What is the worst sporting decision of all time?

[El Presidente]

What is the worst sporting decision of all time?

I have to say tonight's final play of GB V Seahawks is up there....the first Game winning interception

My favourite..the Henry handball against Ireland

[rckymtn22]

Maradona's hand of god has to be one of the worst.

[dvickery]

seattle got hosed pretty bad in the super bowl a few years ago...refs waved off a touchdown they scored...then proceeded to call the rest of the game in favour of the steelers...i am sure they were all driving new cadillacs on monday morning.

this super bowl was bad enough...i have never since taken the nfl seriously.

also:neither a steeler or seahawk fan

derrek

[westg]

What is the worst sporting decision of all time?

I have to say tonight's final play of GB V Seahawks is up there....the first Game winning interception

My favourite..the Henry handball against Ireland

Hand ball what hand ball I didn't see any hand ball cmon Rob.

[Overproof]

From the boxing arena id have to say Lennox Lewis vs. Evander Holyfield or most recently Pacman vs Bradley, who was hands down outboxed and somehow won on a split decision

[Ken Gargett]

how long have you got?

but poor henry. a purely accidental possible minor touch, completely unintended. things like that happen 20 times a game. it makes news and he is unfairly branded a villain, only because of the situation of the game. hardly his fault. and if you look closely, he runs back with arm outstretched, imploring the officials to get it right and correct the accident beyond his contrrol.

but have you had a look at league of late? slater's try not crucial to the result but what a joke. the dudding of the cowboys the week before even worse. and how many times have qld been dudded in state of origin?

what about that criminal pommy video ref about a decade ago. gives them a try to win the game. if that was honest, i'll swim there next trip.

there are so many examples, game after game.

indeed, most of my teams get dudded every week - the sad thing is thsat they are usually so far behind already that it makes no difference.

[mazolaman]

Mainly Olympic decisions come to mind, this one probably the worst, but I have seen many very bad or dodgey olympic boxing decisions...

5. Seoul, 1988

Roy Jones Jr. was a very successful amateur boxer, compiling a record of 121-13. At the 1988 Games, he represented the United States in the light middleweight division. Jones won every round in dominant fashion to reach the finals. The final was no different as Jones outlanded his South Korean opponent Park Si-Hun 86-32. Unfortunately, the judges were either pressured, coerced or bribed to favor the local fighter and awarded Park an indefensible 3- 2 decision. One judge admitted the decision was a mistake and all three judges ended up being suspended.

How bad was this decision? Park reportedly congratulated Jones after the bout and admitted that the decision was wrong. The decision was bad enough that, despite winning only a Silver Medal, Jones was awarded the Val Barker Trophy as Games' most outstanding and stylistic boxer.

The IOC - despite investigating and concluding that three of the judges were wined and dined by Korean officials - allowed the decision to stand.

Also...I watched as four judges "missed" Sarah Stevenson kick her opponent in the head in the Taekwondo final, strangely, also at the olympics......I think four judges "missing" someone kicking someone in the head is a bit of a howler...

[Ken Gargett]

boxing. you sometimes wonder why they just don't ask who has won before they get in the ring. some of the olympic decisions have been beyond disgraceful.

as for the hand of god - i was living in the uk at the time. i can't remember enjoying myself so much.

what is often forgotten is that hard to suggest that, as dodgy as it was, that it cost england the game. maradona also scored one of the greatest goals ever seen in that game.

[hainsworth]

Forming the Collingwood Football Club

[dicko]

Forming the Collingwood Football Club

Collingwood got ripped off in the 1979 Grand Final, that ball was OUT OF BOUNDS!

[Ken Gargett]

Collingwood got ripped off in the 1979 Grand Final, that ball was OUT OF BOUNDS!

if i may...

1. who cares? any decision that costs the pies a flag is a legitimate one.

2. this was about 'worst sporting decisions'. if it was in, then no issue. if it was out, then calling it in was never going to be a poor decision.

3. it probably was out, but refer 1. and 2.

4. the only sad thing about the pies losing a semi is that they then can't lose the grand final. again.

5. even if it was out, it was not the last kick of the game. there was time. more points were scored. perhaps collingwood should then have concentrated more on actually scoring the points they needed to win and on why they blew such a huge lead.

6. pies do have a habit of bitching about grand finals. go back to 2002 when they were up against the glorious lions - and to be fair to them, they certainly performed far better than expected (the opposite can be said the following year). not long to go and rocca? kicks for goal. given as a point. pies fans ***** for years. allow me to say that a very good mate of mine, who actually had a role on the lions board at the time, was sitting directly behind the kick. he swears blind that there was absolutely no possible way that the kick was anything but a goal. but he was extremely pleased that they got it wrong.

[coblos]

NBA Game 4 Eastern Conference Finals 98

It's far from the worst call, but this year when Reggie Miller was inducted into the hall of fame he admitted he intentionally pushed of on Michael Jordan and was surprised when it was not called as an offensive foul.

“Yeah, Michael, I did shove you, too. But I’ve seen you do it so many times to so many players, so I figured it was OK.”

[ZinZan]

All the Manchester United vs Liverpool, every bloody time its the f***ed refereeing

[Ken Gargett]

the deliberate foul mentioned above is an interesting one.

aussies and kiwis will know all about the 'underarm' ball (i have thoughts on that entire thing i am always happy to share with kiwis but perhaps another time). basically, it was a stupid thing to do as the kiwis were never going to win the game. it was gone. but it has given the kiwis something to bleat about for decades (almost given them a reason to live). but it was perfectly legal. just stupid and unnecessary.

around the same time, according to andy hayden's book (actually this happened a bit earlier i think but the book came out round then), he deliberately took a dive in a line-out to gain an unfair penalty, which allowed the all blacks to kick a penalty and win the grand slam. for this he is a hero.

so on one hand, a kiwi deliberately cheats and is a hero. on the other, an aussie works within the laws of his game (even if stupidly) and he has been castigated forever. any chance anyone will ever explain that to me?

