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Peter Honey

Peter Honey

16 Jun 2010 | 16:54

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As I watched Robert Green, England’s goalkeeper, (I include the last two words in case you don’t follow football) make his mistake, my heart sank. Not because of the goal he let in, but because it was bound to mean that mistakes would, once again, attract a bad press.

There are mistakes and mistakes. Some are big and some are small. Some are public and some are private. Some have big consequences and some minor consequences. However, perhaps the most important distinction is that some mistakes occur because of process errors and some mistakes happen despite the approach being sound. Unfortunately, Green’s mistake was a process mistake arising from cack-handed carelessness. It was also horribly public so there is no hiding place (who’d be a goalkeeper?).

So, this was what you might call a “bad” mistake (this label assumes you want England to win the World Cup; if you don’t care, then this mistake will seem a trivial fuss about nothing; the magnitude of a mistake is in the eye of the beholder). But, even if you think it was a bad mistake, does this mean that Green should be punished by being dropped from the team? If he is dropped, I believe it will send out an unhelpful message: that people who are caught making careless mistakes should be punished. Everyone makes mistakes – fortunately not as publicly as Green – and they can be superb learning opportunities, but only if you get a chance to implement the lessons. For all I know this is the first goal that Green has ever fumbled. One careless mistake and, quite possibly, a reputation and a career ruined. That’s harsh.

England coach Fabio Capello should have the courage to give Green another go to prove himself a competent goalkeeper. To do so would send out a message that it is OK to make mistakes so long as you learn from the experience and, as a consequence, do not repeat them. Risky though, isn’t it?
 
 

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