You'll also no doubt have heard the
expression 'Property is theft'. Well, Mr Proudhon got that
one wrong. What he meant to say was...
SOPHIST's CHOICE
Doherty is Theft
There's nothing quite like the thrill you get when a forward takes the ball past a defender and delivers an inch perfect cross which leads to a goal. And when that forward plays for Barrow the thrill is multiplied a thousand times. Ray Wilkie was a great believer in wingers and employed two out and out touchline merchants, Wheatley and Carroll, in his successful teams of the late 80's and early 90's.
There is one member of that team who went on to play for Birmingham City and Kidderminster but has now returned to Barrow. His name? Neil Doherty. And while he played in midfield ten years ago, in the twilight of his playing career he has developed an uncanny knack of bamboozling defenders with his jinky runs down the left (and sometimes the right) wing. As his crossing ability is second to none, he is an invaluable member of the side, capable of providing that explosive piece of skill that can turn a game on its head.
But how does he do it, you may ask. Well, the ability to dribble past an opposing defender can be explained in terms of geometry. If we imagine an equilateral triangle, with Doc standing on one corner, with the ball at his feet of course, as this whole theorem would be pretty useless unless he did have the ball. At the other corner is the defender. From each corner we can imagine a line being drawn which meets at the apex of our triangle. Doc's skill is in making the defender think he's going to take the ball along the line which leads to the apex of the triangle, by means of a feint or body swerve. Because he doesn't intend to actually follow this direction, this action is known as a dummy, because it doesn't indicate the real direction that the Doc intends to take. It is also a good description of how the defender feels when he's been tricked into moving down the line which takes him to the apex. At this point, it can be said that the defender has bought the dummy, although no money actually changes hands, because in a manner of speaking, he has gone along with what he thought would be the intended course of action.
However, having sent the defender the wrong way, the path is now clear for the Doc to continue in a straight lie through the point where the defender used to be. The defender, of course, is now at the apex of the triangle wondering why the Doc isn't there and thinking where the hell is he?
The word used at the start of the article to describe the Doc's runs, jinking, means that although he actually takes the ball in a straight line, the body swerves and feints used to throw defenders off in the wrong direction give his runs a jinking motion, which for many Barrow fans represent pure poetry.
Issue 048 - March 2001
