French Case Delayed For World Cup

There was a very troubling story coming out of France yesterday. Two French soccer players were arrested and charged with having sex with an underage prostitute. That is bad enough, but it has been learned that the men were questioned first back in May by a French magistrate. That magistrate then delayed the investigation for two months so the players could compete in the World Cup. One of the players did play in the World Cup, while the other did not make the final team that traveled to South Africa to compete.

I have to wonder if this French magistrate is truly qualified to do his job. His actions have told his countrymen and the world at large that sports are more important than child sex abuse -- and make no mistake, this is a case about child sex abuse, regardless of whether that child was acting as a prostitute or not.

It seems that this magistrate (and many other people in many countries, including the United States) have their priorities completely out of whack. I can see this same thing happening in the United States, so a player could participate in the Super Bowl, the World Series or the NBA championship, and it would be just as wrong. There is just something terribly wrong with the idea that sports of any kind are more important than child abuse, especially that of a sexual nature.

The readers of this blog will know that I love sports. I have made no secret of my love for my Dallas Cowboys, and I'm a faithful fan of the Mavericks, Stars and Rangers too. And my blogging this month has exposed my obvious love of the Tour de France. I can understand how disappointed a fan would be to find a sports star has gotten into trouble. But I will never condone hiding and putting off a criminal investigation, especially one involving child abuse, just so that sports star can compete in any athletic contest.

I'm not concerned about the two soccer players. A court of law will determine their guilt or innocence. The troubling part of this story is that the investigating authorities would delay their investigation and/or the charging of the offenders to allow their participation in a sporting event. We can debate whether they should have been allowed to compete after being charged, but the charges and investigation should never have been delayed.

It's a matter of priorities, and child abuse should always be considered more important than a sports event -- regardless of what that sports event is.