Cristiano Ronaldo
The handicap principle, first espoused by biologist Amotz Zahavi, shows how apparently maladaptive traits can evolve which signify the genetic fitness of an individual. The peacock’s tail is perhaps the most recognizable manifestation of the handicap principle at work. Peacocks develop large cumbersome tails: this may appear to demonstrate the development of a trait that could hinder survival and reproduction. Peacocks with relatively small tails, for example, would be more mobile and thus have greater capacity to escape predators, and outmanoeuvre rivals to obtain sexual spoils.
What the oversize tail is signifying however is that the peacock is able to survive despite such an encumbrance. Peacocks who were unable to negotiate a hostile environment with such a large tail would be unlikely to survive long in maturity and, as a consequence, would have reduced capacity to pass on their genes to offspring. The elaborate tail is therefore a signal of biological fitness: the intended recipients of this signal would recognize that only high-quality genetic stock is capable of surviving whilst flaunting such an extravagant signal.
A direct equivalent of the peacock’s tail can be observed in football with ‘the stepover’. The stepover is a technique perhaps most associated with wide attacking players and is deployed when a player is dribbling with the ball. The purported aim is to put the defender off balance so that the winger can then run past them whilst retaining the ball. However, some players use the stepover so frequently that it can appear redundant or even counterproductive.
Peacock
The nascent career of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo showed how the stepover could be used as an extravagant signal of individual quality. Ronaldo would often engage in multiple stepovers whilst running with the ball, even though these ornamental movements did not assist his progress. But what Ronaldo was proving with this elaborate display was that he could retain the ball even whilst he was engaged in wasteful non-productive trickery. A lesser player endeavouring such footwork would be likely to lose their balance and/or control of the ball and be dispossessed. Ronaldo was therefore establishing a psychological advantage over his rivals by using this bold and potentially costly display to assert his superiority. It is interesting to note that as Ronaldo’s career has progressed, and more substantial indicators of his quality can be detected, his use of the stepover has diminished.
Keep an eye out for the handicap principle at work at World Cup 2010. Other examples may include big hair (“This barnet slows me down but I’m still a visionary playmaker”), coloured boots (“I may be inciting hostility from my opponents but I’m not afraid of playground bullies”) and cavalier goalkeeping (“Despite rash advances from my 18-yard box I’m still considered the best keeper in my country”).