Golf with professional footballers

[woofers]

Having read in the paper today about the football incident in which Raheem Stirling stubbed his toe and fell over in the penalty area, and had a penalty subsequently awarded, I have often wondered if professional footballers cheat when they play golf.

I understand a lot of them play golf, after training, on tour etc and there are also charity golf days which involve professional footballers. What I see and read about is that footballers have a totally different mindset in playing their game compared to golfers. Are they able to switch their cheating mentality on and off, or is it ingrained ?

Has anyone any experience of playing golf with a professional footballer ?

 

[upsidedown]

Used to play with Willie Carr and have played a lot with Alan Durban and both of them are pretty hot on the rules and never seen any suggestion of cheating but then again they come from a bygone era of football. Durbs has some good stories of his time with Cloughie

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Ridiculous!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Seriously ?

Cheating mentality?

And played with a number of pro players in pro am’s etc over years as well as some other sportsman and all of them I have played with play with integrity.

 

[chrisd]

I'd be astounded if they knowingly would cheat.

 

[User 99]

Probably every single one of them.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

What about cricketers and appealing for catches when they know that the batsman hasn't hit it?

Or the batsman who doesn't walk when he has nicked it?

Or the rugby forwards who conceal the activities of the scrum?

This really is a ridiculous question and FWIW over the years I have played golf with a number of professionals from different sports and never found any of them to be any different to any other golfers in their attitude to the rules.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Some rubbish on here today. I've played and caddied in pro-ams with footballers and spent some time with a few at the British par 3 championship and every one has played the game with the integrity and honesty. At the end of the day, most are club members as many on here are and play the game for fun and try their best and play within the rules like everybody else

 

[jusme]

I have no doubt many try to cheat in football and perhaps other sports, however I doubt very many do it in golf. There is a simple reason as to why. It is inherent in golf to be self ruling and to play the game within a specific set of rules and integrity that has been ingrained in the sport for many many years. Football is the opposite - it has lately been ingrained in professional footballers to do everything they can to win, including misleading and cheating behaviour.

We largely follow what is expected and what is ingrained. We are largely sheep

 

[Jacko_G]

There is a well known Scottish footballer who is rumoured to "clear up" very frequently in charity days and competitions.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Kenny Burns was our club captain last year. I’ve played with him & he was very entertaining and there was question of breaching the rules.
We’ve several other former pro’s as members- same goes as for Kenny.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Kenny Burns was our club captain last year. I’ve played with him & he was very entertaining and there was question of breaching the rules.
We’ve several other former pro’s as members- same goes as for Kenny.

Met Kenny at the British Par 3 championships this year. Great guy, great sense of humour and can play a bit too

 

[Slab]

See the pro (& amateur) footballers are in a no-win situation here as an overwhelming majority will cheat on the pitch (even if it’s just claiming for a corner when they know it touched them last)

Now you stick them on a golf course and expect them to play a game and to not cheat (& this is where they are on a sticky wicket) because the overwhelming majority will play golf by the rules, which only serves to make their cheating at football all the more disgraceful because it is now shown to be 100% willful & premeditated and because they don't do it on the golf course this cheating behavior is something they can absolutely control… but they choose not to when playing football

The only other alternative would be to suggest they cheat at golf too and I don’t believe that to be true

 

[chrisd]

See the pro (& amateur) footballers are in a no-win situation here as an overwhelming majority will cheat on the pitch (even if it’s just claiming for a corner when they know it touched them last)

Now you stick them on a golf course and expect them to play a game and to not cheat (& this is where they are on a sticky wicket) because the overwhelming majority will play golf by the rules, which only serves to make their cheating at football all the more disgraceful because it is now shown to be 100% willful & premeditated and because they don't do it on the golf course this cheating behavior is something they can absolutely control… but they choose not to when playing football

The only other alternative would be to suggest they cheat at golf too and I don’t believe that to be true

I'm not sure that I agree, football has a referee and referees assistants whose job it is to decide on who has broken the rules and there is no onus on the players to play within the rules other than they may well get booked and/or sent off if they err too frequently or too dangerously in a match. Yes, the players can play entirely within the rules but whether or not they always play to the rules, or not, the player isn't the decision maker and the referee will solely decide by whom, when and where a rule has been broken and take the appropriate action, the requirement to play within the the rules being more dictated by the teams management, but even at a low level in the game, breaking the rules is quite acceptable. Most footballers fully understand the concept of rules in golf and the need for honesty and I do agree Slab that they would not be any more likely to cheat than any other golfer

 

[Smiffy]

Only ever played golf with one professional footballer. Can't remember his name now but I remember he played for one of the Sheffield teams.
Biggest bandit I have ever met. Played off twelve and absolutely blitzed a charity day I played in one year. Came in with something like 45 points or more, next nearest score was mid 30's.
He was cut to 5 the following year and didn't turn up again after that.

