Last summer, the Olympics were an almost embarrassing success and in the last few weeks there have been famous wins for the Lions Rugby team, in the Tour de France and the Ashes.
But football is still there, lurking like some deviant, drunken, cash rich, cousin who is certain to upset the party in some way. While the other sports thrive on sportsmanship and fair play, the essence of football appears to be to deceive, lie, corrupt or actually cheat. The influence of money in the game is all pervasive and infects even the most routine routine judgements. Club football towers over international competitions.
There is no better example of the game's moral descent than the petulant and self-obsessed talent of Liverpool striker, Luis Suarez, currently earning £6m p.a. We first learned of him when his deliberate goal-line handball for Uruguay kept Ghana from making the World Cup semi-final. He did not regret his action and say it was all 'heat of the moment'. He said his red card was, "worth it" and mocked his opponents, as he made, "the save of the tournament."In the last ten minutes of any match, which Liverpool are not winning, Suarez can be seen throwing himself into the penalty box like a spiteful adolescent. He is currently serving a second ban for biting an opponent and was also banned for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.
The once mighty club of Liverpool, in following purely commercial interests, has degraded themselves and been transformed from a club that neutrals would respect for their integrity, into the worst example of moral expediency in sport. Unless you count Leeds United.
The West Yorkshire club's steep decline into the lower leagues was deeply disturbing for the fans of the club - they were paying for a recession which was not of their own making. A succession of self-interested 'saviours' of Leeds threatened its demise. The lowest point was probably when, former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates (pictured), took over and installed the woeful Dennis Wise as manager. The club spiralled down even being deducted a total of 25 points for its poor administration. One match was delayed because the fans had to pay cash as the club had no card-paying facilities.
Bates's regime has been synonymous with opaque business deals - for some while no-one knew who owned the club which did not prompt the FA to ensure it was a, "fit and proper person". In modern football the administrators yield meekly to the strong arm of commercial pressure.
Bates banned the Guardian and the local BBC from press conferences at Elland Road for asking questions about how the club was run. He called the fans "morons" and defamed the former club director Melvyn Levi in his programme 'notes' over several months. And he sold many of the best players, usually for an undisclosed fee.
His status as a Monaco resident for tax reasons has finally precipitated his very welcome exit from the club. The new owners, GFH Capital, allowed Bates to stay in the titular, self aggrandised
role as club "president" but baulked at his expectation that the club would pay £500k to the costs of his private jet between Leeds and the South of France. Bates said, "I did it in the best interests of the club."
Although Leeds fans still have to contend with the unfettered ravages of capitalism which means they can never compete at the same level they used to, at least they no longer have a Chairman who treated them and the club with such contempt. However the sport proudly holds itself in disrepute.
