By Dylan Moran
South Sydney Rabbitohs star Dave Taylor wasn’t wanted by Queensland in this year’s State of Origin decider, but he still let his feelings about New South Wales be known.
The forward’s poor performance in NSW’s game two win caused him to be dropped from the Queensland squad, but was in the crowd as the Maroons won last night’s final match.
In the dying seconds of the game the match broadcast showed a jubilant Taylor making an explicit gesture toward the field, apparently directed at the New South Wales squad.
Several high-profile sportspeople have been caught out making similar gestures over the years.
Most recently Green Bay Packers linebacker AJ Hawk was fined US$10,000 for pulling the finger at fans during his team’s win over the St Louis Rams, but Queensland legend Gorden Tallis was also caught on tape in 2002 – later revealing he was retailiating after a group of NSW fans made rude remarks about his mother.
In 2004 Blues legend Carlos Spencer gave the crowd the one-finger salute in a moment seared into the New Zealand rugby conscious.
Spencer’s Blues had been pinned in their own 22, and the ball came to the mercurial 10 on his own try-line. Half a minute later Spencer crossed the Crusaders’ try-line unchallenged and dotted the ball down in the corner.
What you can’t find on YouTube is the aftermath. Spencer had been criticised in the media in the lead-up to the match, with doubts poured onto his kicking skills – the reason he set up the harder kick.
After slotting it, the joyous Spencer ran back to his team, finger in the air, grin firmly plastered on his face.
The gesture caused outrage amongst the New Zealand sporting public and gave talkback radio a topic for the next seven days, as people bemoaned the unprofessionalism of “King Carlos”.
One team which would have seen a bit of karma was the Bulls.
Five seasons earlier, in 1999, an Andrew Mehrtens drop-goal had given the Canterbury men a 30-28 win over Pretoria’s biltong boys – but his celebration created a furore with the South African crowd.
Whether Taylor will be sanctioned for his gesture is yet to be seen.
3 News