[Hazza]

Nothing to do with sporting decisions, but the ref in the handball video is a dead ringer for Karl Pilkington from An Idiot Abroad

[mazolaman]

as for the hand of god - i was living in the uk at the time. i can't remember enjoying myself so much.

what is often forgotten is that hard to suggest that, as dodgy as it was, that it cost england the game. maradona also scored one of the greatest goals ever seen in that game.

It's good that you celebrated the outright cheating of so much, even though you were probably earning a good shilling while living there...But I must confess, I feel similar schadenfreude watching your cricket team.

But, all that BS aside, I can still remember watching that game as a kid, and not believing that someone could cheat so blatantly, and get away with it. Being fair sporting people, we do remember the brilliant goal he scored before.

it also highlights another point you made earlier, how could this cheat, who regularly performed while out of his skull on coke, be a national hero, almost becoming president of his country? Rather than the vilification he should have received. He will always be lower than scum.

If ever a man deserved to be a leader, or representative, of his country it is Peter Norman not someone who cheated.

[El Presidente]

but poor henry. a purely accidental possible minor touch, completely unintended. things like that happen 20 times a game. it makes news and he is unfairly branded a villain, only because of the situation of the game. hardly his fault. and if you look closely, he runs back with arm outstretched, imploring the officials to get it right and correct the accident beyond his contrrol.

Seriously your "Man love" of Henry only rivals that towards Springsteen.

He tapped the ball (that was going out) onto his boot. He was running back hands outstretched celebrating!!!

Great footballer. One of the alltime greats. However that was cheating 101 no mater how you look at it.

However, this is about idiotic officials and their decisions that have robbed games..... and not of ethics free zone sportsmen as we do not have the bandwith

[Ken Gargett]

It's good that you celebrated the outright cheating of so much, even though you were probably earning a good shilling while living there...But I must confess, I feel similar schadenfreude watching your cricket team.

But, all that BS aside, I can still remember watching that game as a kid, and not believing that someone could cheat so blatantly, and get away with it. Being fair sporting people, we do remember the brilliant goal he scored before.

it also highlights another point you made earlier, how could this cheat, who regularly performed while out of his skull on coke, be a national hero, almost becoming president of his country? Rather than the vilification he should have received. He will always be lower than scum.

If ever a man deserved to be a leader, or representative, of his country it is Peter Norman not someone who cheated.

if you recall, the timing of the hand of god was when we were copping a flogging from your cricket team - and i was reminded of it in intricate detail every day by pretty much every pom i met. so the schadenfreude of which you speak certainly played a role my end.

and yes, he was an utter grub. but it was a good line in the circumstances and a few minutes later, he scored the goal of the century (think england got a very late goal as some compensation but argentina were clearly the better side on the day). i also read somewhere that, falklands aside, the argentinians had a gripe against england as they thought they were dudded in the 66 cup and this was some form of payback. no idea if that is true.

the only peter norman i know is the bloke who got the silver for us in the mexico games and split the two americans who gave the black power salutes? not sure why that ties in? have i missed a post?

[Ken Gargett]

but the winner is....

without question, the worst decision made in any sport ever, in the history of mankind, and a decision so monumentally bad that in a thousand years, it will still rank as the worst of all time - to appoint deans as the wallaby coach. worst. decision. ever.

[westg]

if i may...

1. who cares? any decision that costs the pies a flag is a legitimate one.

2. this was about 'worst sporting decisions'. if it was in, then no issue. if it was out, then calling it in was never going to be a poor decision.

3. it probably was out, but refer 1. and 2.

4. the only sad thing about the pies losing a semi is that they then can't lose the grand final. again.

5. even if it was out, it was not the last kick of the game. there was time. more points were scored. perhaps collingwood should then have concentrated more on actually scoring the points they needed to win and on why they blew such a huge lead.

6. pies do have a habit of bitching about grand finals. go back to 2002 when they were up against the glorious lions - and to be fair to them, they certainly performed far better than expected (the opposite can be said the following year). not long to go and rocca? kicks for goal. given as a point. pies fans ***** for years. allow me to say that a very good mate of mine, who actually had a role on the lions board at the time, was sitting directly behind the kick. he swears blind that there was absolutely no possible way that the kick was anything but a goal. but he was extremely pleased that they got it wrong.

Don't be like that Ken.Did you know that initially the VFL /AFL introduced Collingwood into the competition so that people who have no brains could support a team as well.

[Ken Gargett]

He tapped the ball (that was going out) onto his boot. He was running back hands outstretched celebrating!!!

Great footballer. One of the alltime greats. However that was cheating 101 no mater how you look at it.

you say potato...

[pwhite]

At 15 years old I thought my life was over after this 1978 Giants decision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML1Ixd3jiGU

[Diamondog]

The Wayne Gretzky trade...also I wached an interview years ago with Dave Hodge and Wayne, Wayne wanted the Rangers to pickup Theo Fluerry and Neil Smith wouldn't do it....Dave Hodge asked if Wayne would have kept playing had Bruce gotten Fleurry and Wayne said yes...this was a non trade that caused the great one to retire past his prime or not Wayne shoulda got what Wayne wanted...F you Neil Smith!!!

[Drguano]

The 2000 United States presidential election

[Fuzz]

What is the worst sporting decision?... that would be every decision made by the NSW Origin team for the last seven years...