“And that is magic. The reaction of Villa fans has been wonderful, too – their attitude has been to say ‘fair play’ to the club for doing this. Fair play is a good phrase for it.”

So it is – and what the Acorns story illustrates is the huge power of the game of football, a fact easily neglected amid the hurly burly of dramatic matches and the pursuit of trophies.

In this case it is a wonderful force for good, and Villa deserve all the praise that will come their way, not least for players like Gareth Barry and Martin Laursen who so often visit the hospices themselves.

It should be a shining example of what is possible in a game where the concept of fair play is so often invoked but all too rarely followed in practice.

We all know, sadly, that the power and influence wielded by professional football is not always admirable. When prima donna players cheat by diving and feigning injury, that example is followed by tens of thousands of kids playing in local park mini-leagues.

When a mighty manager shouts abuse directly in the face of a referee or linesman in a TV match, that example is followed by far too many youth team coaches and ranting parents.

If you’ve had even the slightest involvement with grass roots football in the past few years you’ll know how shameful the problem has become.

The only way it can change is from the top – and it should not be impossible even in our greed-is-good world. Footballers can do fair play.

The finest example was John Charles, the Gentle Giant, who played with strength and style for Juventus, and who, in his first Serie A derby match against Torino, deliberately missed a goal.

“I beat the centre-half but accidentally struck him with my elbow and knocked him clean out,” recalled Charles. “I only had the goalie to beat but it didn’t seem fair so I kicked the ball out of play so the fella could have treatment.”

Another example is more recent, when Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler was awarded a penalty in a match against Arsenal, but told the referee it wasn’t a foul and the decision was changed.

It can be done – and it should have been done again, but wasn’t, twice in the last fortnight. A couple of weeks ago Reading’s players accepted a phantom goal against Watford when everybody knew the ball had flown a few yards wide of the post. They could have played fair.

Cristiano Ronaldo, reportedly, told opponents it wasn’t a penalty as he was still lying on the ground after a good tackle by a Bolton defender last weekend.

The Footballer of the Year didn’t have to get up and score when the ref pointed to the spot. He could have deliberately missed the shot. He could have told the ref it wasn’t a foul. The game could have started again with a drop ball.

That Ronaldo incident caused much chatter about the current Respect campaign towards referees. A common theme was: How can you respect officials when they make such hopeless blunders?

But doesn’t that spectacularly miss the point?

The respect that is truly required is respect for the game itself, for playing fair.

At the moment football has an ingrained culture of cheating, that anything goes to win a game.

And is it any wonder in such a moral vacuum that we get spectators who sing disgusting, abusive songs like that directed at Sol Campbell last weekend when he was playing for Portsmouth against former club Tottenham.

Football clubs and players have the power for good here, too.

Both teams could just walk off the pitch and stop playing when the situation is so contemptibly vile as it was at Fratton Park last weekend.

The match could be abandoned if necessary. Sure, it might take a few games for the zero tolerance message to sink home, but it would be a start. 

It would be another acorn from which something fine and sturdy might grow.