But this leaves plenty of room where exactly the line of fair play should be drawn. Baseball is no less moral than cricket just because it imposes different expectations on fielders catching the ball. Ultimately, fans who reject sports simply because they have variant codes are little different from people who look down on foreigners because they have different table manners.
Different conventions, both in sport and in society in general, can be equally morally acceptable. But it does not follow that there are no immoral conventions. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” doesn’t get us anywhere. After all, the Romans practiced slavery and crucified public enemies. Many modern societies still cling to immoral practices. Qatar bans homosexuality and lacks workers’ basic rights. These may be long-standing elements in the Qatari social fabric, but that doesn’t make them right.
It’s the same in sports. Some practices are clearly beyond moral bounds. When “Bountygate” exposed the NFL’s New Orleans Saints for paying player bonuses for injuring opponents in 2012, they didn’t try to defend themselves on the grounds that everyone was doing it. Deliberately trying to injure sporting opponents is not the same as framing a field. It is not something that can be included in a healthy sport, any more than slavery can be included in a healthy civil society.
I have the same feeling about football players who flop to make trouble for their opponents. It’s not just the cheating. It’s the meanness of trying to get someone punished for what they didn’t do. Players can become very adept at cheating the referee. But we don’t admire them for that. Their tasteless play only demeans the transcendent athletic prowess of the top footballers.
In earlier generations of international sport, local conventions could lead to friction. Long-distance travel was less common and players from different regions did not always share the same expectations of fair play. Football was particularly sensitive to this danger. In the 1966 World Cup, the quarter-final between England and Argentina was famously ill-tempered. The England players were unprepared for a series of provocations and delaying tactics then standard in South America. After the match, England manager, Alf Ramsey, described the Argentines as “beasts”.
However, nowadays everyone generally knows what to expect. The top players from all over the world usually play in the same European leagues, so football culture is now largely homogenized. Some will feel that this must lead to a drop in standards as an increasing number of dubious local practices gain broader currency.
But it doesn’t have to be a race to the bottom. Men’s tennis offers a positive comparison. In the early decades of professional tennis – think of John McEnroe in his prime – tantrums, fights and insults became the norm. Fortunately, that is now largely a thing of the past. We don’t expect Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or even Novak Djokovic to treat their opponents and officials with anything but respect.