There have been many column inches devoted to the conduct of players over Roondays, and once again the "role model" card is being played.

Our children, it is argued, look up to the players they see on the TV and copy their behaviour, and anyone who has witnessed a kids' game would be hard pressed not to agree with that.

It seems clear that the modern professional footballer is unsuitable to hold up as a role model, but are we really being fair in expecting them to be?

'But what is it that we as a society want to teach our children to value anyway?'


Football is a game of passion and emotion, played for high stakes by young men in front of an audience of millions. The rules are pushed to breaking point and beyond in the search for the elusive competitive edge, and while the margins between success and failure become ever closer, more pressure is placed on the players to find a way to win first, and worry about how later.

Into the middle of all this we place a referee, who we challenge to both facilitate a game and cast judgment over its participants. In return we arm him with a set of rules that constantly refers to "in the opinion of the referee". Very few decisions are of the black-and-white variety, but rely on one man's judgment of the situation. Was that action dangerous? Was he seeking an advantage?

From such conflict stems the passion that we all love. Remove it and we would be left with a sterile sport; and the world has enough of them already.

That the young, competitive men we enjoy watching sometimes respond in a less than desirable manner should come as no surprise to anyone, however much we all might like them to somehow act as paragons of virtue while still winning. It's a circle that simply can't be squared; we praise Wayne Rooney for his brilliance on the ball - should we castigate him for his actions off it?

But what is it that we as a society want to teach our children to value, anyway? That celebrity is worth striving for? That life is about achieving vast wealth? That coming first is more important then all else?

These aren't the values that I want to pass on to my children, though as a family we all enjoy sport and football especially. But by holding up a footballer as a role model these are the exact things that we are teaching them.

Perhaps we should accept that there are better, more important values in life and rather than trying to impose the requirement of teaching those lessons on a group of sportsman who live a life far removed from you or I, we should take on the responsibility of being the role models ourselves, that our own children and those of others around us would strive to copy.

Children are bombarded with messages and images, some good and some bad. Some of those originate from watching football.

But it is our role as responsible adults to equip our children with the skills needed to filter out the good from the bad, and rather than blaming the message we should be looking at ourselves if we are failing to do that.