. He would later admit to Jones that he should not have been pronounced the victor.
A later investigation exposed shocking tales of bribery. An International Olympic Committee investigation in 1997 revealed that the offending judges had been wined and dined by the Korean organisers. Despite the investigation, the IOC refused to rescind its decision, which means that Jones still does not possess the medal that rightfully belongs to him.
The 'Hand of Frog'
The Telegraph’s match report summed it up crisply: “France cheated their way on to the last flight to South Africa.”
A place in the 2010 World Cup was at stake. France came into the second leg against the Republic of Ireland on November 18, 2009, carrying a slender one goal lead from the first leg. The Irish though had fought back – Robbie Keane scoring in the 33rd minute to equal terms. The game went into extra time and Ireland decidedly looking the better side.
And then it happened. With the clock ticking down, Florent Malouda dug in a free kick towards the near post. What happened next was astonishing – Thierry Henry, the celebrated French striker, deliberately used his left arm, first stopping it from going out of play and then using his arm to keep it in control. He then proceeded to tap it to incoming French defender William Gallas who made no mistake in putting it into goal.
Despite the injustice of it, the goal held. France won and proceeded to travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Though there were fervent calls for a replay and even a proposal for Ireland to be an unprecedented 33th team at the World Cup, nothing came of it.
In an even more painful insult to Irish fans, it was later revealed in 2015 that football’s governing body FIFA had paid the Irish football association €5 million, in return for them not taking legal action over the matter.
South Africa incur the wrath of the rain gods
It remains one of the most comic, if not tragic sights in world cricket. A packed Sydney Cricket Ground, one of the iconic venues of the game, with a scoreboard showing an absurd equation - South Africa requiring 22 runs to win off one ball. Twelve minutes and a brief spell of rain earlier, the equation read differently – South Africa needed the same 22 runs, but off 13 balls.
A farcical run rule had robbed South Africa, playing in their first World Cup in 1992 after apartheid, of a place in the final. As cricket’s new outsiders, the Proteas had quickly warmed their way into the hearts of fans, with their array of exciting players, not to mention a certain Jonty Rhodes. But what should have been an exciting finish against England had turned out to be the greatest dampener of all.
From then on, South Africa, till present, have never ever made it to the finals of a World Cup, developing a reputation for “choking” when the going gets tough. Strangely enough, the ghost of 1992 continues to haunt them with rain playing a part in many of these exits, most famously in 2003 and then again more recently in 2015.
The underarm incident
Though Australia and New Zealand enjoy a healthy camaraderie, the events of February 1, 1981, severely tested the bond and led to a full-fledged spat between the two nations.
With a three match series tied at 1-1 and New Zealand needing six runs to tie, Trevor Chappell, the younger brother of Greg Chappell and Ian Chappell, both Australian batting greats, stepped up to bowl the final delivery. Greg Chappell was always a notoriously hard competitor and to eliminate any chance of New Zealand winning, instructed his brother to bowl the final delivery underarm, an act still within the laws of cricket at that time.
Predictably, the batsman at the striker’s end Brian McKechnie failed to hit a six, throwing away his bat in disgust with the crowd booing the Australians. It did not stop there – repercussions of the act reached the high corridors of power when then Prime Minister for New Zealand described it as “the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket” and labelled it an act of “true cowardice”.
Thankfully enough unlike some of the other incidents mentioned here, things cooled down noticeably thereafter with both teams even making a joke of it 24 years later when Glenn McGrath in the first ever Twenty20 International light-heartedly mimed bowling an underarm delivery to Kyle Mills. This time though, it was taken in good spirit.
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Scotland came into their 2015 Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash with Australia in Twickenham on October 18, fighting 100-1 odds. But the Scots have forever been an indomitable lot. Scrapping hard, straining every sinew, with the rain coming down in buckets, Scotland found themselves ahead 34-32. The unthinkable was about to become reality – Australia, holders of two World Cup titles, were on the verge of being eliminated.
But, they were robbed by a moment of injustice that will rankle now for years to come. South African referee Craig Joubert awarded a penalty against Scottish player Jon Welsh for catching the ball in an offside position. Except, Joubert was wrong. Television replays showed that the ball had been handled by an Australian player before reaching Welsh, which meant that he wasn't offside. Bernand Foley converted the last-gasp penalty to send Australia through and leave the Scots heart-broken (and fuming). To add insult to injury, Joubert ran off the pitch immediately after the game, not even stopping to shake hands with the players.
Later, World Rugby, the international governing body for rugby, put out a statement confirming the decision was wrong. By then though, the damage had already been done.
World sport is full of such instances – historical wrongs where teams or players were denied what was rightfully theirs due to a mistake. Here is a look at some of them.
