Not in the Spirit of the Game

A very timely piece by the President of Football NSW.

Go to this location for more of the President Football NSW's comments on the game in NSW:

In truth there is no such thing as a "professional Foul" in our game. Its just a pathetic construct by those seeking to justify unacceptable conduct, conduct contrary to the rules of the game. There is no glory in it! Its cheating!

Well said Mr President!!

Not in the Spirit of the Game


In the Sydney-Melbourne A- League game last Sunday evening, Sydney player Terry McFlynn made a late challenge on Melbourne player Robbie Kruse.
The result was severe tissue damage to Kruse’s ankle area which will keep him out of the Hyundai A-League finals series. It was also a severe blow to injury-ridden Melbourne Victory’s finals series hopes.
Okay, accidents will happen, but surely there comes a point where any tackle falls over the line into ‘reckless endangerment’. That’s up to the referee to assess at the time and apparently Sunday’s referee did not see anything sufficiently wrong to warrant any particular action against McFlynn on the day.
In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald SportsDay today (17th February), however, there is an unusual admission from Terry McFlynn which casts doubt on the whole spirit in which senior games are played.
McFlynn is quoted as saying “The ball was played to Robbie [Kruse] on the attacking side of halfway for us [Sydney FC], he’s obviously a quick player and it was late in the game, he got away from me and I just tried to trip him to stop play” [Italics added].
We’d all be very naive to imagine that the professional foul is not, unfortunately, an integral part of the game. My concern is that young players see all this and try to emulate what they see in what can only be described as a cynical blow to any attempt to inculcate sporting behaviour on and off the field throughout our code.
The A-league is rightly held up as the highest level of our game domestically. A-League players must realise they may be held up as role models to our younger players. Terry McFlynn’s actions in his late tackle do nothing to promote either the game as a whole or the A-League in particular.
Over to you, Football Federation Australia.
Jim Forrest,
President, Football NSW
17th February 2010