There is not, nor has there ever been, a line

Gosh, didn’t we all wake up to a right “how do you do” about #sandpapergate and the busting of the Australian cricket team?

My customary Sunday morning hour of sitting in bed scrolling through what’s up in the social media never got past the events at Newlands on Saturday and their repercussions.

I guess it wouldn’t be like me if I didn’t add my two cents worth. At least I can say that I’ve been on about these sorts of issues for years, and those of us who believe in sport as part of the education of young people would be amiss if we didn’t recognise and use the many teaching points that have emerged from this sorry mess.

One of the best comments I read on Sunday was from an ex-boss of mine, Stuart Kelly. He was sports editor of the Star’s regional papers when I started working there 23 years ago and he finds himself in Thailand these days, ever active on Facebook. Here’s what he wrote:

For years Australian cricket was accused of playing outside the spirit of the game. They defended their behaviour saying "there is a line and we don't cross it". The problem is, nobody knew where Australia's "line" actually was and, indeed, it seemed to change from game to game. Now we know where Australian cricket's infamous "line" is, and it's lower than anyone feared. The bottom line is that from now on there is no "line". You play to the spirit of the game and to the letter of the law. The "line" does not exist and never did.

Put that together with what another ex-boss, the late Russel Kitto, a school principal I worked under, said: “children will always do what you tell them to do, problems begin when you don’t tell them what to do,” and you have the basis for a sound ethical policy when it comes to sport.

I believe those in charge of sport at school often allow children (and I include those highly-revved student coaches they employ in that broad definition) to do what they see as best, without laying down the law.

And they justify what results from that by saying things like: “as long as it doesn’t cross the line.”

If you allow indiscretion, sharp practice, poor ethics and downright cheating to happen as long a line isn’t crossed, what are the lessons you are teaching? That it’s OK to sledge as long as you don’t get personal? That you can transgress the laws of the game as long as the referee doesn’t see (and, by the way, here’s how we do it at my club)? That performance enhancing drugs are bad for you, but off-the-shelf body bulking supplements bought at the pharmacies are OK? That the value of a team sport is that it teaches loyalty, but you might be replaced by a better player recruited from another school?

As Russel Kitto would say – if you don’t tell young people that those things are wrong, don’t be surprised to find out that they are happening in your school, and don’t get upset if you get called out on them. And as Stuart Kelly says: “There is no "line". You play to the spirit of the game and to the letter of the law. The "line" does not exist and never did."

Nowhere can that be truer than when it comes to school sport. Those who are in the business of education through sport should dedicate themselves to teaching right from wrong. There’s no discretionary line in that.