Chances are you have no idea who Kenny Wharton is. Unless you are super into the 1980s English soccer or are a Newcastle United fan, the name probably doesn’t ring a bell. However, he just may be the godfather of modern sports taunting. The midfielder did something during a 1988 game that was so audacious, sports haven’t been the same since. Okay, that’s not true, but it was still legendary.
Taunting in sports was around way before Wharton took the field. The 1980s is probably the golden era of sports taunting when you think about it. In America, the University of Miami football team had been celebrating opponents into submission throughout the decade. Larry Bird was dishing out some of the most infamous trash talk in history. And Kevin Mitchell was catching baseballs without his glove.
All of these are fine instances of taunting. Yet none were quite as devastating as what Wharton would do on the field.
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Who is Kenny Wharton?
Kenny Wharton is kind of like a 1980s English soccer equivalent of Brian Cardinal. Both were serviceable role players who were popular among fans despite not being particularly talented.
The popularity of Wharton stemmed mostly from the fact he was, as the British would say, a local lad playing for his hometown club. That club being Newcastle United. He played 290 times during a ten-year career scoring 26 goals and amassing 23 yellow cards as a left-sided midfielder and defender.
These numbers are not remarkable in any way, shape or form. The anonymity of Wharton during his playing days is laid bare by the fact almost no videos or photos of him exist. Newcastle United fans did love him though. More than 20,000 attended a 1989 exhibition match in Wharton’s honor.
Injury derailed his career after that. He left Newcastle United upon the conclusion of the 1988-89 season, playing for three other clubs the following year. A chronic knee injury proved difficult to overcome and he was finished as a player in 1990.
The modern sports taunting hero
You may have never heard of Kenny Wharton, but you should thank him for taking modern sports taunting to the next level. It was April 2, 1988 and the setting was St. James’ Park, home of Newcastle United. The home team is playing Luton in a fixture that has little meaning. Both teams are safe from relegation and have no chance of winning the league.
Despite this, it is not an entirely meaningless game for Newcastle. In early November, Luton hammered them 4-0 in a fashion that rubbed many Newcastle players the wrong way. Five months later, the shoe would be on the other foot.
Newcastle defeated Luton by a similar 4-0 scoreline. The last few minutes of the game were punctuated by many Newcastle players dicking around, wasting time. And then Kenny Wharton got the ball at his feet.
With no Luton player around, Wharton surveys the field and decides to take a seat on the ball. That’s right, he sat down on the ball and rested his head on his arm during live play. The event took modern sports taunting to a level we’ve never seen it.
Sure, the moment lasted three seconds, but it’s comically disrespectful. Newcastle was already winning by four goals and Wharton basically gave Luton the sporting equivalent of a massive middle finger while the game was happening.
Some people will try to discredit this taunt because they believe soccer players are soft. That wasn’t the case for English soccer in the 1980s. Not only were those peak hooligan years, but players weren’t messing around either. Here’s a video of Graeme Souness jacking people up in the 80s. That was soccer at the time.
This makes Wharton’s decision to sit on the ball all that more impressive. There was a very real chance someone would come at him hard before the final whistle. He wasn’t simply taunting after the fact, he was willing to put himself at risk in order to rub Luton’s face in their own suckiness.
The aftermath
Modern sports taunting continued to grow after Kenny Wharton sat on the ball. A few months later, Ickey Woods busted out the Ickey Shuffle to let the world know he scored a touchdown. Also in 1988, the Philly Phanatic taunted Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda with a blowup doll poking fun at his protruding gut.
Down at “The U”, Miami took their taunting to the next level. The NCAA even created the “Miami Rule” that made excessive celebration a 15-yard penalty. The 2000s welcome a renaissance of sports taunting as guys like Terrell Owens and Joe Horn tried to embarrass cornerbacks after scoring.
But let’s not forget the contributions of Kenny Wharton. During a fairly unimportant soccer game in Northeast England, he managed to become the godfather of modern sports taunting.
