Peter Beagrie
A player’s nationality usually influences his goal celebration – it’s not a rule, but more often than not it has an effect. Maybe as the years have gone by, and the Premier League has become more global, that has become less and less true, but it’s still possible to fall back on some stereotypes.
The English player with a vein-popping first-pump, the Brazilian with some fleet-footed dance moves, and Italian players channeling Marco Tardelli’s emotional intensity. Not everybody conforms, obviously, but there is a pattern.
What would you never expect, however, is a backflip from a guy born and raised in Middlesbrough.
Peter Beagrie had ten clubs during his 23-year career, but the majority of his performances at the top-level came with Everton and Manchester City, and both of those fans will remember as much for his post-goal tumbling as they will for old-fashioned wing play and his wand-like left foot.
Players who ‘go all gymnastics’ after scoring are supposed to be called Luis, or Fabian, and not Peter – and Beagrie’s celebration remains a forgotten anomaly of the early years of British football.
The clip below comes from his brief spell back in the Premier League with Bradford City, but it still encapsulates the two elements of his game which we’ll will always associate with him – that left foot, and that celebration.
Thierry Henry
In a recent TV biography, the great Detroit Lions running-back Barry Sanders was discussing the influence his father had had on his career – in particular, the pieces of advice that he’d received from him during his formative years. Amongst other things, his father had told him that whenever he reached the endzone and scored a touchdown, he should always behave as if he’s been there before. No histrionics, no dancing, no self-indulgence. Sanders would score, hand the ball back to the back-judge calmly, and jog back to the sidelines.
Generally, that’s how Thierry Henry celebrated.
Henry didn’t have a trademark move or anything like that, but he celebrated with a certain style – a nonchalance. He didn’t run off to the crowd screaming, and he didn’t get over-excited; when he scored, he behaved as if he’d always expected to. Running off with his arms outspread, a self-satisfied portrait of indifference.
Okay, so sometimes it felt a little contrived, but Henry had a level of self-belief which was just the right side of arrogance, and that ran all the way through his game. When he was on the ball, at times it could seem as if he was the only player on the pitch, and when he scored the look on his face said it all: “I’m better than you, I’ll decide the outcome of this game”.
Tim Cahill
As a rule, choreographed goal celebrations are rubbish – some of you will remember the nonsense that Ronaldo and Robinho got up to when they were both at Real Madrid. Awful.
Tim Cahill’s corner-flag punching was not, though, because in a strange way it was actually rather reflective of the kind of player the Australian was. Given his physical stature, the amount of headed goals he scored in the Premier League certainly suggested that he was ‘punching’ above his weight.
Sorry…
The origin of the celebration isn’t particularly interesting, and in fact it derives from a video game Cahill’s son was playing shortly before he scored a stoppage-time winner against Sunderland a couple of years ago – so it’s really just a homage to his kid, via some kind of Mortal Kombat-style reference point.
Anyway, here’s some vintage Cahill for you
