play the man and not the ball

Meaning: (sports)To attack an opponent instead of attacking the ball, which is usually being controlled by the attacked player at the time.; (by extension,idiomatic,colloquial)To object to someone's argument by attacking them or a facet of their personality instead of the argument itself; to make anad hominemattack.2010April 1, “Abbott denies trying to soften his image”, inThe Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved27 August 2018:""What we are seeing is an orchestrated campaign from the Labor Party to try toplay the man and not the ball," he said... "[And] this is the kind of personal attack that we are going to see from the Labor Party right up until polling day.""2018August 14, Katharine Murphy, Amy Remeikis, “Australian senator calls for 'final solution to immigration problem'”, inThe Guardian, retrieved27 August 2018:"“Claims that the words meant anything other than the “ultimate solution” to any political question is always a popular vote are simply ridiculous,” Anning said... “As I called for a plebiscite on the immigration mix, this baseless and ridiculous criticism is simply an effort toplay the man and not the ball”."

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