Why Is "banter" Acceptable In Some Sports But Not In Others?

[10ClarionSt]

Cricket have sledging: football and rugby call it banter. Can you imagine this happening in golf or tennis? Just as someone is about to putt, another player starts saying his putting is hopeless. Just as someone is about to serve, his opponent shouts something at him. It's unthinkable in those sports, so why is ok to do it in other sports?

[Khandro]

I seem to remember in Stephen Potter's book 'Gamesmanship' subtitled 'How to win without actually cheating', there were some pretty imaginative ways.
I suggest in golf, where one mustn't speak as ones opponent is about to make his stroke, that just a second before he does so you loudly rip open the Velcro on your glove, -- that should do it ! :0)

[Old_Geezer]

I do not accept that shouting at an opponent can be considered banter. It is cheating. Banter is friendly urine extraction between those on good terms, as a form of bonding. Whether is it accepted on not depends on how PC those who make the rules are.

[Peter Pedant]

I used to play tennis near a county class player

it was awful - as he demanded silence whilst he served
county class mean good but not that good
stuck up so and so

a friend was restrained from tipping her dinner down his front.

[ ah come on Sorrel, he aint worf it. eat your dinner instead ] all that sort of thing

[Khandro]

W.G. Grace once shouted OWZAT! and kicked up an enormous fuss until the umpire conceded and gave out, as the batsmen passed by him, W.G. whispered through his beard "You weren't out, you know",
Sledging and banter go back a long way!

[Buenchico]

It's always been part of cricket for the players of one team to seek to unsettle an opponent. For example, crowding fielders ridiculously close around a tail-end batsman as he arrives at the crease is designed to make him nervous, as is a fast bowler firing a bouncer around his head with the first delivery he receives.

Similarly, if a batsman is coming up to significant point in a innings (such as 50 or 100) a good captain will always make him wait while the skipper goes through countless adjustments to the field so as to try to break the batsman's rhythm.

Such actions are regarded not only as acceptable but, indeed, commendable.

Sledging clearly takes things a bit further and the line between what is acceptable or not is a grey one. However any batsman with a reasonable amount of confidence should be able to take it in his stride.

Example:
Rodney Marsh to Ian Botham (as he arrived at the wicket): "So how's your wife and my kid's?"
Ian Botham: "Wife's fine. Kid's are retarded".

Even so, very few fielders in county or international cricket would consider distracting the batsman at the point of the bowler's delivery. As the saying goes: "It's simply not cricket, old bean!"

;-)

[Khandro]

Was it Dennis Lillie who said to an English batsman "There's *** on the end of your bat, and when he looked at the bottom of the blade he said "No, not that end!"

[Khandro]

^you gathered it began with s and ended with t

[Buenchico]

For anyone who's interested . . .
http://top20cricketsledges.blogspot.co.uk/

[Hopkirk]

Apparently it was easy to put goalkeeper David James off his stride.

You just asked him about his kids.

Next thing you knew the ball was in his net.

[ChillDoubt]

To follow on from Chris's post, the best one I ever heard of involved Glenn McGrath and Eddo Brandes.
McGrath was about to bowl to the Zimbabwean batsman and enquired "Why are you so fat?", to which Brandes replied "Because every time I f*&% your wife she gives me a biscuit"!

[Buenchico]

Nice one, CD ;-)