Football constantly gets a bad rap and perhaps not without some justification.
Yet within its grubby sphere, good people exist who do good deeds. And when they do, it warms the very cockles of our hearts.
5) Di Canio goes against type
It would be quite a stretch to refer to Paolo Di Canio as saintly, the former West Ham and Juventus forward being a controversial and outspoken figure, a self-proclaimed fascist no less.
If there was trouble, the fiery Italian usually found it. If there was a referee to push over, all the better.
In December 2000, however, the infamous hot-head cooly displayed a charitable side, catching a cross in the final minute at Goodison Park, with Everton’s goalkeeper Paul Gerrard out of his goal and injured.
For declining the chance to score a late winner in unfair circumstances, the player was later awarded a FIFA Fair Play Award.
4) Restoring order
Nottingham Forest were a goal to the good against Leicester in a 2007 Carling Cup game but at half-time the contest became an irrelevance when Foxes defender Clive Clark suffered a cardiac arrest in the changing room.
Rushed to hospital the player was thankfully soon after described as ‘stable’ and went on to make a full recovery.
Going back to that awful night, the match was understandably abandoned and in the rearranged fixture Leicester players stood aside at kick-off, to allow their opponents to score and restore Forest’s advantage.
The betting community meanwhile paid out on both the eventual ‘real’ scoreline of 3-1 and the 3-2 official result.
3) Vittorio the gent
There are several examples of players correcting refereeing decisions despite it not being in their best interests, the most famous of which is probably Robbie Fowler insisting he had lost his footing when trying to round Arsenal’s David Seaman in 1997.
A particular favourite though is US Tremoli forward Vittorio Esposito taking umbrage with a penalty awarded to his team in 2012 when facing rivals Torres.
After protesting with the official and getting nowhere, the striker purposely skied his spot-kick to ensure justice won the day.
It is not known how those who backed Tremoli in the football betting felt about it, but the rest of the world applauded.
2) Kahn the consoler
Sometimes it’s the smallest acts on the biggest stage that tugs at the heartstrings and after winning a Champions League final in 2001 nobody would have begrudged Bayern’s Oliver Kahn from wildly celebrating the pinnacle of his career.
Instead, as his team-mates hugged and beamed from ear to ear, the legendary stopper spied his opposite number, Valencia’s Santiago Canizares crumpled in despair.
Kahn’s first act on winning one of the football’s most prestigious prizes was to console his fellow keeper, staying with him until the tears had dried. Sniff.
1) Mature beyond his years
Aged just 19, future Spurs star Jan Vertonghen showed a whole lot of class when playing for Ajax against SC Cambuur in 2006.
In attempting to pass the ball to the Cambuur keeper, after a team-mate had received treatment from an impromptu stoppage in play, the Belgian defender unintentionally scored a worldy from fully 50 yards.
Quickly acknowledging his mistake, Vertonghen then instructed his side to step aside and allow Cambuur a clear route to goal on the restart.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 6th March 2023
