Across all sports, there are unspoken rules about the ways that athletes are expected to act. A lot of this is how you behave towards the opposition, and it is expected that you show them respect and also respect the game. We all applaud sportsmanship and it can be wonderful to see it in action, but, unfortunately, it does not always prevail and there have been many truly shocking unsportsmanlike moments over the years. In these moments, there is clearly no love found between these athletes and their opponents.
10. Bill Romanowski Spit
Former linebacker and four-time Super Bowl Champion Bill Romanowski found himself in a few altercations, but perhaps the most famous occurred on Monday Night Football in the 1997 season whilst playing for the Broncos. After an on-field pileup, 49ers wide receiver J.J. Stokes was taunting Romanowski who responded by spitting in his face. Romanowski refused to apologize for the incident initially and claimed that Stokes goaded him to do it, but he then apologized after being fined $7,500. Over the course of his career, Romanowski also kicked Larry Centers in the head, broke the jaw of Kerry Collins after a helmet-to-helmet hit, threw a football at Bryan Crox’s crotch, attacked his own teammate Marcus Williams during a scrimmage which forced him to retire, and there have also been a few allegations of racism for his controversial and unsportsmanlike behavior.