Sport has a wonderful power to lift the spirit and bring communities together.
When that happens there is a sense of achievement that genuinely makes the world a better place.
When it goes wrong though, when trust is broken there can few more potent betrayals.
Yesterday in Dublin a trial began of a prominent sports journalist charged with a just such a betrayal.
We will not go into the detail of who, what and why. That is rightly a matter for the courts.
What we should all consider though is how we can actively work to prevent such actions as have been accused from ever happening again.
In most clubs, and in most communities there is an acute awareness of the need for the greatest care to be taken.
In most team sports it is best practice for male coaches to have to be accompanied by mothers. It will be unnecessary in the vast majority of cases but critical to prevent the worst abuse.
Garda vetting is now compulsory in most if not all areas where adults and children come into contact.
It is right and proper that vetting should take place but the system is unwieldy and delays do little to enhance the enthusiasm of a new coach.
There is a failing where somebody who volunteers in one area of a community has to be vetted again to work in another.
In an era of detailed records easily retrieved that should not be still the case.
Getting back to where we started giving children the gift of sport will change their lives for the better. We have to manage the responsibility though of making sure they are changed for the better and not destroyed.
