Maradona, Mourinho … and the Panthers trainer. Welcome to sporting skulduggery

When it comes to disrupting a kicker, there are metres and there are metres. Was it five? Ten? How close exactly did Penrith trainer Corey Bocking come to Jayden Campbell when he darted across the path of the Gold Coast fullback as he was about to put his boot through that attempted sideline conversion?

And did Bocking smile knowingly, as seems to be the suggestion in some pockets of the internet? Or was it more of a grimace upon realising he’d somehow found himself in the way of a potential match-winning moment for the opposition? Perhaps it was a smile, after all, but the kind reserved for mortification at having done what even the 10-year-old water boy knows not to do?

There is no question of whether he interfered - replays showed that as clear as day. And on Monday, the NRL responded, handing Bocking a five-match ban and fining the four-time premiers $50,000.

The debate at hand centres around whether he meant to interfere. Hence, the hunt for clues. What was the line of his run? The nuance of his facial expression? The sincerity of that raised hand in apology? Ivan Cleary, in his post-match press conference, said it was “an honest mistake”, a sentiment reiterated by Penrith that suggests a heat-of-the-moment brain fade. Andrew Johns called it “gamesmanship”, which intimates a deliberate act.

Herein lies the grey area between accident and cheating in sport, and the levels of rule-bending that sit in between. Many fall into the gamesmanship category, where the provocateur thrives on psychological warfare in an attempt to gain an advantage via unfair means.

Shithousery, basically - and there are levels of such work. The least serious could be labelled spur-of-the-moment shithousery, and includes offences such as time-wasting and haranguing the referee and handballing (though Luis Suarez and Diego Maradona may belong in a higher category for separate reasons). This is where the late-game cramp epidemic lives, and the Nick Kyrgios underarm serve and the Mankad. Oh, and diving in all its forms (before smiling straight into the camera, if you are David Luiz).

Jose Mourinho once his in a laundry basket to get around a matchday suspension.Credit: AP

Goalkeepers like Emiliano Martinez and Hope Solo are experts at this, but an all-time highlight has to be Socceroos custodian Andrew Redmayne tossing away his Peru counterpart’s water bottle, which had been taped with detailed notes on Australia’s penalty-takers in their 2022 World Cup qualification playoff. Redmayne later described it as a “kill or be killed” moment. Once they had killed and qualified for Qatar, the Socceroos got their hands on more intel, scooping up Denmark’s travelling tactical notes en route to one of their group-stage wins.

For the sake of distinction, let’s call the next-level skulduggery a class above in the dark arts reserved for the tactical injury and immaculate recovery, long patented by Novak Djokovic, and the infamous tennis bathroom break utilised by Serena Williams and Stefanos Tsitsipas, among others. It’s where NBA player Draymond Green kicks opponents in the groin, and Australian cricket captain Greg Chappell instructs his bowler (and younger brother Trevor Chappell) to bowl underarm.

And we cannot omit Jose Mourinho, who trained his ball boys to slow down games and once hid in a laundry basket to sneak into the Chelsea dressing room during a touchline ban. Nor the NHL’s unforgettable ‘Fog Game’ of May 1975, when the Buffalo Sabres used the pre-game entertainment smoke machines to raise the arena humidity and fog the rink so the Boston Bruins struggled to see (and lost).

Cuban Rosie Ruiz is another step up still, for hopping onto the Boston Marathon course near the end and briefly being declared the female winner. Likewise, rugby union’s Bloodgate scandal, when Tom Williams feigned an injury using a fake blood capsule in order for Harlequins to make another substitution late in their Heineken Cup quarter-final against Irish side Leinster.

Rosie Ruiz, pictured here being helped by Boston police after crossing the finish line, was busted for cheating in the Boston Marathon in 1980.Credit: AP

This stuff is premeditated, like the drone spying by Canadian football officials in the women’s Paris Olympics tournament, and the even more serious ball-tampering, match-fixing and doping.

When it comes to the lower-grade stuff, though, perhaps gamesmanship is just a more accepted element of some sports than it is others? And perceptions of seriousness partly depend on what’s at stake, in this case, the Titans battling against the wooden spoon and Des Hasler battling for his job?

Further, do bundle deals count for more? Apparently so, based on the NRL’s statement that Penrith’s “proposed penalty takes into account previous breaches by Penrith Panthers trainers”. There are four controversies in as many years, including in May when Shane Elford was given a one-match ban (and the club fined $10,000) for squirting water on the ball.

And here’s an outrageous thought: is likeability a factor? Are Penrith’s trainers just not charming enough to get away with it? Maybe, just maybe, they lack the Alfie Langer charisma? Johnathan Thurston remembers that particular twinkle in the eye well from the closing stages of the 2015 grand final.

The great Alfie Langer in his second coming as a trainer.Credit: Getty Images

North Queensland, trailing by four points as the final siren sounded, scored at the death to level the score at 16-16, setting the scene for Thurston to slot a title-winning conversion.

Langer, the Brisbane Broncos great turned club water carrier, made a beeline for the right touchline where the Cowboys halfback was lining up his kick.

“I remember grabbing the ball, and I was getting towards my set-up when Alfie Langer runs past me, and he goes ‘I’ll give you $500 if you miss’,” Thurston told the Bloke In A Bar podcast in 2023.

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Thurston hit the post, though insisted the sledge did not affect his concentration, and went on to nail a golden-point field goal that secured the Cowboys’ maiden premiership.

He revealed he did not demand the $500 Langer promised. Even if he had, it would have been a bargain compared to the $50,000 the Panthers now owe.

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