Rabu, April 01, 2009

Romanian wins a penalty, refuses to take it

Here’s something C-Ron won’t be doing anytime soon…

In 1996, Robbie Fowler won the FIFA Fair Play Award thanks to an incident at Highbury, where he was awarded a penalty but tried to persuade the referee that Arsenal keeper David Seaman had not fouled him. Such good sportsmanship is rare in the beautiful game these days, but Rapid Bucharest midfielder Costin Lazar has reminded us that integrity in the face of a goal scoring opportunity still exists.

During a Romanian Liga 1 match with Otelul Galati last week, the Romanian was awarded a penalty, but refused to take it as he did not believe he was fouled. Unlike Fowler, Lazar was able to persuade the referee that he had made the wrong decision, and a drop ball was awarded instead.