Football talks a good Olympian game; let's see it in deed

The Footballers versus Olympians debate has raged and has quietened down and will rear its head from time to time over the next season.

The problem with football is that it refuses to learn from other sports; it knows it is the Beautiful Game, but thinks that it is the pinnacle of beauty. But it isn't.

I am not going to go into all the things that football should learn from other sports in this post; they will be the subject of many other posts to come.

However, in the Footballers versus Olympians debate, one thing has struck me. The Olympians have never said a word. People in the media and many of us bloggers, tweeters, facebook posters have commented on their behalf: "Weren't they wonderful?", "Fantastic attitude", "Actually apologising to supporters", etc. But I can't recall seeing any quotes from any of the participiants themselves.

Yet those "in the [football] game" have felt the need to speak out: Richard Scudamore, Joey Barton, Gary Neville are a few that spring to mind. And, of course, they're mostly defending their sport. Well, what would we expect? Of course they would.

The problem lies in the very fact that they need to defend their sport, and the behaviour of players, managers and supporters. And they do need to. It's because football's reputation is so woeful by its deeds that it needs to defend itself in words. Prime example: Alan Pardew (a most unexpected culprit) demonstrates his attitude by his deeds (pushing an assistant referee), but then apologises in words afterwards.

There's always been the joke about the not-so-good manager or player, who "talks a good game".

How about those "in the game", cutting the talk, and improving the reputation of football in their actions? Come May next year, let's see if football no longer needs to defends its actions in words.