Cheats Sometimes Prosper
At Mexico ’86, England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Argentine captain Diego Maradona converged on a cross. Shilton, eight inches taller than 5ft 4in Maradona, would have confidently met the cross had it not been for the leaping forward’s right arm, which punched the ball into the net, undetected by match officials. 2006 marks the twentieth anniversary of ‘the hand of god’, so in commemoration, here are 10 examples of cheats, some successful, others banned.
1. Fred Lorz
The marathon at the 1904 St Louis Olympic Games was held on a sweltering afternoon and followed a testing mountainous course. Only 14 of the 32 starters completed the race. First home was New Yorker Fred Lorz, who raced in with a time of three hours and 13 minutes.
Having been congratulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s daughter, Lorz was about to receive the gold medal when it transpired that he had covered 11 miles – almost half the course – as a car passenger. The crowd’s acclaim immediately turned to anger and abuse, and Lorz was handed a lifetime ban which was later lifted.
2. Andy Haden
November 11, 1978 saw the mighty New Zealand All Black rugby team playing the hardest game of their British tour. Looking down the barrel at defeat against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park, they resorted to cheating tactics. Trailing 10-12 with minutes to go, the All Blacks won a lineout deep in the opposition half.
As the ball was thrown in, lock Andy Haden fell away from the lineout as though illegally shoved. The conned referee awarded a penalty to New Zealand, which full-back Brian McKechnie duly converted (although he would get his comeuppance – see 11). Although the All Blacks went on to win the game and the Grand Slam that year, the incident became known as ‘the great dive to victory’, and followed Haden throughout his career.
3. Michel Pollentier
After ascending Alpe d'Huez and winning the coveted yellow jersey in the 1978 Tour de France, Belgian race leader Michel Pollentier failed his post-stage drug test – not because anything illegal had been found in his urine sample, but because the urine sample wasn’t his.
Reports claim that officials organising the post-stage test became suspicious when he, ‘began pumping his elbow in and out as if playing a set of bagpipes’, a la Withnail. When ordered to lift his top, he did so to uncover a complex plumbing system running from a rubber, urine-filled bulb under his arm to the test tube.
At Mexico ’86, England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Argentine captain Diego Maradona converged on a cross. Shilton, eight inches taller than 5ft 4in Maradona, would have confidently met the cross had it not been for the leaping forward’s right arm, which punched the ball into the net, undetected by match officials. 2006 marks the twentieth anniversary of ‘the hand of god’, so in commemoration, here are 10 examples of cheats, some successful, others banned.
1. Fred LorzThe marathon at the 1904 St Louis Olympic Games was held on a sweltering afternoon and followed a testing mountainous course. Only 14 of the 32 starters completed the race. First home was New Yorker Fred Lorz, who raced in with a time of three hours and 13 minutes.
Having been congratulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s daughter, Lorz was about to receive the gold medal when it transpired that he had covered 11 miles – almost half the course – as a car passenger. The crowd’s acclaim immediately turned to anger and abuse, and Lorz was handed a lifetime ban which was later lifted.
2. Andy HadenNovember 11, 1978 saw the mighty New Zealand All Black rugby team playing the hardest game of their British tour. Looking down the barrel at defeat against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park, they resorted to cheating tactics. Trailing 10-12 with minutes to go, the All Blacks won a lineout deep in the opposition half.
As the ball was thrown in, lock Andy Haden fell away from the lineout as though illegally shoved. The conned referee awarded a penalty to New Zealand, which full-back Brian McKechnie duly converted (although he would get his comeuppance – see 11). Although the All Blacks went on to win the game and the Grand Slam that year, the incident became known as ‘the great dive to victory’, and followed Haden throughout his career.
3. Michel PollentierAfter ascending Alpe d'Huez and winning the coveted yellow jersey in the 1978 Tour de France, Belgian race leader Michel Pollentier failed his post-stage drug test – not because anything illegal had been found in his urine sample, but because the urine sample wasn’t his.
Reports claim that officials organising the post-stage test became suspicious when he, ‘began pumping his elbow in and out as if playing a set of bagpipes’, a la Withnail. When ordered to lift his top, he did so to uncover a complex plumbing system running from a rubber, urine-filled bulb under his arm to the test tube.
4. Neil BackIn the closing minutes of the 2002 Heineken Cup final at the Millennium Stadium, Leicester Tigers were looking to hold on to their slender lead against a powerful Munster team.
Facing an opposition scrum on their own five-metre line and under tumultuous pressure, back-row forward Neil Back – a master of rugby’s dark arts – illegally swiped the ball out of Munster’s scrum-half’s hands, and back into the scrum on Leicester’s side. The referee missed the incident and Leicester gleefully kicked the ball clear to win the game.
5. David Robertson
In the 1985 qualifying round for the Open at Deal, Kent, former Scottish boys champion David Robertson took advantage of golf’s culture of honesty and self-regulation.
After 14 holes Robertson’s playing companions called an official who disqualified him for repeatedly replacing his ball incorrectly on the greens. By arriving on the green first Robertson would appear to mark his ball before surreptitiously moving it closer to the hole. The shamed golfer was fined £20,000 and banned from the PGA European Tour for 20 years.