 

[Slab]

I'm not sure that I agree, football has a referee and referees assistants whose job it is to decide on who has broken the rules and there is no onus on the players to play within the rules other than they may well get booked and/or sent off if they err too frequently or too dangerously in a match. Yes, the players can play entirely within the rules but whether or not they always play to the rules, or not, the player isn't the decision maker and the referee will solely decide by whom, when and where a rule has been broken and take the appropriate action, the requirement to play within the the rules being more dictated by the teams management, but even at a low level in the game, breaking the rules is quite acceptable. Most footballers fully understand the concept of rules in golf and the need for honesty and I do agree Slab that they would not be any more likely to cheat than any other golfer

Interesting take on it too, the bits I bolded jump out for me but I wonder if you're not 'letting them off' too lightly

Clearly they know and understand the rules (relatively speaking probably better than your average golfer know their rules) and perhaps its truer today to say there's little or no onus on the player to play within those rules but I'd guess that didn't used to be the case even a generation ago
And maybe its the second bit in bold is the underlying reason for this change in rule breaking behaviour. If things like the deliberate foul & the dive were properly punished and players vilified (as a cheating golfer would be) then there might still be a game with player conduct to look up to

I did think of partially blaming the money in the game for driving the win at any cost (inc cheating) but many sports have money inc golf so I don't see that being responsible
Pressure from managers could be there but equally where then does the managers motivation for their team to cheat come from, I'd say we're back to a lack of accountability for their actions (from the fans and governing bodies alike)

 

[Slab]

Perhaps the problem is with the sport (in its current guise) & not the players

So I'd be happy to play golf with an entire team of footballers... but I doubt I'd play football, even if it was with a bunch of golfers

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I genuinely believe it’s simply lazy to jump on football everytime there is an incident which makes the news.
Sterling didn’t cheat, the officials got it wrong and yes I’m sure it would be wonderful to see the players tell them or miss the penalty, but that’s not the real world.
Do we question the integrity of Rugby players? Drugs, fighting, bloodgate anyone?
Cricket, Ball tampering, dodgy appeals, fighting in the streets?
Cycling, Drugs, elelectric bike?
Athletics............
The list’s go on and on.
No football isn’t perfect just like lots of sports, but to start questioning the integrity of those that play it off the pitch says more about the person asking the question.
If only every other sport was devoid of accusations of cheating like Golf is, oh wait a minute!

 

[Dan2501]

:/ Sterling didn't cheat. He tripped. What a bizarre thread.

 

[chrisd]

Interesting take on it too, the bits I bolded jump out for me but I wonder if you're not 'letting them off' too lightly

Clearly they know and understand the rules (relatively speaking probably better than your average golfer know their rules) and perhaps its truer today to say there's little or no onus on the player to play within those rules but I'd guess that didn't used to be the case even a generation ago
And maybe its the second bit in bold is the underlying reason for this change in rule breaking behaviour. If things like the deliberate foul & the dive were properly punished and players vilified (as a cheating golfer would be) then there might still be a game with player conduct to look up to

I did think of partially blaming the money in the game for driving the win at any cost (inc cheating) but many sports have money inc golf so I don't see that being responsible
Pressure from managers could be there but equally where then does the managers motivation for their team to cheat come from, I'd say we're back to a lack of accountability for their actions (from the fans and governing bodies alike)

The onus to play within the rules is that the system for dealing with offenders, yellow and red cards, means that a player who consistently breaks the rules will end up being sent off and banned for future games which can be detrimental to their future team prospects. A lot of fouls etc given are not always deliberate and are just mistimed and yes some players do cheat but almost every decision on a football field is contested by either side so referees give their own decision and that is that (well until tv proves them right or wrong).

Every footballer who ever played has deliberately broken the rules, whether its a foul, or a handball, to stop a goal chance, throwing a ball away to stop a quick throw in and its accepted by the players and is not "cheating" in the same sense as we would use the word in golf.

The golf club that I play at contains many of the footballers who were playing when I did, and are generally the guys who rarely do anything on the golf course compared to what they would have done on the football field and I have never seen any of them cheat