The Hand of God
Almost 30 years after the events on that fateful day in Mexico, the first image that comes up on a Google search for “sport cheating” is a familiar one: a fresh-faced 25-year old Diego Maradona rising up in the air, left arm outstretched, Peter Shilton, the England goal-keeper a despairing sight next to him.
“A little bit with the head of Maradona...and a little with the hand of God”, quipped Maradona, talking about that goal at the quarter-final stage against England in the 1986 World Cup. And though his next goal would go down as the Goal of the Century, it was little too late to calm down the English, who continue to harbour an intense resentment at being cheated. The fact that Maradona recently visited Ali Bin Nasser, the referee who allowed that goal and referred to him as “my eternal friend” probably did not help matters.
When 86 punches weren't enough for a gold
At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, American boxer Roy Jones Jr. was on a roll. He had entered the finals without a dropping a single round. His opening match lasted the grand total of two minutes, he won 5-0 in the second and third rounds, and was largely untroubled in the semi-final.
The final seemed to be going on expected lines. As the footage from the fight shows, Jones barely broke a sweat against his opponent Park Si-Hun, landing 86 punches to Park’s 32. Even to a complete unknown, the result was clear – Jones had comprehensively dominated his opponent.
In one of the most shocking decisions in Olympics history, three of the judges present gave the fight to Park. Bizarre scenes followed. Park looked completely distraught when he was announced the winner and was booed during the medal ceremony. He would later admit to Jones that he should not have been pronounced the victor.
A later investigation exposed shocking tales of bribery. An International Olympic Committee investigation in 1997 revealed that the offending judges had been wined and dined by the Korean organisers. Despite the investigation, the IOC refused to rescind its decision, which means that Jones still does not possess the medal that rightfully belongs to him.
The 'Hand of Frog'
The Telegraph’s match report summed it up crisply: “France cheated their way on to the last flight to South Africa.”
A place in the 2010 World Cup was at stake. France came into the second leg against the Republic of Ireland on November 18, 2009, carrying a slender one goal lead from the first leg. The Irish though had fought back – Robbie Keane scoring in the 33rd minute to equal terms. The game went into extra time and Ireland decidedly looking the better side.
And then it happened. With the clock ticking down, Florent Malouda dug in a free kick towards the near post. What happened next was astonishing – Thierry Henry, the celebrated French striker, deliberately used his left arm, first stopping it from going out of play and then using his arm to keep it in control. He then proceeded to tap it to incoming French defender William Gallas who made no mistake in putting it into goal.
Despite the injustice of it, the goal held. France won and proceeded to travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Though there were fervent calls for a replay and even a proposal for Ireland to be an unprecedented 33th team at the World Cup, nothing came of it.
In an even more painful insult to Irish fans, it was later revealed in 2015 that football’s governing body FIFA had paid the Irish football association €5 million, in return for them not taking legal action over the matter.
South Africa incur the wrath of the rain gods
It remains one of the most comic, if not tragic sights in world cricket. A packed Sydney Cricket Ground, one of the iconic venues of the game, with a scoreboard showing an absurd equation - South Africa requiring 22 runs to win off one ball. Twelve minutes and a brief spell of rain earlier, the equation read differently – South Africa needed the same 22 runs, but off 13 balls.
A farcical run rule had robbed South Africa, playing in their first World Cup in 1992 after apartheid, of a place in the final. As cricket’s new outsiders, the Proteas had quickly warmed their way into the hearts of fans, with their array of exciting players, not to mention a certain Jonty Rhodes. But what should have been an exciting finish against England had turned out to be the greatest dampener of all.
From then on, South Africa, till present, have never ever made it to the finals of a World Cup, developing a reputation for “choking” when the going gets tough. Strangely enough, the ghost of 1992 continues to haunt them with rain playing a part in many of these exits, most famously in 2003 and then again more recently in 2015.
The underarm incident
Though Australia and New Zealand enjoy a healthy camaraderie, the events of February 1, 1981, severely tested the bond and led to a full-fledged spat between the two nations.
With a three match series tied at 1-1 and New Zealand needing six runs to tie, Trevor Chappell, the younger brother of Greg Chappell and Ian Chappell, both Australian batting greats, stepped up to bowl the final delivery. Greg Chappell was always a notoriously hard competitor and to eliminate any chance of New Zealand winning, instructed his brother to bowl the final delivery underarm, an act still within the laws of cricket at that time.
Predictably, the batsman at the striker’s end Brian McKechnie failed to hit a six, throwing away his bat in disgust with the crowd booing the Australians. It did not stop there – repercussions of the act reached the high corridors of power when then Prime Minister for New Zealand described it as “the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket” and labelled it an act of “true cowardice”.
Thankfully enough unlike some of the other incidents mentioned here, things cooled down noticeably thereafter with both teams even making a joke of it 24 years later when Glenn McGrath in the first ever Twenty20 International light-heartedly mimed bowling an underarm delivery to Kyle Mills. This time though, it was taken in good spirit.
