SPIRIT OF SPORTSMANSHIP

According to Wikipedia 'Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors'.

True sportsmanship is… Knowing that you need your opponent because without him or her, there is no game. Acknowledging that your opponent holds the same deep-rooted aspirations and expectations as you.

Sportsmanship is knowing that win or lose, you can walk off the course with pride. Sportunes will be bringing to you those super athletes that can roam any street in the world without any sense of guilt.

 PAULO DI CANIO

  

Call him Referee beater, Fascist, Racist... but Paulo Di Canio won our hearts in 2001 when the West Ham cult hero dismissed a clear goal opportunity because his fellow human being was down. He may have regularly executed displays of magnificent skill but he also showed he had a heart too.

 When the Hammers were playing at Goodison Park, the Italian caught the ball in a 1-1 draw from a cross as he saw the Everton keeper Paul Gerrard lying on the ground. He had twisted his knee trying to make a clearance on the edge of the box.

            

Gerrard presented Di Canio with a special framed photograph to say thank you for his unselfish act, He ended up receiving the FIFA fair play award that year as a result with the footballing body commending the special act of sportsmanship.