AS the latest example of a once-great sport's moral decline, the ballboy incident at the Swansea City v Chelsea League Cup semi-final this week takes some beating - or should that be kicking?

Of course, Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard's aggressive and clumsy attempts to extricate the ball from beneath 17-year-old Charlie Morgan's prostrate body merited the red card ultimately brandished by referee Chris Foy.

But Mr Morgan, and by association Swansea City, deserve our opprobrium and contempt too.

Allegedly, a pre-match tweet on Mr Morgan's Twitter account mentioned the words 'needed for timewasting' and no-one seems to have denied that that is what was going on.

Furthermore, no-one with any power in the game seems to have stuck their head above the parapet and declared that Mr Morgan's barely disguised efforts to slow the game down do the sport a grave disservice.

I am not naive enough to believe that this sort of thing is rare at football stadia the length and breadth of the UK.

There has been at least one other incident this season to have made national news - though at which ground escapes my memory - in which a player and a ballboy have clashed, and many of these young pups appear well versed in the dark arts of denying the opposition speedy return of the ball at key moments.

Which is unacceptable.

We have highly trained referees and assistant referees to try to keep the players in check, a fourth official prowling the touchline keeping managers and their coaching staff in check, a battery of TV cameras to pick up unsavoury incidents of all kinds.

And now it is time to clampdown on this form of timewasting.

If Wednesday's incident serves no other purpose, it has brought the issue into the spotlight.

By its nature the role of the ballboy is one that is provided by the home team, except in cup finals at the likes of Wembley.

It is simply too expensive and logistically difficult to provide neutral ballboys for the countless games that require them, so football depends on home clubs for the service.

Perhaps it is now time to get tough. Perhaps clubs need to be made aware that perceived timewasting by ballboys will be something that referees or retrospectively the football authorities will punish initially with fines, or for persistent offences, with a ban or points deduction.

The latter at least, would be guaranteed to make clubs sit up and take notice, instead of sniggering behind their collective hands at the antics they passively or actively encourage in their young volunteers.

I am not saying that this practise is endemic, but Wednesday night's and other incidents, and examples on TV every week demonstrate that it goes on.

And if youngsters in this position of responsibility are doing this and nothing is being done to discourage them, then it becomes another early sown seed of cynical gamesmanship that can help shape their outlook to the sport and to life in general.

The bikes that are tearing up our woodland

WHILE taking an early evening (6pm-ish) walk with the dog in Coed Melyn, Newport, last Saturday evening, I was almost knocked over by a scrambler bike.

I heard it coming on the path behind me and naively thought its rider might slow down to pass. The bike had lights on front and back and reflection from the snow made visibility decent despite the dark.

But not a bit of it. I estimate that he or she passed me at a speed of 20-30mph and that the rider’s left elbow was centimetres from hitting my right side.

That means a slight miscalculation on his/her part or a slip of the wheel on the compacted snow, and he/she, and most definitely me, would have ended up in hospital.

As for the dog, it was lucky she was pulling hard directly in front of me, as is her wont when there is loads of lovely snow to gambol about in. Had she been to my right, given the hand in which I held the lead, I have little doubt she would have been struck and probably killed.

Rider and bike disappeared up an alley by the allotment and shaken, I continued. He/she emerged behind me again several minutes later, speeding over snowed-up banks and past the children’s play area before skirting the football field and powering up the slope where a few late sledgers were beginning to make for home.

Walking back through the woods I noticed several paths frequented by dog walkers had been churned up by a scrambler bike, possibly though not definitely the same one, and probably earlier in the day, when the woods would have been busier.

It is difficult to measure the depth of this idiocy, but add to it an almost pathological selfishness and disregard for others, and utter disdain for the environment and this was well and truly beyond the pale.

I have no opposition toward those wishing to pursue scrambling, and maybe there aren’t enough officially sanctioned places where they can do it. But that cannot excuse tearing up a city woodland and endangering the wellbeing of those who use it for legitimate pastimes.

I understand Gwent Police have been trying to track down the persons or persons involved. I hope they have been, or subsequently will be, successful.