“Deschamps gets by because he always gives 100 per cent, but he will never be anything more than a water carrier. You can find players like him on every street corner.” – Eric Cantona
“How many players can you find on street corners who have won two European Cups? Besides, every team needs its water carriers.” – Didier Deschamps
The spat between the erstwhile France teammates ahead of the Champions League tie between Manchester United and Juventus in 1996 feels rather dated now.
Back then, Deschamps had just the two French league titles, one Serie A, and those two European Cups to his name as a captain.
After that, besides reams more domestic success, he went on to lift the World Cup and European Championships.
And now, as a manager, his France side are the reigning world champions. Which is not such a bad haul for a humble porteur d’eau.
Make no mistake: Cantona’s criticism of Deschamps was meant to sting. He was only fit for menial tasks, not like the proper stars of teams like Cantona himself, he was saying.
But there is plenty of evidence to suggest the best teams are those founded on the sort of humble leadership conveyed in a task like carrying the drinks.
As captain of the New Zealand rugby XV between 2006 and 2015, Richie McCaw led arguably the most successful team in the history of international sport.
Sweeping the dressing rooms was never beneath him. On the rare occasions he missed matches himself, he was known to fill the role of waterboy, too.
According to his teammate, and fellow great All Black, Dan Carter, McCaw was a great leader – but useless waterboy, given that he managed to mangle his kicking tee while delivering it to him ahead of a kick at goal.
Such humility is essential for leaders of great teams, according to Sam Walker in 'The Captain Class', which is an exhaustive study history’s greatest ever sports teams.
Walker says the one factor binding all great teams is the standard of captaincy, and finds they “were rarely stars, nor did they act like one.”
“They shunned attention,” he writes. “They gravitated to functional roles. They carried water
“The great captains lowered themselves in relation to the group whenever possible, in order to earn the moral authority to drive them forward in tough moments.
“The person at the back, feeding the ball to others, may look like a servant – but that person is actually creating dependency.
"The easiest way to lead, it turns out, is to serve.”
So why did the TV images from the first Test between England and Pakistan, of former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed ferrying drinks for the touring players, provoke such a furore?
Faisal Iqbal, the former Pakistan Test player, reckons it was humiliating for the former captain to have to fulfill those duties, and was all about score settling by those now in management positions.
“When he was announced for the tour, I knew from that day there would be a humiliation for him,” said Iqbal, who played 26 Test matches between 2001 and 2010.
“In my experience of Pakistan cricket, and being 12th man most of the time, I knew what was going to happen to Sarfaraz.
“When I was 12th man and there were senior players, there was no way they were going to carry the bottles and go on the field.
“I was told: ‘You are the junior, I am the senior, and it won’t look nice if I am carrying the drinks.’
“I am talking about my experience of what happens in our part of the world.
"It is difficult for my friends from other countries to understand why we think in a different way.”
The Sarfaraz incident prompted many to point out that many greats of the game had form for carrying the drinks.
Images were quickly called up on social media of Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson wearing the hi-vis, carrying bottles – and even Don Bradman, albeit while wearing a blazer.
Iqbal suggests there was a crucial difference here, though.
“There is no comparison between those players doing those duties and Sarfaraz doing it,” Iqbal said.
“They are totally different scenarios. They would have been when they had already won the series and they wanted to give the youngsters a game.
“Yes, I am a firm believer that there should be no ‘seniors and juniors’ thing. Everyone should fulfill their duties. But in our part of the world, that is a very new thing.
“The mindset has changed globally in recent years, in that everyone should be a team man, and it should have been like that in our part of the world a long time back as well.
“What Sarfaraz did was perfect. As a teammate, and as a cricketer I really appreciate what he did.
“But in terms of a cultural issue, we were expecting this to happen, so that people could settle their scores.”
Ahmed also entered the fray on the final day of the Test match, drinks in hand, when his successor as captain Azhar Ali was losing the thread during England’s run chase.
Presumably, the wisdom he could impart at that point might have been a help for a new captain finding his way.
“On the 1986 tour of India, I was the third senior-most guy in the team,” Mudassar Nazar, the former Pakistan all-rounder, said.
“For some reason Imran [Khan] didn’t play me in any of the Tests there, and it was a regular feature that I would take on the drinks, the messages, the gloves.
“I also remember when I was only new to the team, Majid Khan coming on as a 12th man to help the players.
“We have done that over the years as senior players. If they weren’t playing, they still had to play their part.
“I didn’t see anything wrong with it, but the Karachi press always have to create an issue. Sarfaraz is their blue-eyed boy.
“It is a good thing they are supporting him, but I think this is taking it a little too far.
“Is this damaging team spirit? I’m not sure, and I’m not sure if anyone ordered him to do it. It would have just been one of those things you do for the team.
“You want to be helpful to the players, and if you can give any advice, it helps.
"If the senior players commit wholeheartedly like that, it lifts the team up. It is a team game.”
