Sport losing capacity to inspire us all - Fifa corruption

We express our best instincts and hopes — the worst too — through many mediums but few represent the human spirit and human frailty as brightly or as loudly as sport. 

It is a universal, often beautiful, language expressed through many idioms. It is a common cause and one of the great ice-breakers driving human interaction, one of the warming, uplifting things we do. It is a constant in our befuddled world.

It is also, at the highest levels of professional sport, an utterly corrupt business. The old Corinthian ideals that made sport such a worthwhile sampler for life are almost anachronisms in a world where sport often seems more like The Sopranos than The Sunday Game. The eight-year ban imposed on soccer bosses Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini by Fifa’s ethics committe yesterday is just another indictment of the highest-bidder-takes-all culture turning what should be a pleasure into an odious and stinks-to-high-heaven sleazefest. That Blatter and Platini are to appeal the ruling to sports’ Court of Arbitration just extends the charade.

Soccer is not alone, though. Imagine an athlete preparing honestly for the Rio Olympics — the opening ceremony is just over eight months away — and imagine how they feel if there is a strong Russian contender in their event? Motivation might be an issue as industrial-scale doping of athletes was uncovered in Moscow. In a twist far beyond even the fantasy-rich imagination of JK Rowling, Russia’s anti-doping agency and that country’s chief provider of illegal substances shared an office building. Of course, Russia is not alone — nearly every country with even an average Olympic medal haul has uncovered cheating athletes.

And corruption is not the only issue. The suggestion from Spain yesterday that the multi-million euro Jose Mourinho merry-go-round — apparently it could cost Chelsea up to €55m to fire him — has agreed that Manchester United is its next harvest stop points to a culture out of kilter with even basic morality. Mourinho is not by any means alone in enjoying the income excesses that are an affront to even the idea of exceptionalism. Multi-million deals are common for those particularly skilled at pushing small balls around small places — an elitism we endorse every time we pay our TV subscription or buy a pair of expensive, endorsed, runners.

This nihilism means we may have to search to see the real value in sport, but it is not too smug, too arrogant, to suggest that we are lucky, at least luckier than some societies. The GAA, despite many challenges, remains a community-based sport administration that celebrates worthwhile, enriching ideals. The statement just over a week ago from Munster rugby that a certain code of behaviour is expected at Thomond Park was a reminder of the core values that makes that entity such a central and loved part of Irish life. After all, it did no more than demand that we treat each other with respect and recognise that manners are no more than an expression of that respect. As Christmas is but days away, we should all remind ourselves of how very positive a role manners can play in our relationships. What better way to honour values ditched by so much of professional sport.