The "sport named for a country" problem

One frequent complication to the normal disambiguation of human names is the large number of sports named for their countries of origin.

It is not desirable to use disambiguators like "(Canadian football player)" for players of Canadian football, for example.^[discuss] It is unclear if the adjective ("Canadian") refers to the game or to the nationality of the player – there are numerous non–Canadian-national players of Canadian football, and the general naming convention for people clearly calls for such a construction to imply the former. A disambiguation that introduces another ambiguity is of no value to our readers. In the case of an example like this one, it is also problematic because players frequently play more than one code of football. Even if the subject were a Canadian-citizen player of Canadian football, rendering the ambiguity moot, such a disambiguation suggests that this is a naming convention for players of Canadian football generally, and thus is likely to confuse readers and editors alike as to the names of other disambiguated articles on players of the sport.

The disambiguator "(gridiron player)" can be used for a player who has played two or more codes of gridiron football, most commonly American and Canadian, and is notable for play in more than one league, but the other football player(s) who share the same name play soccer or rugby.

Use the "(player of country sport)" format only when necessary for clarity, as in "(player of English billiards)", as it otherwise makes the disambiguation unnecessarily long-winded. But do use it when the title would be ambiguous without it.

Association football (soccer)

1. When there are multiple people with the same name, and only one of them is a player of association football:

   a. If the person is neither American,^{[lower-alpha 1]} Australian, Canadian, Papua New Guinean nor South African, use (footballer).

   b. If the person is American,^{[lower-alpha 1]} Australian, Canadian, Papua New Guinean or South African, use (soccer).

2. If there are multiple footballers with the same name, use the most conclusive of the following steps:^{[lower-alpha 2]}

   a. If the footballers have different nationalities, use their nationality in the disambiguation.

   b. If the footballers were born in different years, use the year they were born.

   c. If one of the footballers is, for example, a goalkeeper, use "(goalkeeper)", or other position as appropriate.

Do NOT attempt to differentiate between people simply by the qualifiers "(footballer)" and "(soccer)". Association football and soccer are different names for the same game in different parts of the English-speaking world. Follow the guidance in (2), above.

Athletics (track and field)

When there are multiple people with the same name, and only one of them is an athletics competitor:

1. To avoid the conflict between general sportspeople and the sport of athletics (track and field), it's best to disambiguate by event category rather than use a generic "(athlete)" suffix. The "(athlete)" handle may denote sportspeople in general, like Mat Fraser (athlete). For example:
   • If the person primarily competes in the 100m hurdles, 110m hurdles, or 400m hurdles, use the suffix "(hurdler)" as in Kevin Young (hurdler).
   • If the person primarily competes in the 100m, 200m, 400m or similar, use the suffix "(sprinter)" as in Michael Johnson (sprinter).
   • If the person primarily competes in longer mid-distance or distance running events from 800m to the marathon, use the suffix "(runner)" as in Bill Rodgers (runner).
   • If the person primarily competes in the high jump, long jump, triple jump, or pole vault, use the suffixes "(high jumper)", "(long jumper)", "(triple jumper)", or "(pole vaulter)" respectively, as in Jesse Williams (high jumper), Mike Powell (long jumper), Jonathan Edwards (triple jumper), and Brad Walker (pole vaulter).
   • If the person primarily competes in the shot put, discus throw, javelin throw, or hammer throw, use the suffixes "(shot putter)", "(discus thrower)", "(javelin thrower)", or "(hammer thrower)" respectively as in Paul Edwards (shot putter), Jason Young (discus thrower), Magnus Arvidsson (javelin thrower), or Mick Jones (hammer thrower).
   • If the person primarily competes in multi-events, use the suffix "(decathlete)" or "(heptathlete)" as in Dave Johnson (decathlete) or Jessica Samuelsson (heptathlete), depending on gender. Ideally the gender-neutral term "(multi-event athlete)" would be used, but it's too cumbersome for an article title.
   • If the person primarily competes in racewalking, use the suffix "(racewalker)" as in Noé Hernández (racewalker).
2. If two athletes compete primarily in the same event group or if there is any overlap between two athletics competitors and their primary event groups, then use the year of birth to disambiguate, as in David Smith (hammer thrower, born 1962) and David Smith (hammer thrower, born 1974), or Zhang Li (javelin thrower, born 1961), Zhang Li (javelin thrower, born 1978), and Zhang Li (javelin thrower, born 1989)

Note that if the person in question was a coach or sports journalist, it's best to just use the generic "(coach)" or "(journalist)" suffixes even if their work was focused primarily on athletics as per general Wikipedia guidelines.

Australian rules football

Where there is already another person of the same name with an article, the preferred disambiguation method is:

1. John Citizen (footballer), unless there is another footballer (of any code, even rugby) with the same name
2. John Citizen (Australian footballer), unless there is another Australian footballer of any code with the same name
3. John Citizen (Australian rules footballer), unless there are multiple Australian rules footballers with the same name
4. John Citizen Jr. and John Citizen Sr., if that is the common way of differentiating between father and son with the same name
5. John Citizen (footballer, born 1900), unless there are multiple footballers of the same name and birth year, then (Australian footballer, born 1900) or (Australian rules footballer, born 1900) should be considered
6. John R. Citizen, middle initials should only be used if they are well known (and commonly used), or all other options remain ambiguous.

