Flair play to fair play.. Phil is a stand-up guy in a time of dishonesty

CONSIDERING its growing absence in recent years, fair play is still rewarded with a FIFA accolade.

Or maybe its rarity is why it CAN carry an accolade.

Making special mention of fair play always brings to mind the response of golfer Bobby Jones when he was lauded for calling a penalty on himself at the 1925 US Open.

“You might as well praise me for not robbing a bank,” he said. Fair play should be a given, not a reason to be decorated by a world governing body.

To be fair, if you will excuse the pun, FIFA have used the award to recognise some truly honourable deeds down the years.

Last year, 17-year-old Mattia Agnese was celebrated for giving critical first aid to an opponent who lost consciousness following a collision in the game between Cairese and Ospedaletti Calcio.

In 2018, VVV Venlo striker Lennart Thy missed an Eredivisie match to donate blood for a recipient in urgent need of matching stem cells for leukaemia treatment.

Puts things into perspective, somewhat.

But there have been some eye-catching FIFA Fair Play award winners.

In 2019, Marcelo Bielsa, of Spygate infamy, won it for allowing Aston Villa to score unopposed after Leeds had scored when an opponent was down injured.

In 2001, Paolo Di Canio, of Paul Alcock-pushing infamy, won it for catching the ball when he could have tried to score against injured Everton keeper Paul Gerrard.

But on-field fair play is a rare beast.

So maybe Phil Foden should win some sort of award. Instead, there is an interminable queue of people lining up to say he was too honest.

Like Jones was probably being told he was being too honest nearly a hundred years ago.

Phil Foden was not being too honest, he was just being Phil Foden.

Of course, either Jon Moss or Andy Madley, on VAR duty, should have given a penalty for Alex McCarthy’s foul on the Manchester City midfielder on Wednesday night. It was no fault of the VAR system, just a blatant misjudgement by both Moss and Madley.

And would a different decision have been arrived at if Foden had remained grounded?

Quite possibly, yes. In that sense, a grave disservice has been done to those who rail against players going down and staying down too easily.

But that ship has long since sailed.

But when Foden sprang to his feet and chased the ball, it was a great moment.

Here was a player whose first thought was not to do as much as he could to convince the referee it was a penalty.

Here was a player whose first thought was to get up and try and put the ball in the net.

Here was a player whose first thought was not to roll like a barrel down a slope just to underline the fact he had been fouled.

Foden has probably made the most of contact or noncontact on several previous occasions.

There is probably evidence out there.

But in that moment, his instinct took over.

His instinct in that moment was louder than the crescendo of managerial voices that drum it into players that they must hit the deck and STAY there if they are touched in the box.

His instinct in that moment was that, although he had been fouled, he could get up and try to score.

And while you might want to despair at how the ineptitude of Moss and Madley might now dissuade other players from staying on their feet, don’t bother.

Those other players were not going to anyway.

This was a one-off from Foden. A player getting up off the deck to carry on playing because, physically, he could – and that is what football is all about, the last time he looked.

Yes, you would think differently if you were his manager, if it was the last minute of a crucial game with the scores level, a World Cup final rather than a breeze past ship-a-lot Southampton.

But for now, enjoy the pure footballing instinct of Foden, the wonderful innocence of such talented youth.

Decisions like the one at the Etihad Stadium might knock it out of him… but let’s sincerely hope not.