LITTLE causes a storm like the failure to shake hands.

It is a post-match gesture that is seen to be an essential part of British sport, albeit one that is frequently carried out with limp hands and minimal eye contact.

Football tries to go one better and have a pre-match line-up, players looking bored by the time they reach their 11th opponent while managers share exaggerated laughs in front of the dugouts so that seconds later they can hurl abuse at each other without guilt.

And that's part of the problem; the handshake is seen by some as a means to excuse a catalogue of unacceptable behaviour.

'Hey, all's fair out in the middle, shake hands and move on'.

Nonsense. There are ways to conduct yourself and a handshake cannot just lead to it all being swept under the carpet.

There was relief in some quarters that Carl Froch eventually shook hands with George Groves after their dramatic fight last Saturday evening.

But that act cannot justify the appalling behaviour of both men before the fight.

Boxing has a real problem with trash talk with fighters mistakenly believing they are performing wordplay wizardry with the wit of Muhammad Ali.

They – along those in their corner – are allowed to get away with their verbal diarrhoea without censure. It's part of the game, apparently.

And it's not been much different in the Ashes, which we have ridiculously been told is like a war.

Aussie skipper Michael Clarke was fined 20 per cent of his match fee for telling tailender Jimmy Anderson to "get ready for a broken (profanity) arm".

Let's not paint England and Anderson as angels; they have a history of reprehensible behaviour such as the childish 2007 incident when jelly beans were left on the crease while India's Zaheer Khan was batting.

Don't expect the sledging to be toned down over the coming weeks and similar verbal nonsense will be hurled when local games start up in 2014.

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised at such conduct given the rise in society of 'banter' where hurtful abuse is spouted; if you can't handle the 'bantz' then it's your fault, not that of the perpetrator.

The notion that a mean streak is needed to be a winner is farcical, unless I've missed the stories about Lionel Messi, Dan Carter and Sachin Tendulkar being potty-mouthed.

I was always taught that a handshake goes along with decent behaviour on the field. Seemingly that's too much to ask for.