Alright guys, as you probably know it’s the final day of the Olympics tomorrow, and as such this will be the last of my Olympic themed blog posts. This week I want to look in to what we, as a Football community can actually learn from the last two weeks.

Danny Boyle’s stunning opening ceremony. The perfect start to a perfect 2 weeks.

I know I shouldn’t really be saying this, but personally I’ve found myself increasingly disillusioned with Football. In fact as I write this I’ve just switched over from the turgid turd of match between Brazil and Mexico in the Olympic Final to watch Great Britain vs. Australia in the Hockey. I’ve found myself doing this a lot over the course of the games, and if I’m honest, I’ve barely watched any of the Football tournament. It’s not been the quality of Football that’s been putting me off, it’s been the whole circus that’s poisoning the game. Players refusing to play for their clubs because they want to move, the sheer vulgarity of the amount of money in the game, the hatred the game can summon in supporters, the list of reasons go on. Don’t get me wrong, as soon as the season starts proper I’m sure I’ll be enthralled as always, but for now, the excitement for the coming season just isn’t there.

The first thing that struck me about the other sports in the Olympics has been the humility and lack of egos of the athletes (barring the sprinters, what’s with all that trying to outdo each other on the start line?! Yohan Blake’s ‘beast’ routine is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen). Compare Mo Farah to John Terry, Victoria Pendleton to Joey Barton, Sir Chris Hoy and Luis Suarez, Oscar Pistorious to Samir Nasri, any one of players who feign injury to the American relay runner who ran 200m with a broken leg so as not to let his teammates down (Carlos Tevez can take a look at that one too after his antics in the Allianz arena). It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch these athletes, who train and train until they’re physically sick, not for the money, but purely for the love of the sport and to do their country proud. A journalist asked Mo Farah if he would have been prouder if he ran for Somalia (Farah was a Somalian refugee who moved over to London at the age of 9.) His response was “Look mate, this is my country. This is where I grew up, this is where I started life. This is my country and when I put on my Great Britain vest I’m proud. I’m very proud.” The only Footballer I can think of with patriotism like that would be David Beckham, and he was frozen out of the team.

Really?

The other thing that’s struck me is the atmosphere of the supporters around these other sports. Great Britain’s Hockey players got battered 9-2 at the hands of the Dutch, yet the supporters cheered them till the very end. How often do you see teams getting booed off for going in 0-0 at half time? Everyone is there to support their team, but also have a good day out, and therefore get behind everyone, whether they come from their own country or another. You see British fans supporting Usain Bolt and other athletes, Irish boxing fans who were there to see Katie Taylor supporting Nicola Adams. At these events you won’t get the sick Hillsborough, Munich or Paedophile chants. You don’t get people jumping up calling anyone and everyone a ‘f*cking w*nker’. You get people cheering and smiling, whether they’re supporting someone in first, last, or not competing at all. I’m all for club rivalry and passionate support, but it’s nice to see people enjoying the sport. Nowadays at the Football it seems everyone goes home angry, regardless of whether they won or lost.

My point exactly.

Of course they’re not all perfect. Just like Football, these other sports have had their flaws and faults too. We may have diving in Football which is a blight, but then you see Badminton players purposely trying to lose, cyclists purposely falling in order to get a restart, and always a few athletes sent home for doping offences. They can learn from Football and its relative cleanliness as much as we can learn from them.

Anyway, it’s all soon to be over, and the next thing we have to look forward to is the start of the Premier League. In fact it’s the Community Shield tomorrow, the traditional curtain raiser for the season. But I won’t be watching it, I’m going to take a break to hopefully rediscover my love of the game. This country has shown a fantastic appetite and character towards sport over the past two weeks, and the athletes have added to that with their supreme efforts, personalities, class and spirit. Let’s hope both us, the fans, and them, the players, can learn from this in the coming season. I’m not hopeful, but it’s a nice thought.