Sir, – Robert Bates writes that money distorts sport’s original purity (February 20th). This has not been the case with football (soccer as opposed to rugby), where there has never been as much money invested.
I recall the days when George Best was kicked from one end of the pitch to the other and yet referees only intervened when an exasperated George finally retaliated and got booked. The great Pelé was invalided out of the 1966 World Cup finals by thuggish defenders. Contrast that with the modern game where the likes of Messi and Ronaldo are given protection by referees and where a team like Barcelona has dazzled us with their intricate footwork.
Money has clearly not made the game worse. If anything it has improved it because no-one, especially advertisers, wants to have matches when the best players are absent through injury.
The problem with rugby is the same one it has always had, namely the ability to turn a blind eye to thuggery. Rugby folk are fond of contrasting themselves favourably with soccer players when it comes to questioning referees’ decisions but they ignore the fact that the rules of rugby permit referees to licence the kind of violence which would never be tolerated on a soccer pitch.
While it is good to see that Ireland is prospering at something, we should not be blind to the fact that many modern rugby players are artificially overweight. It is time that the rugby authorities changed the rules of the game to return it to the spectator sport it was in the days of the unbulked Willie-John McBride, Mike Gibson, Barry John, etc. They would certainly not lose any money by doing so. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny,Co Donegal.
Sir, – About 20 years ago, with the arrival of professionalism and numerous rule changes, few supported the theory that rugby would quickly deteriorate into an amalgam of rugby union, rugby league and American football. Sadly, it looks like I was right. – Yours, etc,
EAMON O’LEARY,
Carrigaline,
Co Cork.