Does Honesty Still Have a Place in Professional Sport?

Honesty's place today in professional sport has once again been put under the microscope following a controversial goal in the FA Cup 3rd round tie between non-league side, Mansfield Town and former European champions, Liverpool on Sunday.

By all accounts, it was a cracking tie between the underdogs at home and the once-mighty Merseysiders. However, this tie will probably always be remembered for Luis Suarez's handball goal. It was Liverpool's 2nd goal and ultimately the one that pulled them clear of a possible FA Cup upset. It was harsh on Mansfield who made life hard for the Premier League side and harsher for their fans who had to put up with Suarez's trademark silence-the-crowd celebration.

Even Liverpool fans know that they dodged a bullet with a goal that probably wouldn't have stood if the FA adopted UEFA's idea of having a goalline ref - or if the linesman had caught with play in goal and watched play carefully.

Should Luis Suarez have gone to the referee and admitted that he handled the ball prior to putting the ball in the back of the net? Some might say he should have, but some might say that the incident happened too quickly that Suarez himself would have considered his "handball" accidental.

It probably doesn't help that this is the same Suarez who handled the ball on the goalline in that World Cup quarterfinal against Ghana over 2 years ago and possibly ended Africa's involvement in its home World Cup.

So does honesty still have a say, a place in professional sport? Or has the will, desire, inherent need to win override the need to tell the truth?

The debate has been hanging over the game of cricket like the low cloud in Wellington often does. New Zealand cricket has been involved many a time recently in regards to having its integrity and honesty questioned.

Remember 2006 when Brendon McCullum ran out Muttiah Muralitharan after the great spinner walked out of his crease to celebrate his captain, Kumar Sangakarra's ton at the now defunct AMI Stadium in Christchurch?

Was McCullum's action unsporting or was he right to do it? From a New Zealand cricket point of view, it was a key run out in a tight, low scoring test match.

A couple of seasons later, New Zealand cricket would again be involved in run-out controversy when Grant Elliott was run out by Paul Collingwood when he shouldn't have been.

Of course, Adam Gilchrist was possibly the most honest of all cricketers - he firmly believed in walking when you should and even had to be recalled to the crease when it was clearly not out.

So honesty is a rare commodity but it does exist.. even in football. In a 2003 Carlsberg Cup match between Denmark and Iran in Hong Kong, an Iranian defender thought he had heard the referee blow for half-time and picked up the ball in the box, only to find the referee awarding a penalty kick to Denmark for handball - the whistle had come from the stands as it turned out. Captain Martin Wieghorst fired the spot kick wide saying it would have been unfair to capitalize on that. Denmark lost the game 1-0 but picked up the Olympic Fair Play award.

So does honesty exist in professional sport and does it still have a place in professional sport today? I very much hope so.