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Sportsmanship, be it in any sport, is cherished because of its rarity. In football, diving and cheating is extremely common, which makes those seldom moments of respect and sportsmanship ones to remember.
Paolo Di Canio stopping play when the opposing keeper was injured, Ruud Fuller giving the opponents a shoulder to cry on after getting relegated, and so on, are some iconic moments displaying fair play.
There were a few such heartwarming incidents in the last year as well, making it clear why football is called 'the beautiful game'. Let's have a look at few such heartening episodes in recent times:
#5 Messi asks referee not to give a free kick after going down
What's there to be said about Lionel Messi? Footballer extraordinaire, Messi is enthralling to watch when he is on the ball. It was another day at the office for Leo on the 10th of December, 2016 against Osasuna - where he scored twice, with the second goal displaying vintage Messi skills, humiliating four defenders before a sublime finish.
However, he just gave football fans more reasons to respect and love him with a brief moment of sportsmanship during the match. Cameras showed Messi asking the referee not to give a free kick after he went down too easily without enough contact.
It was a small and noble act on the football field, which is so very rare in this era when diving is prevalent. A footballing phenomenon and a decent bloke on top of it.
#4 Romelu Lukaku comforts Benfica's young goalkeeper after his error leads to a defeat
Mile Svilar, the youngest goalkeeper to ever start a UEFA Champions League match at the age of 18, made his debut against a high-flying Manchester United side for Benfica in Gameweek 3 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League.
He would have hoped to make a strong first impression by putting in a good performance after just making his full debut for the team the previous week against a second division Portugal side. But, what the night turned out to be was a nightmare for the youngster.
Due to Jose Mourinho's pragmatic approach in crucial away games, this game started as another dull affair with United hesitant to attack fiercely. At the hour mark, Marcus Rashford's free-kick looped into the box which should have been an easy catch for the keeper.
But Svilar was off his line. Backpedalling, the young Belgian stopper claimed the ball, but as he did, it crossed the line, handing United the breakthrough at the Estadio da Luiz. The match concluded with that solitary goal coming from the error making the difference, United running out winners on the night.
At the end of the game, Lukaku gave the fans a moment to remember as he walked to his fellow countryman Svilar and consoled him. He spent about 30 seconds with the goalkeeper providing him words of comfort and encouragement and hugged him a few times, a moving gesture of sportsmanship from the striker.
Slowly but surely becoming a fan favourite at United, the Belgian forward gave another reason for fans to appreciate him.
“Yeah, it was nice,” Svilar said after the defeat. “He [Lukaku] just said that I don’t have to worry, continue to work and it will be okay.”
It was a lovely gesture of sportsmanship at its finest from the United players, especially Lukaku, who shares his hometown with the Benfica goalkeeper. Those words would have definitely done a world of good for the goalkeeper's confidence, and would have given him the power to not back down and come back stronger.
Moments like these are exaclty what football needs.
#3 Fernando Torres' head injury, and Francis Kone
In a La Liga fixture between Atletico Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna in March, Fernando Torres was knocked out cold due to a clash of heads with Deportivo's Alejandro Bergantinos. It was horrific to watch as his head bounced off the turf, rendering him unconscious right away.
The presence of mind of his teammates Gabi and Sime Vrsaljko received praise from all over as their reaction prevented Torres from swallowing his tongue. The Deportivo players also frantically waved for medics shunning any thoughts about the match for a while, praying for the player to be alright.
Deportivo's club doctor Carlos Larino praised the duo's perfect reaction which prevented the incident from turning into a very serious injury. Another beautiful act of sportsmanship on the football field.
The club described his injury as a brain trauma injury later in a tweet. After undergoing CT scans, the player was cleared to leave the hospital as he luckily had suffered no major injury.
Torres was later able to Tweet: "Many thanks to all concerned by me and for your messages of encouragement. It was just a scare. I hope to return very soon!"
Similarly, another inspiring human being on the football ground is Slovacko's Togolese player Francis Kone, playing in the Czech First League. Not new to saving lives on the football field, Kone saved the life of opposition player Bohemians 1905's goalkeeper - Martin Berkovec, after he fell unconscious due to a collision with a team-mate.
“I can’t stand there, watching someone suffocate, without doing something. I just can’t,” Kone told FIFA.com. “I didn’t even think about it.”
The player was awarded the FIFA Fair Play Award at The Best FIFA Football awards gala in October. Kone aided a player on the field for an astonishing fourth time in his career. Like Gabi in Torres' incident, he prevented suffocation by moving the tongue with his fingers. A lot to learn from this true hero on the football pitch!
#2 Felix Bastians rejects penalty when 1-0 down
In a match in the German Bundesliga between Darmstadt and Vfl Bochum, Aytac Sulu gave Darmstadt the lead in the 24th minute of the game. A few minutes later, Bochum wingback Felix Bastians was allegedly brought down after a marauding run into the box for which the team was awarded a penalty by the referee.
An act of honesty and true sportsmanship followed, as Bastians went to the referee and acknowledged that he had simulated a fall inside the box, and asked the referee to cancel the penalty decision.
The Darmstadt players lauded the wingback, hugging him after he requested the referee to overturn the call. What was truly praise-worthy is that he did this in the second half when his team was a goal down!
Diving and cheating have become part and parcel of the game, therefore such moments in a football game are cherished by the viewers as well as the players.
Vfl Bochum anyway went on to win the game 2-1 with two goals in the last ten minutes, showing that the game played in the right spirit is not a disadvantage at all. An excellent example of true sportsmanship.
#1 Borussia Dortmund supporters take in AS Monaco fans after blast causes postponement
Prior to the Champions League quarter-final between AS Monaco and Borussia Dortmund, three blasts damaged the Bundesliga side's team bus, forcing the fixture to be moved to the next day. Marc Bartra suffered a hand fracture in the incident, in what turned out to be a scary evening for the team.
"Borussia Dortmund is especially strong in extreme situations. Everyone will come even closer together and I'm sure the team will feel this." - Dortmund CEO Watzke
Dortmund fans took the initiative to take in Monaco supporters into their homes which was lauded. Supporters of both clubs posted various images and messages to Twitter after Dortmund's official Twitter account called on their own fans to help out their Monaco counterparts, using the hashtag #bedforawayfans.
This is the perfect example of why football is a unifying force. Fans and people from all around the world come together. An important gesture from Borussia Dortmund and its fans reminded us that football is more than a game. The Monaco fans chanted in solidarity at the Signal Iduna Park during the match, which can be seen below:
