SO MUCH FOR THE CITY

Dismal. That is the only word polite enough to describe the second half of Newry City's season, which has seen the club win just 5 points out of a possible 51 since the turn of the year. This abject run of form has led to the club being relegated from Northern Ireland's Irish League Premiership after a 0:4 reverse at home to Glenavon on Tuesday last. City haven't won since New Year's Eve, and, with one game to go this season, find themselves six points adrift of their nearest challenger, west Belfast side Donegal Celtic, who had occupied the bottom slot in the Irish League until a few weeks ago (only the bottom club is automatically relegated in the 12-club IFA Premiership, whilst the 11-th placed club faces a play-off against the runners-up in the Championship, Northern Irish football's second tier).

The club, founded in 1923 as Newry Town, actually finished third in the Irish League in 1928, and then some time later disappeared into the abyss known as the B Division, from which there was no promotion to the top division until the 1980s. Newry Town gained admission to the Irish League in the early 1980s, finding themselves in the second tier, when they won their only major honour to date, the County Antrim Shield, in 1988, and almost went out of business in the early 1990s, only to be rescued by local businessman Joe Rice. The Town were eventually promoted to the top flight in 1998 after winning the former First Division.

In their first season in many years in the top flight, they managed to finish fourth, and qualified for the Intertoto Cup. They faced Croatian side hrvatski Dragovoljac, who they defeated 2:1 over two legs (0:1 away, 2:0 home).

In the next round, they faced German side MSV Duisburg, but were eliminated after losing 2:0 away, and winning 1:0 at home at Newry Showgrounds. Rice left shortly afterwards, being replaced by a consortium of owners. The club finished in last place in 2002-03, but remained in the top flight after defeating Bangor in a play-off series. After the town of Newry, along with Lisburn, obtained city status in 2004, the club changed its name to Newry City (the club emblem changed as well, much to the regret of your correspondent).

The club meandered along quite nicely in the intervening period, regularly finishing in mid-table and even reacing the CIS Insurance [League] Cup final in 2009, losing 1:0 to Portadown in the final. Earlier that season, the club even found themselves top of the Irish League for the first time in their history, though their "reign" lasted a mere 18 hours or so. (Since around this time, City have been busying themselves with sprucing up the Showgrounds in line with the Irish League's spectator safety guidelines.)

Last season was more of the same, and after a close-season in which City released several players, including yours truly's favourite player of all, Kevin Keegan, who went to third-level Annagh United, they started off reasonably strongly this season (the only complaint from your correspondent being that a holiday was booked with two Saturday fixtures featuring Newry City, one home, one away, in mind, but they had both been switched to Friday evening), reaching fourth spot in September.

Slowly but surely, though, their season began to fall apart, and their last win this season in the Irish League, their sixth until now, was a 3:1 victory at home to Lisburn Distillery on New Year's Eve. (City's last win in all competitions was a 4:0 home victory against Armagh City in the Mid-Ulster Cup in February.) In February, the team found themselves bottom of the Irish League, and their manager, Gerry Flynn, was sacked by the board, and was eventually be replaced by ex-Northern Ireland international Pat McGibbon (who won 7 caps for the national side, and who had also played for Wigan Athletic and Glentoran, amongst other teams).

Since the turn of the Year, Newry City have won 5 points out of a maximum of 51, and replaced Donegal Celtic at the bottom of the Irish League. They now lie 6 points adrift of the Celtic. Donegal Celtic head for a possible play-off against the winner of the Championsip quite shortly; South Down's finest can only dream of what might have been.

To make matters worse, it was reported this week in the Belfast Telegraph that Newry City's goalkeeper and star turn, Andy Coleman, is already putting the feelers out with a view to joining a Championship side in England. City stated recently that they would not stand in his way should he leave in the event of the club being relegated, and it sems odds-on that this will happen, even though Coleman stated that he would like to finish his career at City if the club could remain in the Premiership.

What will happen to McGibbon after the season ends is unclear, but he is currently far from a happy camper, and let his feelings known to the players - and to the BBC - after the recent home defeat to Donegal Celtic, basically saying that he wasn't happy with the effort that was being put in by the playing squad, describing them as "Monday to Friday players". They certainly seem like a thoroughly dispirited bunch, with only Coleman, defender John Convery and attacker Andy Graham frequently rising above the (allegedly) sub-standard fare currently on offer to spectators at Newry Showgrounds.

Newry City's last home game of the season takes place this coming Saturday against Coleraine, and, to be honest, no great things are expected. It is almost a relief to see the season finish, but the fear is that the club may well find it difficult to get out of the Championship in the near future unless they get rid of the dead wood and can find some quality players to strenghten the playing staff. At least the Showgrounds are beginning to look the part..

City may well find themselves engaging in local derby fun next season with near neighbours Warrenpoint Town, who are situated just 5 miles down the A2 and who are currently 8 points clear in their first season in the third tier of the Irish League with games in hand on most of their nearest challengers. The club from the 'Point, founded in 1987, were playing in the Newcastle & District League just a few years ago. What price The 'Point bypassing Newry City and progressing into the Irish League sometime during the next few seasons? It just doesn't bear thinking about.
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ADDENDUM: Donegal Celtic have been spared the stress of participating in a prpmotion/relegation play-off by the IFA. Apparently, the club received a message from the IFA shortly before the kick-off of their final league game, at home to against Dungannon Swifts, which informed them that their position in the Premiership was safe.

No additional details were given; it may well be the case that at least one of the top two teams in Championship 1, Carrick Rangers and Limavady United, do not fulfil the conditions needed to obtain a licence to play in the Premiership next season. Details are expected to be released as to who has obtained a licence to play in the top flight on 3/5/11. Meanwhile, Celtic then proceeded to lose anyway, by 2 goals to 1..

As for Newry City, there was to be no final flourish to their season as they lost 2:0 to Coleraine, thereby remaining six points behind Celtic at the foot of the Premiership table and will be playing Championship 1 football next season..unless a miracle happens tomorrow..

SMASH AND BURN

So, Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey late on Wednesday evening by defeating Barcelona 1:0 after extra-time, thanks to a fine header from the number one candidate for the Portuguese 2012 Olympic Games diving team, Cristiano Ronaldo. No matter, that wasn't the big news this week; the big news was indeed caused by a Real Madrid player at around 04:30 on Thursday morning during an extremely late (early??) parade through Madrid by the conquering heroes themselves, with the Copa del Rey in tow.

Unfortunately, it wasn't kept long enough in tow as Sergio Ramos, who has proved himself to be a reckless bugger on the field, proved himself to be an equally reckless bugger off the field as well by dropping the Copa del Rey from the roof of the bus onto the ground, and the hapless bus-driver could do nothing only run over the trophy.

The cup was pictured rolling merrily along under the bus; it was later learned that there were 10 pieces of the cup that were left scattered over a respectable distance. If only the bus-driver had learned to stick the boot in half as quickly as some of Jose Moaninho's charges..

To view the incident at hand (sorry, but this blogsite is not equipped with screens, only link thingys - this is not the BBC or a blogsite belonging to some flash bod with access to all the latest gimmicks), kindly click on the link below, which has been culled from You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCtM3DrKzGg

Mind you, poor old Sergio need not feel alone. In Brazil in 2009, Corinthians captain William was holding aloft the Paulista state championship trophy when this happened (again, culled without any scent of conscience from You Tube):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JH3K1gZ7vY&feature=player_detailpage

Fortunately, no-one was injured as a result of the incident. There has been no word of whether the São Paulo state authorities have tightened their health and safety guidelines in the light of what happened.

Never mind, Sergio Ramos has surely learned something after Wednesday evening (and it wasn't how to tackle): the next time Real Madrid win anything, he should let Iker Casillas hold the trophy. That way, the trophy will be in safe hands....

By the way, apologies to anyone who was expecting a treatise on the current state of football in Turkmenistan (it will not be happening this year); this was all just too good to miss....

SOUTH PACIFIC GAMES 2011 - LATEST

The 14th edition of the South Pacific Games will be held in and around Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia from 27/08/11 to 09/09/11, and included in the itinerary will be both men's and women's tournaments.

The full list of competing countries has yet to be announced, but it is expected that the full compliment of OFC member countries (expecting New Zealand) will be competing, alongside Tuvalu and Kiribati. Tuvalu are associate members of the OFC, and competed in the previous edition of the South Pacific Games, which were held in Apia, Samoa, and which was won by New Caledonia. (This was the first time that the Games were considered to be the preliminary stage for the Oceania group for World Cup qualification.) As a result, New Caledonia, runners-up Fiji and third-placed Vanuatu all progressed to the final stages of the Oceania qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup.

It will be the same story this time round, with both finalists and the winner of the third-place match progressing to the 2014 World Cup qualifying tournament.

This will be Kiribati's third appearance at the South Pacific Games, having previously competed in the 1979 and 2003 editions and suffering some heavy defeats in the process; they lost 24:0 against Fiji on their début in the competition in 1979. The country's record in the competition is: played 7, lost 7. Kiribati have never played against another international side outside the South Pacific Games.

The list of OFC member countries which are expected to compete in the men's football tournament is as follows:

• American Samoa
• Cook Islands
• Fiji
• New Caledonia
• Papua New Guinea
• Samoa
• Solomon Islands
• Tahiti
• Tonga
• Vanuatu

The Northern Mariana Islands FA (NMIFA) also intended to participate in the football tournament, but decided to pull out when it was announced that the tournament would serve as the first stage in World Cup 2014 qualification for the Oceania region, and feared that participation would be problematic for their status within the EAFF. The NMIFA are a member of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF), an offshoot of the AFC.

It appears that the island group's nearest neighbour, Guam, are also considering taking part in the Games' football tournament, but their FA's possible application may well founder for much the same reasons as that of the NMIFA.

The fixture lists have yet to be announced, but the list of venues (to be found on the Games' website's English-language football page, the web address of which is to be found at the end of this blog) is expected to include the following:

• Stade Numa Daly, Nouméa
• Terrain de Football Boewa, Mont-Dore
• Terrain de football Yoshida, Koné
• Terrain de football PLGC, Nouméa
• Terrain de football Rivière Salée, Nouméa
• Terrain de football Hnase, Lifou

The 2015 South Pacific Games will be held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The first edition was held in Fiji back in 1963, where New Caledonia won the inaugural football tournament by outclassing their hosts by 8 goals to 2.

New Caledonia and Tahiti have been the most successful participants in the history of the South Pacific Games, with 5 gold medal performances apiece. A women's tournament was held for the first time in 2003, with Papua New Guinea finishing top of the final group stage, ahead of Guam, and retained the trophy after defeating Tonga in the 2007 final.

WINNERS (MEN'S TOURNAMENT)

1963 New Caledonia
1966 French Polynesia (later Tahiti)
1969 New Caledonia
1971 New Caledonia
1975 Tahiti
1979 Tahiti
1983 Tahiti
1987 New Caledonia
1991 Fiji
1995 Tahiti
2003 Fiji
2007 New Caledonia

For more information on the South Pacific Games, please visit the following link (in English):

http://www.nc2011.nc/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=231&lang=english

For Francophone readers of this blog, the link address is:

http://www.nc2011.nc/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=231&lang=french


To find out more about the draw, please go to the following link:

http://patmcguinness.blogspot.com/2011/08/south-pacific-games-2011-draw-mens.html


To find out more about the fixture-list for the Men's tournament, please go to the following link:

http://patmcguinness.blogspot.com/2011/08/pacific-games-2011-fixture-list-mens.html

To find out more about the fixture-list for the Women's tournament, please go to the following link:

http://patmcguinness.blogspot.com/2011/08/pacific-games-2011-fixture-list-womens.html

THEY'LL BE DANCING IN THE STREETS OF GABORONE..

Not only will a large percentage of the local population have been dancing on Gaborone's streets this past evening, but many more will doubtless come tumbling out of cupboards around the country during the course of this coming week after Botswana's national side, known as the Zebras, confirmed their qualification for next year's Africa Cup of Nations with a 1:0 win away to Chad.

Jerome Ramatlhakwane earned his place in Botswanan football history by scoring the 50th minute winner, and his fifth in the Zebras' qualification camapign in total, at N'Djamena's Stade Nationale. Botswana, managed by Stanley Tshosane, have not been prolific goalscorers in their group, netting just seven goals in their six games so far (the other two coming from Oteng Mongala and Joel Mogorosi), though they remain unbeaten and have won five games so far.

Their total of 16 points includes surprisingly defeating Tunisia twice (by 1:0 home and away) and the double against Chad, alongside defeating Togo in Gaborone and drawing away against Malawi. There are those who may put Tunisia's defeats down to the current turbulent political situation in the country, but seeing as the Zebras won in Tunis last July, that argument surely holds no ground. The fact that both Tunisia and Togo competed in the 2006 World Cup and have been regularly competing in the most recent editions of the African Cup of Nations only serves to make the Botswanan national side's achievement that more impressive.

The Zebras are sitting pretty with 16 points at the top of Group K, an unassailable seven points clear of their nearest challengers Malawi with only two games to go, at home to Malawi in June with the final group game away to Togo in September. Malawi currently sit second in the group, and it may well go down to the wire between themselves and Tunisia (currently on 7 points) with Togo and Chad now seemingly all but elliminated.

It will be their first appearance at a major tournament, having previously been eliminated in either the preliminary round or group stages of all previous World Cup and African Cup of Nations tournaments in which they have taken part since their first attempt in 1994. They declined to participate in the qualifying stages for the 1998 World Cup.

The 2012 African Cup of Nations will be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, with the tournament's opening match taking place in the Equatorial Guinean coastal city of Bata on 21/1/12.

Most of the national squad play in domestic football, apart from goalkeeper Modiri Marumo,defender Mogogi Gabonamong, Ramathlhakwane, and Botswana's most popular player and current top-scorer in the Botswanan national side, Dioketogo ("Dipsy") Selolwane, who all play in South Africa.

The top local side is Township Rollers, who celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, with 10 domestic titles to their name, and who seem a good bet to duplicate last season's championship-winning perfomance this time round as well. Gaborone's finest are currently nine points clear of second-placed Mochudi Centre Chiefs in the BeMobile Premier League, with Francistown outfit ECCO City Greens a further five points adrift in third.

Botswana's club sides have not impressed in African club competitions down the years, with only the Rollers progressing past the preliminary round, and that on one occcasion. Nevertheless, it will be an experience and a half for the Zebras, and congratulations to them, too. It is something of which the country's entire population of two million people should be proud of, regardless of how far they progress. The Zebras now have ten months in which to prepare for the African Cup of Nations, and their friendly in Marrakech against Morocco this coming Thursday will be first of many tests to come, but the coming time is something for Botswana's inhabitants to enjoy, cherish and look forward to.

NATWEST ISLAND GAMES 2011 ENTRY LIST - LATEST

Preparations are gathering pace for the 2011 NatWest Island Games, to be held between Saturday 25/6/11-Saturday 1/7/11, and several islands have entered both the men's and women's football tournaments. To date, 16 islands have entered the men's tournament, while 10 have entered the women's tournament.

The entry list is as follows, with "parent" countries in brackets:

MEN'S TOURNAMENT: Aland Islands(Finland), Alderney (Channel Islands,UK), Falkland Islands (UK), Froya (Norway), Gibraltar (UK), Gotland (UK), Greenland (Denmark), Isle of Man (UK), Isle of Wight (UK), Jersey (Channel Islands, UK), Menorca (Spain), Prince Edward Island (Canada), Rhodes (Greece), Saaremaa (Estonia), Western Isles (UK) and Ynys Mon/Anglesey (UK)

WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT: Aland Islands (Finland), Gibraltar (UK), Gotland (Sweden), Greenland (Denmark), Hitra (Norway), Isle of Man (UK), Isle of Wight (UK), Jersey (UK), Saaremaa (Estonia) and Western Isles (UK)

Surprise omissions to the list appear to be the Shetland Islands (UK) and Guernsey (UK); the latter would perhaps have been expected to feature reasonably strongly in the men's competition.

It was reported in an earlier blog a few months ago that Saint Helena were intending to send a team to compete in the men's competion. However, the Saints do not appear in the above list of competitors, received yesterday from Kay Batty, General Secretary of the Island Games Association, which is based in the Isle of Man, who stated that, as far as the current list of competing islands goes, "..Saint Helena are not entering a football team."

The list, however, is not yet definite, though, according to Mrs Batty, the fixture-list for the football tournament will be compiled sometime during the next few weeks by the Isle of Wight Organising Committee, and will hopefully be made available to view on this blog.

More on the Island Games to follow in due course, including a potted history  of the men's competition.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Kay Batty for kindly passing on the information included in the blog; any errors are the author's and the author's alone.

FOOTBALL AS IT SHOULD BE PLAYED

It is always a pleasure to talk, and write, about a game one has just seen, provided that the game has been of the highest quality, and the game played between Arsenal and Barcelona on 16/2/11 is one such occasion that deserves to be written about.

Barca scored first in the first half through David Villa via a defence-splitting pass from an excellent Lionel Messi, before Arsenal levelled through a Robin van Persie strike from a narrow angle just outside the six-yard box found its way past Victor Valdes in the Barcelona goal. Moments later, Andrei Arshavin, he who should have his index finger cut off, scored the winner for Arsenal from close range and, instead of his usual irritating celebration, threw his shirt over his head.

A deserved win for Arsenal, but only just, as there were comparatively few shots on goal from either side throughout the game.

No matter. The technical quality was breathtaking from start to finish. There were maybe five corners taken in the whole of the game, maybe fifteen throw-ins taken to boot, but it was, in spite of five yellow cards dished out by my man of the match, Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli - who refereed the game stylishly and unobrtusively, always using the advantage rule to full effect- thoroughly enthralling.

Robin van Persie had the first real chance, well saved by Valdez, after some fine masterly dribbling work by young Master Theo Walcott and a nifty ball through by Cesc Fabregas, both of whom performed to the highest level throughout (in Walcott's case, until he was substituted by The Gunners' Danish Honey Monster, Nicklas Bendtner, before van Persie's equaliser).

Arsenal's third keeper, Wojchech Szczesny performed more than creditably throughout, but he was given no chance after 26 minutes when Loinel Messi's intricately threaded through-ball found the foot of David Villa, who did the expected by side-footing the ball to the Pole's left.

In between Villa's opener and van Persie's well-taken equaliser, there were indeed few chances of note, but the football was both technically enthralling and intoxicating, not to mention sporting in the extreme. Fouls were rare, and, as mentioned, Rizzoli had the game well and truly under control, ably assisted by his linesmen. Talk about pass and move; the first 20 minutes were breathless, with the ball barely leaving the ground, and although the tempo slowed somewhat as the game went on, the manner in which the game was played barely altered, and the pass and move style from both teams throughout the game was an absolute joy to behold.

What a difference from the game in the Giuseppe Meazza/San Siro last night, if reports are to be believed. (Your correspondent did not see the game between AC Milan : Spurs due to educational committments.) A goal from Der Crouchmeister (ahem, Peter Crouch) made all the difference, as did a rather reckless two-footed tackle from AC Milan's Mathieu Flamini on Tottenham's Vedran Corluka.

According to some of those who saw the match, it changed the whole athmosphere of the game, with Gennaro Gattuso having a couple of run-ins with Spurs' assistant manager Joe Jordan, so much so that Gattuso and Jordan had verbal (and physical) run-ins during the remainder of the 90 minutes, which led to Gattuso rather tamely head-butting Jordan after the final whistle.

If both were let loose in an enclosed space last night, my money would have been on Joe Jordan to come out on top. They would have still been looking for bits and pieces of Gattuso in the second tier of the Giuseppe Meazza.. Never mind the handbags in Milan, though, I am looking forward, to 8/3/11, to seeing the footballing ballet in the Nou Camp that is surely to come between Barcelona and Arsenal. Can't wait.

WHAT ARE YOUR WISHES FOR THE GAME OF FOOTBALL IN 2011?

Many in the media and on blogs such as this one concentrate their efforts at year's end with looking back at the year just gone. I have decided to look the other way - forward. Some of you reading this blog may say that it is a bit late to publish something covering a look ahead to 2011, but, hey, it's my blog and I'll do exactly what I want with it.

I decided to ask some friends and acquaintances who love and worship the great god football what they wanted to see happen to the sport in 2011, and the answers were many and varied. Gemma told me that she thought that Spurs would win the 2011 Premier League, while also stating the hope that "[Roman] Abramovich would leave Chelsea, that the club would go bust and that Old Trafford would burn to the ground". Now, I must say that although most of those of a Red persuasion (such as myself) and a great many other football fans all across the British Isles would most probably concur, this wasn't quite the answer I was looking for.

Robski, himself a referee, expressed the hope that cameras would be placed on the goal-line at all major tournaments. This was a recurring theme throughout many answers received. Gero probably earned himself a place on Robski's Christmas-card list by agreeing with the call for goal-line technology, but probably more so for being of the opinion that referees should be respected and that those guilty of carrying out bad tackles should be given a 10-match ban. The noble Gero had much more to say, but I mislaid his wish-list, which in retrospect, may not have been such a bad thing as it was big enough to keep me in Blogland until April, and as one of his hopes was that Liverpool would be relegated. In any case, sorry, Gero.

Shaun may well join Gero in Rob's good books with his request that players who swear at match officials should be instantly red-carded, adding that, when sanctioned, "players should be men about it".

Meanwhile, goal-line technology was busy racking up the points in the wish-list, with Frank, Ton and Remco  all advocating is introduction, with Remco also introducing the introduction of cameras following play along the touchline (such as is used in American Football) in order to ascertain when someone has strayed offside. He also said that, in professional football at least, the option should be open for each team to "challenge" the referee's decision 3 times per half per game.

Ton's wife, Petra, wished for a more sporting year on and off the pitch, for more honesty from players and match officials alike, and for an end to abuse of match officials by players. She also said that every footballer should get a chance; those who fail to make the grade should be given help to find a club more suited to their level of ability. Players should be paid much less than they are, she went on, and unsporting players should be banned for life.

Ton himself, meanwhile, said that professional clubs should have a back-up plan to assist players who don't make the grade, and that 6 out of the 11 players who take the field on match-day should be nationals of the league competition they are playing in. The January transfer-window should be abolished, and those clubs whose debts aren't brought under control during a 3-year period should have a transfer embargo imposed.
He also called for fair-play above everything else, as did Maurice.

As, indeed, did Henk, who is also praying for a Bayern Munich : Barcelona final in the Champions League: "At least we'd get a good game", he said. He would also like to see some "good football; lightning-fast football".

FIFA didn't quite escape everybody's attention in my little survey. Silke, apart from expressing the unlikely hope that Sankt-Pauli would win the Bundesliga, also told me that corruption would always exist in FIFA and UEFA. Possibly, but I would like to see it stamped in football, full-stop, with life bans and imprisonment for those convicted of corruption.

Richie is keeping his fingers crossed that Sepp Blatter gets struck by a bolt of lightning, and would like the World Cup taken from Qatar and "given to somewhere like the US". (I can't see the latter happening, but I hope and pray that Sepp will go on an advanced driving course this year..)

And now, it's my turn on the swings. I would, first of all, like to thank those named above who took the time to answer the call to contribute; your help was, and is, greatly appreciated. It was hardly a scientific affair, but my survey did throw up a few unexpected ideas as well as the more familiar subjects. My thanks also go to Roberto Muylaert, biographer of the 1950 Brazilian World Cup goalkeeper Moacyr Barbosa (more on Barbosa in another blog shortly), who was the only person out of a list including footballers such as Lionel Messi and Alessandro Del Piero, managers and referees past and present and others involed in, and writing about, the game of football, to actually send me a proper answer to my original question.

I must say that I disagree with goal-line technology; I much prefer the notion of an umpire standing on each side of the goal, as in Gaelic Football. This could be used as a first step in becoming a referee, should the umpire wish to do so. I believe that umpires could be used from the lowest levels of football right up to and including the World Cup Final; it keeps the human aspect of decision-making very much alive, and I would like to think that there are at least 3 honest people (umpires plus linesman) in every amateur club!

I would like to see the Champions League and Europa League scrapped and revert back to the old formula; two-leg knockout ties right from the start, with a completely open draw. It's good for the smaller clubs, as they could potentially profit from a big pay-day (gate reciepts and TV money), and they would also receive some free publicity and a place in the sun.

Unsporting behaviour also featured prominently in my survey. Two-footed tackles must be outlawed, as must be diving. A direct red for the first, and a yellow for the second. (Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben and Luis Suarez must be medal hopefuls for their respective countries at the 2012 Olympics; 10-metre springboard, anyone??)

The same goes for players who incite opposition supporters, especially after scoring a goal; for example, Rafael van der Vaart, El Hadji Diouf and Andrei Arshavin all deserve to be taken into the centre-circle and ceremonially given a good slapping and then a yellow card for such things, with Arshavin getting the index finger on his right hand sliced off at the quick for good measure.

Football hooligans should also be banned for life from attending football games at whatever level, and there should be no recourse to appeal. Racism, xenophobia and homophobia in the game must also be stamped out, and those guilty of same, on or off the field of play, should also be banned from football for life. The media have their role to play as well, but do not always do so.

In other words, I agree with Henk, Ton and Maurice said about fair play being paramount, on and off the pitch. This was also a view shared by Roberto Muylaert, who also hoped for much more attacking football and "less of the defensive football we are seeing today." That would be a good start, and goes to show that a simple statement can say a lot. However, it is all very well for those involved in the game to talk about fair play. It is up to them, and to us all, players, fans, media and so on, to show it.