Paolo Di Canio picking the ball up at Goodison Park in December 2000 when Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was injured will always be remembered as a rare act of great sportsmanship.
However all too often in football it seems the opposite is the case with diving and play acting a recurring theme in world football although what happened this week in Peru puts Gareth Bale's selecitve sense of balance into perspective.
When Juan Flores, goalkeeper for Club Union Comercio, collapsed with heat exhaustion and spilled the ball in a match against Cesar Vaellejo a teammate tried to clear the ball into touch.
However crafty and unsporting Cesar Vallejo striker Piero Alva blocked the clearance and the ball rebounded into the back of the net.
See the video below...
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