Play up and play the game
By Tony Watts - Editor - 15/04/2008
You might think that here in the MT office the topics of conversation likely to light the blue touch paper will be issues like pensions or healthcare. But we’re too busy writing about such subjects to argue about them as well. No, what gets us all hot under the collar (at least the blokes) is football. We leave the ladies to their own devices.
But even if the subject of football sends you into a deep coma, please read on – there is a non-sporting point to this!
You see Monday mornings, when the tea and biscuits come round, the air often turns an interesting shade of azure as we discuss the performances of the various teams we support and the demerits of our colleagues’ teams. As four teams have fans here - Manchester United, Liverpool, Bristol City and Rotherham – the gloating can sometimes be a bit one-sided. But on one subject we are united: bad behaviour.
Why is it that footballers think that they are only team sport where ganging up on the ref is deemed acceptable? The sight of gaggles of overpaid, badly coiffured footballers with degrees in diving, surrounding a referee should be anathema to anyone who has played sport in the spirit in which is intended. And football managers don’t help by going on television after games demanding that a ref be suspended for a poor decision – forgetting that the week before they had remained silent on a poor decision that went their way.
I played rugby as well as football and there the rules are clear. You call the ref “sir”, he refers to you as “gentlemen” and, if you dare to question his ruling, you get sent back another ten metres. In the same way, after the game you shook hands with the opposing players who gave you a torrid time and bought a drink for the man who went past you to score a try.
Yes of course refs sometimes get it wrong. They’re human. Just as footballers miss open goals, get caught offside, dive into tackles with their studs up and let balls go through their legs. And while refs may get it wrong, is it surprising when some footballers have perfected the art of crashing to the ground like a felled tree when an opposing player breathes too heavily in their direction?
Is all this important? Absolutely. We’re bringing up generations of young people who think it’s OK to throw a wobbly when they don’t get their own way, and assume that a decision against them is the starting point for negotiations. Respect is a vital element in society – we jettison it at our peril. Not mindless conformity or obeisance, but a preparedness to take the rough with the smooth. That ability to accept setbacks and even the odd injustice and “getting on with it” is a foundation stone for life.
Sport should be a place where we learn that lesson.