In the last two weeks we've had three momentous sporting occasions with record TV audiences.

It started with England's failed attempt to beat Russia on a plastic pitch.

That was followed by the final of the rugby union World Cup and, on the same weekend, the effort by Lewis Hamilton to become the first man to win the Formula One championship in his first season.

In a nutshell, there were three bad results and a huge letdown if you were English.

But anyone who watched all three events may possibly have been able to make some comparisons between these three sports which are so big around the world.

I'll defend football against most criticisms and certainly at the professional level it has many critics because so many people watch from the terraces and from their TV sets.

The audience for our Premiership now is wider than ever and the recent TV deal which came to nearly £3bn is evidence of that.

The niggles about my own game, though, started to crop up after I had watched a BBC Panorama programme which highlighted alleged corruption in the highest echelons of FIFA, the world ruling body.

Reduced to tears There were accusations of money laundering from ticket sales and votes being more or less bought to keep people in high places around the top table of the decision makers.

The main criticism one could make of the England performance against Russia - from a non-footballing point of view - was probably the old chestnut that some of the players didn't bother to sing the national anthem. Others looked as though their lips were moving but they didn't really know the words.

This of course has been compared many times now to just about every rugby union team in the World Cup finals where even 20-stone mounds of muscle were reduced to tears whilst nearly bursting out of their shirts with pride.

I don't necessarily think that should happen at all times but something in the middle would certainly be welcome.

But a couple of other things did impress me about England's performance in the rugby.

At a vital time, an English player went over right in the corner of the field for a try.

As is the custom in their game, the referee, who was unsure whether any part of the player's anatomy had touched outside the line before the ball was planted, asked for a judgement from the TV referee.

The decision is normally given within seconds and is often being asked for by many people in our game, particularly for goalline disputes.

On this occasion, the decision did not come for minutes.

The crowd waited without too much reaction, there was enough time to ask the panel in the studio what they thought and the attempted try was replayed time and again.

Eventually, against nearly everyone's thoughts, the decision was given - no try'.

Amazingly, not one player appeared to question the referee.

There was no diva-like protestations or gestures.

Even the crowd accepted this and everyone just got on with the game.

Subsequently, England lost but that try could have meant the difference between winning and losing the coveted World Cup.

On another occasion, towards the end things were getting a bit frantic as England were pushing to try and get the points they needed.

Landed flat out A South African player had caught the ball, pursued closely by an Englishman, running at full speed towards the advertising boards behind the posts.

As he approached them, he was pushed in the back - he vaulted athletically over the boards but then collided with a huge TV camera on a stand, knocking it and its two operators to the ground. He also landed flat out.

He got up immediately, checked the cameramen were alright, came back over the board and got on with the game.

My mind flashed back to this when, at our game in Bristol, a City player fell to the ground as if pole-axed when, as George Burley described, our player (Youssef Safri) merely brushed his hand against him.

This led to a sending off.

The motor racing, I confess, is something which doesn't appeal to me.

But like most other Englishmen, I have been drawn to it more because of the meteoric rise of Lewis Hamilton - and particularly the way he has handled himself in interviews and personal appearances.

He was odds on to finish in the first five last weekend which would have guaranteed him winning the World Championship and going down in the record books.

But because of a combination of technical faults and a couple of the cars who finished ahead of him using banned fuel, he only came seventh.

His reaction was unbelievable compared to some of the things we see in our sport.

He took the loss in his stride, congratulated the winner, said he would not like to win it if his team appealed.

And because of this demeanour, he restored much of our faith in professional sport in general.

Let's hope the youngsters who undoubtedly watched the same three world events and who mainly watch the football every weekend on TV remember to imitate the rugby and motor racing chaps as much as some of their footballing heroes.

The latter are not all bad types but are often let down by the occasional idiot.

12:01pm Monday 29th October 2007

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