Hand-balls, Hacking and Prejudice in the Press
Tags: Racism, Shilton, Maradona, Hand Of God, Cheating

Hand-balls, Hacking and Prejudice in the Press Tommypia Follow Nov 29 · 5 min read

Following the death of Diego Maradona, I was surprised to see Peter Shilton trending on Twitter. I assumed it would be in relation to Diego’s fantastic solo goal which culminated in a shimmy past Shilton before he slotted home, but it was actually the result of a series of interviews which Shilton had been giving to most major news outlets. I thought it was unusual that the British media were scrambling over themselves to interview a keeper who had only had a limited number of interactions with El Pibe de Oro, until I watched one of these interviews and began to understand the narrative they were trying to construct: Maradona was a genius, but he was also a cheat! Shilton is actually quite complimentary in most of the interviews, but the tag lines tell a different story: “Shilton claims Maradona never apologised”, “Shilton refuses to forgive Maradona”, “Shilton says: he was great, but had no sportsmanship.”

In case anybody reading does not know what is being referred to: shortly before the sublime dribble, Maradona had leapt above Shilton, somehow overcoming the nine inch height difference between them, and punched the ball into the net. He then proceeded to run off in wild celebration, thereby duping the linesman and referee into concluding he had headed it in. Post-match he would go on to claim that it was the ‘hand of God’ which scored that goal — a cheeky take which Shilton and a handful of other England players didn’t appreciate at the time. However in his most recent interviews Shilton has made it clear that he’s not only dropped the grudge, but also considers Maradona to be the greatest player he ever played against. The “cheat” narrative has largely been constructed by the press — in part to increase engagement — but also because it handily plays into the narrative of British exceptionalism which continues to permeate British punditry and reporting of football events.

To be clear, the goal should not have stood and this wasn’t the first time that Maradona had scored using his hand, but the idea that his actions and more generally the actions of non-British footballers, in particular players from Latin America or Southern Europe, are more dishonest or conniving than the actions of British players, is ridiculous. In the very same match, and throughout that tournament, Maradona was the target of ruthless challenges, any number of which could have ended his career. England’s defence were famed for their “hard tackles” — the likes of Terry Butcher building an entire career on the back of kicking players off the ball — which begs the question: why was this form of, arguably more harmful, cheating permitted and, in many cases, celebrated while a hand ball was/is deemed the pinnacle of Machiavellian manoeuvres that can be performed on a football pitch?

The answer, as far as I can tell, is that a stereotype has developed in Britain which has some limited foundation in truth, but also draws on racist beliefs and a pro-British bias. To begin with the grain of truth in the larger lie: styles of football do vary across continents but “cheating” has and always will be a part of the game, regardless of the country in which it is played; the British press just shifts the goal posts in order to portray fouling as more honourable than other, less physical forms of cheating. Even allowing for certain differences in physicality, speed, refereeing etc between the leagues, the idea that players from certain countries are more likely to cheat, or have been coached to cheat, is absurd. A player’s nationality does not define his ethics anymore than the colour of his boots does. Diego cheated, not because he was Argentinean, but because he would do anything to win and had the sly confidence to spot and take full advantage of an illegal goal scoring opportunity.

In many ways the sheer audacity of the punch elevates it above other forms of cheating such as diving, and certainly above shirt-pulling, tripping or testicle-squeezing. And yet the same old stereotypical views about foreign players continually make their way onto our screens and into our papers, while English cheating is either ignored or openly lauded as gamesmanship or toughness. Two excellent examples of this continued bias recently featured on Skysports. The first was a series of comments that Souness made regarding a provocation and dive by Eric Lamela, an Argentinean winger for Tottenham. “Is this what the the English game is about?” he expostulated to a visibly nervous studio. “We, the Brits, do it differently. I’ve played in a Latin country; I’ve worked in Latin countries; I know how they see the game. Lamela will sleep well tonight…” Contrast this with a segment Carragher recently did on Tottenham striker Harry Kane in which he claims “Harry Kane is the most streetwise player in the league” while playing a series of clips which show Kane folding under the slightest contact from an opposition defender, as if he’s been hit by train.

I would agree with Carragher’s analysis: Kane is one of the most prolific cheaters in the EPL, and he also happens to be English. In fact a quick Google search will show that this type of “foreign” cheating, is practiced on a regular basis by a number of high-profile English players including Sterling and Dele Ali. Unlike Graham Souness, the first nationality which springs to my mind when I hear the word “diving”, is German. The reason for this — Jurgen Klinsmann. When he played for Tottenham he quickly developed a reputation for diving which led to some opposition fans bringing scorecards to the Tottenham games to rank his efforts, and in a nod to his reputation, Klinsmann began to celebrate his goals by diving onto the pitch, arms outstretched as if he were belly-flopping into a swimming pool (I actually had no idea he’d gained this reputation as a player until I attended a Christmas party for my old university football team and, hearing the cry of “KLIIINNNNSSSMMMANNNN” echo out across the bar, turned around to find a number of my team mates topless and sliding chest-first down the beer-soaked tables).

Klinsmann’s cheating was and still is celebrated, Kane’s garners praise from some of the British media’s top pundits and yet, if an Argentinean player is caught deliberately breaking the rules to gain an advantage, I can guarantee that the press will whip out their pitchforks and chastise him for diminishing the “British game”. A culture change is needed at these outlets and television stations, as these views were already stale and tinged with racism thirty-four years ago when Maradona’s hand and feet knocked England out of the World Cup. Interestingly, twenty years earlier, when a skilful England side was booted all over the pitch by an aggressive Argentinean squad, then coach Alf Ramsey referred to the Argentineans as “animals”. Ultimately, the narrative will always be bent to portray England as a team of saints, but significant efforts could be made to do away with the prejudice which is directed towards the rest of the world. It would also help if pundits/reporters were hired based on their ability to analyse a game impartially, but unfortunately experience playing on a pitch at the highest level is still, falsely, equated with a deep knowledge and understanding of the modern game.