Funds need to be used much more reasonably

IT IS difficult to understand what is logical or otherwise these days. No sooner had Alan Shearer been feted in Newcastle as the most expensive footballer in the world that the same club is in the market again for a defender, this time reportedly, Steve Staunton. Well there is nothing wrong with that, you may well say. It is after all a team game and if you buy players to score goals, why not buy them stop goals as well?

What doesn't make sense, however, is that while Newcastle were willing to pay £15 million for Shearer, the offer for Staunton seems to be in the £3 million range.

Now if Newcastle are worried about a lack of class defenders, would it not have made more sense to sort out this part of their problem before going for goalscorers? British football has been obsessed with a defensive mind set for some years now. Some efforts have been made to bring about a more positive attitude in recent seasons but is notable that of the striker& who have been introduced, almost all Shearer is an exception have come from foreign parts.

To get back to the idea that a team game should involve 11 equals for a moment, does it not seem odd that a goal scorer is valued at five times that of a defender? Does not this kind of valuation not bring about an unhealthy attitude which is anathema to the idea of team spirit?

Is it not so that most teams, particularly if they are playing away from home, go with the intention of "getting a result" a phrase which is a rather ham fisted way of saying that they will be happy with a draw. Teams with that ambition, if you can call such a negative attitude ambition, may have some of the top goal grabbers in the world but they will still be content with a scoreless draw.

Why then should the goalkeeper or the backs, players of the calibre of Steve Staunton for instance, not be regarded as valuable as Shearer? And if, by chance Shearer, grabs an early goal and Newcastle decide to protect that lead, how much will a penalty save by the goalkeeper and three great clearances off the line by defenders be worth when the pay cheques are been handed out afterwards?

And what happens if, heaven forbid, Shearer breaks a leg or suffers any other serious injury? Presumably the insurance policy covers that eventuality, but how about the rest of the team who will still be expected to deliver the same goods in his absences.

Some old fogies like myself will remember a man called Dan McCaffrey from Omagh who made a big impression on League of Ireland football in the late fifties and early sixties, first with Sligo Rovers and then with Drumcondra. Dan still, probably, holds the goal scoring record for a season.

When he joined Drumcondra, the then supremo at Tolka was one Sam Prole who promised him half a crown for every goal scored. So prolific was the bold Dan that Prole, a man who knew the value of money, finally despaired and suggested that Dan should not be too greedy and allow some of his forward colleagues into the picture a little more often.

That story is recounted here to illustrate a danger inherent in the payment of such huge transfer fees and with wage packets to match. Surely, human nature being what it is, resentments can easily be fuelled and team spirit be undermined by this "Star" system.

IF Shearer should have what all players in all sports have from time to time a loss of form, how difficult will it be for the manager to leave him out of the team when the people who pay at the gate expect to see the "star," however faded, in action?

The answer to all of these questions is that money rather than sporting prowess is the deciding factor. This fact was illustrated vividly in the Olympic Games which used to be the epitome of the amateur ethic.

In the aftermath of that event there has been much loose talk about what our Government should or should not be doing in regard to the provision of support for sport, much of it ill informed.

Money is not at the root of whatever problems we have in sport but rather a society which has become greedy for success without taking the necessary means to attain it. Facilities and coaching are vitally important, of course, but nothing is quite as valuable as hard work.

In Atlanta, Michelle Smith repeated again and again how important dedication and hard work were in her rise to Olympic fame. On her wedding day she was in the pool at 6.30 in the morning and again in the afternoon. Needless to say talent is a huge factor in the achievement of success and, perhaps, this is where we fall down in this country.

The scouting and encouragement of talent is what we lack most significantly. It is only when talent has been discovered that money becomes a factor and there can be no doubt in this respect that the National Lottery funds have been hijacked for purposes for which they were not originally intended.

In Barcelona Ireland won a gold and a silver medal in boxing. This year it was swimming's turn three gold and a bronze. These achievements must be put into perspective insofar as a small country like ours is concerned.

It will not be by whingeing about money that we will continue this significant progress but by a realisation that those of us who derived such pleasure from these successes should be prepared to put our hands into our pockets more often or spend more of our time encouraging young people.

There is no point in badgering our politicians to reduce our tax burden on the one hand and call for bigger hand outs on the other. There were significant signs in Atlanta that considerable progress has been made in several different sports.

What we have to do now is to stop the political in fighting and squabbling within the Irish Olympic family and ask our new Sports Council to put together a programme designed to go farther, higher and stronger in Sydney.

If sport, as we knew it, is to survive, there has to be an ethical perspective which realises the dangers of commercialism in all its aspects. The row over Sonia O'Sullivan's track gear must never be repeated and the Olympic ideal must be protected. The people who are responsible for running the Olympic Games must realise that when they SLIP with the devil, they must use a long spoon.

Men Culpa Apologies to Kanturk and all of Cork for giving Pat O'Callaghan to Clonmel and Tipperary last week.