Play Fair!

In this day and age it might seem a bit old fashioned to be expecting people to be upfront and honest in their dealings. We live in an age when it seems the people held in the highest regard are the biggest villains imaginable. Just this last week we had the admission of a cricketer, who said 'I had a lucky escape, I nicked a ball to the wicketkeeper, but the umpire didn't give me out'. Well to coin and old phrase, 'that's just not cricket', most cricketers don't wait for the umpires decision, they walk to the pavilion and this is what used to set them apart. But not any more it seems and I am not surprised that a member of the opposing team called him a 'monkey'. Actually a more appropriate term would have been 'cheating love child', but instead he called him a £500 note, the significance of this is lost on me, but then the game is played by grammar schoolboys and they mostly play rugby, enough said. The cricketer was an Australian native (I'm surprised he didn't go walkabout anyway) and being Australian probably gives him something of an excuse (the wild Colonial boy, Ned Kelly, etc). Then at home here we have just had the 'ludicrous' and unfathomable decision by the football writers to award the December 'player of the month award' to Cliftonville's George McMullan for scoring four goals during the month. Cliftonville are playing well it must be said, but they did only play 5 games during the month, 4 wins and a draw, while the wee Sky Blues played 6 games, 5 wins and a draw and one Kevin Kelbie scored 6 goals during that run of games. But then again Kevin doesn't play for a Belfast team and that seems to me to be part of the criteria. Then surprise! surprise! Tommy Wright has just been named 'manager of the month', at first I thought well that proves that they aren't totally biased after all, but then I remembered, Tommy Wright is an ex-Linfield player and maybe that gave him an edge when it came to the voting, or am I being paranoid, Sky Blue fans will no doubt make up their own minds!