Doing the right thing

A couple of weeks ago Sheffield Wednesday became the latest club to donate their shirt sponsorship to charity.

From next season the club will have the name of a local children's hospital splashed across the front of their strips instead of the usual corporate sponsor.

The Owls are following a trend that was started by Barcelona and continued by Aston Villa, who have both given up the potentially lucrative advertising space for good causes.

At a time when the sport is almost entirely wrapped up in its own greed, it is fantastically refreshing to see clubs give a little bit back to society as a whole.

Cynics will argue these teams are only doing it for the positive publicity it generates. And, of course, that is something that will no doubt have played a big part in their decision-making process.

However, whatever their reasons for making the gesture, whether selfless or tinged with a little bit of PR hunting, the end result is the same - something positive is being done for others.

The charities and entities in question are getting exposure and awareness they would otherwise have missed out on. Hundreds of thousands of fans are being reminded of their causes at grounds, in newspapers, on television and via the internet.

And that, whichever way you spin it, can only be a good thing.

The question is, what's stopping this from becoming the norm? Why shouldn't we eventually reach a stage where every single football club gives up its shirt sponsorship for a worthy cause.

I understand this will cost clubs money and that some are not in a position to do it straight away for contractual reasons. But why can't clubs across the world agree that, by 2012 say, only charities or non-profit organisations will be allowed on the front of shirts?

Football's image, thanks to the ludicrous amounts of money now involved in the game, has been tarnished over the past decade or so. Players are on sickening wages, ticket prices continue to rise and most fans can't even afford a match-day pie. The common belief is that greed is now the overwhelming driving force behind what was once the people's game.

What better way to repair the public's perception of the sport than to make this sweeping and magnaminous gesture?

And let me tell you where it can start. Manchester United.

Their deal with AIG is coming to a end. Now obviously there will be a queue of companies willing to snap up one of the best advertising spaces in world sport. This is one of the biggest clubs in the world and arguably the most recognisable brand in football. The perfect place for your company logo.

However, United are also a fantastically wealthy club, even after the Glazer takeover, and that puts them in the comfortable position of being able to live without the income shirt sponsorship would generate.

If they did decide to travel this route it would be increasingly hard for other major clubs not to follow suit. And that would have a snowball effect on the game as a whole. If the majority were backing charities, the minority who were still going for corporate deals would be shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

Of course, United wouldn't be the pioneers of the project. Aston Villa, Barcelona and now Sheffield Wednesday can lay claim to that particular milestone.

But if United were to follow this charitable path they could well be the club that turned this gesture into the rule rather than the exception.

Will it happen? Don't hold your breath. There is probably too much money at stake. Should it happen? Absolutely. But football as a sport increasingly fails to take the moral high ground when the low ground is paved with gold.

Bendt out of shape

When he has the ball at his feet, Nicklas Bendtner shows all the grace and poise of a fish riding a bicycle. He is lumbering, clumsy and capable of causing all sorts of problems in the penalty box, most of them for his own team.

As I have said before, he is one of the worst strikers ever to play for a top four Premiership club, and he remains, to my knowledge, the only player ever to carry out a double goal-line clearance from his own team's attack.

However, this almost total absence of anything even remotely resembling talent has not stopped him from making it to the very top of the sport. And for that reason, while as a footballer I think he is a bit of a non-event, I have to admit I have a begrudging respect for him as a man.

To achieve so much in any sport without actually being any good at it probably means he is an honest, hardworking, modest professional. Or so I thought.

This week, in the build-up to Arsenal's game with Cardiff, he gave us a fascinating insight into how his mind works. And the only word I can think of to describe it is 'deluded'.

Asked about how the arrival of Arshavin would affect him, he came out with this pearl:

"It does not really matter who is fit and available. I should start every game. I should be playing every minute of every match and always be in the team," he said.

That is a level of arrogance, not to mention ignorance, that would have sounded pathetic coming from the mouths of Ronaldo, Kaka or Messi. Coming from Bendtner it is just plain ludicrous.

But the young Dane was not finished there:

"I've never seen Arshavin. I did not watch Euro 2008. I've no idea what sort of a player he is."

Well, Bendtner, let me give you a clue. He is a good one. A player who can run with the ball at his feet, pass to members of his own team, not hit the corner flag with his own shots and do considerably more than get the odd lucky header on target.

I can understand, of course, why Bendtner avoided Euro 2008. Seeing all that natural talent on display would no doubt have played havoc with his self-confidence.

As I said, I have no problem with mediocrity (I'm being generous now) rising to the top. But when it does so it should be with an air of thanks and not one of sheer, ugly arrogance.

Hopefully Arsene Wenger will now be able to watch his new Russian in training and, after a quick comparison with the Danish striker, realise he has been using Bendtner in the wrong role.

He should be driving the team bus.

Your say

Russel Shaw writes:

Remember that ghost goal that was given to Reading when they played Watford earlier this season? The one that gave Reading a share of the spoils even though it was a couple of yards outside the goal? Well, here is a reader who does.

"It is two thirds through the season now and we've sacked our manager since I wrote in September. Also, we have slipped into the relegation zone by two points - the same two points we were robbed of against Reading.

"I put a thread on Watford's forum site about the possibility of taking the FA to court over it if we go down. Maybe even Uefa or Fifa.

"If your Sheffield United can do it over the Tevez affair, then I think we have a valid claim.

"The difference in TV money and gate receipts between the drop from Premiership to Championship can't be far off the drop between Championship and League One.

"And if we do go down we have no right to expect automatic promotion.

"Just look at Leeds United, for example.

"To rub salt into the wound, we lost to your Sheffield United the other month at home and two ex-Watford players scored against us!"

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com