Plenty to like and loathe about beautiful game

Respect is something that can be taken for granted in life but it is an issue very much on my mind right now in a footballing context. There are so many facets to it, many of which have been under the spotlight this last couple of weeks. Be it the level of respect that we as fans and media show our footballers, the respect these footballers show their profession, each other and match officials, or just the respect that the Irish footballing community gets from wider society in this country.
 
 

All the talk following the highest profile game in England this weekend is of alleged racist comments made by Liverpool's Luis Suarez to Man Utd's Patrice Evra.  Last week Tallaght Stadium hosted the "Show Racism the Red Card" campaign, it is an ugly side of life we have been exposed once or twice in recent times in our league. Thankfully it seems this is not a widespread issue for LOI but any instance is one too many. 

Football is a universal game, with multicultural squads and fans alike, incidents like these throw up so many question marks about the individuals involved and their ability to operate within our game aswell as our society. Respect of race, culture, sex, or whatever else should be an absolute given.
 
 

A key issue to address is that of the lack of respect players show each other when diving and feigning injury. This is no doubt the most widely seen, blatantly disrespectful behaviour on display every week in our grounds. In the Ireland versus Armenia game we saw Simon Cox handle a ball as he tried to control it and then rush to the referee with several other Irish players to remonstrate that the Armenian goalkeeper be sent off for an alleged handball outside his box. After the game Cox admitted he did not think the goalkeeper had handled it, so why was that his reaction?

We also saw Kevin Doyle dismissed for a second yellow card when he was adjudged to have led with his elbow in a challenge. There was minimal contact yet the Armenian player tossed and turned dramatically on the ground, holding his face and making plenty of noise, fooling the referee as to the seriousness of the incident. Seconds later that player had made a miraculous recovery.

Perhaps these things even themselves out, but imagine that side of the game just didn't exist and players had enough respect for themselves and the game to just not engage in that carry on.
 
 

A lot of this focus on player behaviour comes against the backdrop of the Irish Rugby squad's World Cup campaign. Commentators are always quick to compare and contrast the behaviour of our rugby players to our footballers. It can be a tiresome comparison but in reality there is a lot of truth in it, zero tolerance to unsporting behaviour has seen rugby become a game that is generally played and officiated in the correct manner.

Those same commentators are often quick to glorify our rugby squad and knock our International footballers, who rarely if ever give us less than 100% effort in a green shirt. Rugby has plenty of faults of its own, but when it comes to respecting their craft and the acceptance of authority within the game, any observer would have to be impressed. We must recognise that the standards set at the top of our game directly determine the behaviour of players at every level and every age group following on.

Similarly if players can't respect the game enough to behave on the pitch can they really be expected to do the right things off the pitch. Is a karaoke session in a local bar really the best way to recover from a fresh injury blow? 
 
 

So respect can be a prerequisite in some areas but generally it needs to be earned. Our international squad deserve it for securing a playoff place, and will deserve it further if they see off Estonia to book a trip to Poland & Ukraine next summer. Our league deserves it for the great season we have had thus far - a genuine title chase that goes right down to the wire, with the prospect of an excellent cup final to look forward to.

Shamrock Rovers continue their European adventure on Thursday and their performance so far has surely brought new found levels of respect to the league as a whole. Right now as supporters of the Airtricity League and the Irish International side we can hold our heads high and stick our chests out.

We have plenty of challenges in our game but we need to respect and be proud of the things we do well, if others can't see it we'll just have to keep on doing the right things until they wake up to it. And if we can all just show a little more respect for the game we love then perhaps we can go someway to eradicating the elements we are not so proud of.