6. Ben JohnsonAt the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Canadian 100m sprinter Ben Johnson wished to improve on the bronze he had won four years previously in Los Angeles, where great rival Carl Lewis had taken home the gold. After Johnson only qualified as fastest loser in the second round, the smart money was on Lewis. In the final, however, Johnson rose to the occasion.
Obliterating the competition as he reached a maximum speed of 27 mph, Johnson broke the world record (9.79secs), and finished almost a metre ahead of Lewis. Johnson was hailed by Canadians as a national hero, partly for putting one over their annoyingly successful US neighbours, and partly because he had won Canada‘s first gold medal. His popularity was short-lived, however, as he failed a doping test after the race. His trainer later admitted that Johnson had been taking anabolic steroids since 1981. His medals and records were taken from him, and he was banned for two years. Johnson, unsurprisingly never found gold medal form again.
7. Sylvester Carmouche
On a very foggy day in January 1990, at Louisana's Delta Downs track, Sylvester Carmouche aroused the suspicions of the stewards by riding home 23-1 outsider Landing Officer by 24 lengths in just a second over the course record.
It transpired that Carmouche, who initially protested his innocence, had dropped out of the one-mile race as soon as he was out of view, only to rejoin it just before the rest of the field came round on the second lap. He finally admitted what he had done and served a ban for eight years.
8. Michelle Smith de BruinMichelle Smith de Bruin became the darling of Ireland after winning three swimming gold medals at Atlanta 1996 – the only gold medals Ireland had ever been awarded* – and one bronze. Suspicions of foul play were voiced by rivals, and the fact that her husband and coach – Dutchman Erik de Bruin (former discus competitor) – had served a four year ban for testing positive for illegal levels of testosterone, did not help her.
Two years after the success at Atlanta the swimmer was banned for four years, not for testing positive, but for switching her urine sample. After laboratory analysis the sample, which had ‘a very strong whiskey odour’, was found to contain traces of whiskey, ‘in no way compatible with human consumption’. Although Smith de Bruin was not stripped of her medals she became a hate figure among Irish people.
*The luck of the Irish - Ireland did win a gold medal at Athens 2004 in show jumping, only for the horse to fail a drugs test, therefore the medal was rescinded.
9. Boris OnischenkoRepresenting the Ukraine in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, respected pentathlete Boris Onischenko was looking to improve on the silver medal he had been awarded four years previously in Munich. In his desire to win, Boris bent the rules by using a crooked sword.
Onischenko, having wired a switch into the handle of his epee (duelling sword), was able him to claim an electronic ‘hit’ even when he missed. When GB’s Adrian Parker and then Jim Fox reported their doubts over the authenticity of Onischenko’s victories, his weapon was replaced, and he was eventually disqualified. Fencing rules were subsequently changed so that grips that could hide wires or switches were banned.
10. White Sox (1919 World Series team)
The "Black Sox" scandal was coined after eight Chicago White Sox players were charged with accepting money from gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series, won 5-3 by the Cincinnati Reds.
The gamblers promised $100,000 to eight Sox players, and the following year a grand jury convened in Chicago to investigate the case. Many of the eight, including ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson, confessed to the jury as they had been promised that no action would be taken against them. Reneging on their promise, the judges immediately suspended the players. Upon leaving the courtroom, a young boy is said to have called out to Jackson: "Say it ain't so, Joe". The phrase became one of the most famous in American sporting history.
And the 11th man - Trevor Chappell - did not cheat as such, but his unsporting behaviour caused the rules of cricket to change.On 1 February 1981 New Zealand were chasing Australia’s 235 in the third final of
the 1980/1 Benson & Hedges World Cup Series. With one over left to bowl New Zealand required only 15 runs to seal an unlikely victory. Aussie captain Greg Chappell called his youngest brother, Trevor, on to bowl.
Off the first five balls nine runs were scored and two wickets fell, leaving the new batsman Brian McKechnie (see 2) with one ball to score a six to win the game. Chappell senior ordered his brother to bowl the remaining ball underarm, carpet bowls style. Trevor executed his captain’s plan, to the disgust of McKechnie, who threw his bat to the ground after defending the ball, and the dismay of his Australian team-mates. Due to the ensuing uproar, which almost caused an international incident, underarm bowling was promptly banned and Chappell has never been forgiven by New Zealand or Australian cricket fans alike.
Labels: Andy Haden, Ben Johnson, Boris Onischenko, cheat, David Robertson, Fred Lorz, Michel Pollentier, Michelle Smith de Bruin, Neil Back, Sports, Sylvester Carmouche, Trevor Chappell, White Sox
After a poor showing in the past two Six Nations Championships, Robinson needed to boost his England Elite squad before the World Cup in France, which starts in September 2007. Phil Clarke agrees that Robinson has addressed where there are gaps in the team, and has earmarked RL players to fill them. So far back row Andy Farrell has been unlucky with injury, and has not yet started for Saracens, but Robinson is still keen regardless. “Farrell is still a realistic prospect for the World Cup. Once he is fit, I still think he can make a big impact,” Robinson said.