COMMENT | Politics is a contact sport. In some countries, it is almost literally a blood sport. People get shot, killed, and permanently maimed.

When writers use "sports" as an analogy to understand the dynamics of politics, they had better know the game and the rules of engagement.

Columnist Mariam Mokhtar claimed that Anwar Ibrahim scored an "own goal" in his Port Dickson move, by pushing for a by-election.

By that, she probably meant an own goal as in football. But own goals are rare in football.

Scientific research has shown in the past 30 years, that an average footballer does not have more than 40 to 50 touches of the ball throughout the normal 90-minute game.

When all 22 players race and chase for the ball, the amount of time you can actually dribble, stroke, and nudge the ball a few meters forward comes to no more than a few seconds.

In total, all footballers barely have more than two to three minutes with the ball.

But that still does not detract from the fact that every footballer – including world greats like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – does not have more than three minutes of contact with the ball.

When they do have those three minutes, they have to either defend their possession, make a decent pass, or, ideally score a goal.

Mariam argued that the Port Dickson move was an own goal for Anwar. While one does not have to take the metaphor literally, one does not have to accept the analogy either.

It can't be an own goal if the waiting time to return to the field of politics has been over 10.5 years, rather than a mere 90 minutes...