Using (AFL footballer), (VFL footballer), (Collingwood footballer) or similar is discouraged. If in doubt, ask at the project talk page.

Baseball

General rules

The title of an article for a baseball player should reflect the name they most commonly went by during their career. Informally, the name that appeared on a player's baseball cards should serve as the article's title.

Nicknames should only be used when a player went by their nickname professionally instead of their given first name.

Examples: Babe Ruth – Whitey Ford – Lefty Gomez

Disambiguation

Because of the large number of articles about baseball players, disambiguation is often necessary. In cases where two (or more) ballplayers share the same name, disambiguation is often complex and confusing.

The following steps should be followed to disambiguate baseball player articles:

1. Where disambiguation is necessary between a baseball player and another person unrelated to baseball, then the baseball player should be disambiguated (if less notable than the subject of the other article) using "(baseball)" in the article name. Example: Lee Smith (baseball)
2. In situations where two baseball personalities have the same name, but different occupations, disambiguate using the occupation. Example: Fred Thomas (manager) and Fred Thomas (third baseman)
3. Where disambiguation is necessary between two (or more) baseball players who play different positions, the position should be added to the article name. Example: Ramón Martínez (pitcher) and Ramón Martínez (infielder)
   • Note: When two pitchers share the same name, but one was a left-hander and the other was a right-hander, then this may be used to disambiguate. Example: Rich Robertson (left-handed pitcher) and Rich Robertson (right-handed pitcher)
   • Note: When two players share the same position, but one player also played multiple positions, then list both positions. Example: Tom Williams (pitcher) and Tom Williams (outfielder/pitcher)
4. In situations where there are two (or more) retired baseball personalities, these options also become available:
   • If their careers did not overlap and both players each predominantly played in a single decade, then use that to differentiate between them. Example: Tom Baker (1930s pitcher) and Tom Baker (1960s pitcher)
   • If they were predominantly associated with different leagues (not including the modern American and National Leagues of Major League Baseball), then the league name can be used to disambiguate. Example: Bill Blair (Negro leagues pitcher) and Bill Blair (American Association pitcher)
   • If they spent the majority of their careers with one team, then the team name may be used. Make sure that Player A did not play for the team used in Player B's article title and vice versa. Use the full name of the team. Example: John Fitzgerald (Boston Reds pitcher) and John Fitzgerald (Rochester Broncos pitcher)
5. If all previous steps are still insufficient, then use the players' year of birth. Example: Lee King (outfielder, born 1892) and Lee King (outfielder, born 1894)

Basketball

1. When there are multiple people with the same name, and one of them is notable in basketball, disambiguate that person using (basketball). Example: Anthony Bennett (basketball)
2. If there are multiple basketball people with the same name, but they have different roles, disambiguate by their job responsibility. Examples: Larry Miller (basketball player), Roy Williams (basketball coach)
3. If there are multiple basketball people with both the same name and overlapping roles, disambiguate by their birth year. Example: Jason Williams (basketball, born 1975)

Cue sports

Among players of cue sports (billiards-family games), snooker and pocket billiards (pool) players (regardless of any specialization) are disambiguated with "(snooker player)" and "(pool player)", respectively. All others are disambiguated with "(billiards player)". In cases of overlap (e.g., a player notable for both snooker and pool, or carom billiards and pool, or snooker and English billiards), use "(billiards player)".

More topically-specific disambiguations – "(three-cushion billiards player)", "(eight-ball pool player)", etc. – are rarely needed or helpful, since players of one discipline almost always play in some others as well.

Gridiron football

1. When there are two or more people who have the same name and one of them played gridiron football:

   a. If the person played only one code of gridiron football, such as American football or Canadian football, use the name of that code. Example: Anthony Parker (American football)

   b. If the person played multiple codes of football professionally, use (gridiron football).^{[lower-alpha 3]} Example: Jonathan Brown (gridiron football)

2. In situations where there are two or more people who played gridiron football but they played different positions, use the name of the position they played. Example: James Harris (defensive end) and James Harris (quarterback)
3. If two or more gridiron football players played the same position, but did not have overlapping careers, use the dominant decade to describe the person along with their position. Example: Bob Reynolds (1960s offensive tackle) and Bob Reynolds (1930s offensive tackle)
4. If two or more people played the same position and their careers overlap, use the year of birth as disambiguation. Example: Aaron Taylor (American football, born 1975) and Aaron Taylor (American football, born 1972)

Ice hockey

The normal disambiguation for ice hockey players is (ice hockey), instead of (hockey), (hockey player), or even (ice hockey player). In situations where two or more people involved with hockey have the same name, players are disambiguated by birthdate (e.g. Bob Johnson (ice hockey, born 1931)). Wikipedia does not abbreviate "born" as "b." Ice hockey people are not often disambiguated by position due to the nature of the game, in which players often play more than one position. In situations where two players are born in the same year with the same name alternative measures such as using middle names or the main position they played may be considered. Generations are generally not used (1930s ice hockey) due to the POV nature of such disambiguation and careers spanning more than one decade.

The qualifiers (hockey) and (hockey player) should never be used, because they do not distinguish between players of field hockey, ice hockey, roller hockey, and so on.

Rugby

If a sportsperson in any form of rugby football—rugby league, rugby union, or beach rugby—is not a primary topic of all people with a similar name, use (rugby), (rugby player), (rugby union), (rugby league), or (beach rugby).