I’VE always liked Michael Vaughan. The now departed captain of the England cricket team has the sort of bluff, down-to-earth character befitting a man with roots in both Yorkshire and Lancashire.

He seems refreshingly free from the egotism and brashness that defines too many of his fellow top-class sportsmen.

Looking back at his record in charge of England, even someone like me who’s not a cricket expert can see that he knew what he was doing. Twenty-six wins in 51 Test matches as captain speaks for itself.

And of course, he is one of the few living Englishmen who knows what it’s like to lead his country to a series win over the Australians.

But things have clearly gone stale of late, with the South Africans easily overcoming England this summer and Vaughan himself struggling with the bat.

So it was probably the right time for him to go.

In his resignation press conference, instantly labelled “emotional”, Vaughan struggled for words for a moment as he thanked his mum and dad. Reaching to his cheek, the soon-to-be ex-England captain wiped a tear from his cheek.

I’m very much of the stiff upper lip school of emotional deadness, so a single tear is about all I can tolerate from a man in public.

It’s probably my Ulster upbringing, but a man in tears is not something with which I’m comfortable. To see another adult male crying conjures up a mixture of feelings for me – for the most part it’s awkwardness, but there’s a dash of scorn in there as well.

Perhaps this is not a healthy attitude, maybe I should be more open to the sight of a man crying.

Maybe the blubber is more emotionally mature than me. I don’t know. But mine is not a culture which appreciates public displays of vulnerability from grown men.

So, Vaughan’s single tear is just about acceptable. If anything, I respect him a bit more as he obviously wanted to start blubbing in front of all those hacks, yet he held himself together.

And in so doing, he showed a bit of perspective. Having to give up the job you love must be a painful experience. But it’s not like anyone died.

Other sportsmen, however, have not displayed Vaughan’s restraint.

Unsurprisingly, it’s in the overpaid, underaware world of football that we find a lot of blubbers.

John Terry, a man who seems to have been carved from granite, cried like a six-year-old when he missed the penalty that would have won Chelsea the Champions League in May.

He’s a man who appears to have no fear, and often pays the price physically - as when his head went in for a 50-50 with Abou Diaby’s boot in last year’s league cup final and he left the pitch unconscious.

But after Terry missed that penalty in Moscow, he was positively inconsolable, tears flooding down his cheeks. Yet, as the captain of the team, shouldn’t he have swallowed his own sadness and concentrated on comforting the men he’s supposed to lead?

Even worse was the behaviour of David Beckham at the last World Cup. He was substituted in the quarter-final against Portugal after picking up an injury.

Realising his tournament was over, he put his head in his hands and let the waterworks begin. But, though Beckham’s World Cup was finished, England’s was not – the score was still 0-0.

Yet the team captain, who should have been encouraging his side from the bench, was lost in his own misery, realising that even if England went on to win the whole tournament, he would play no further part.

It was a moment of horrible self-indulgence.

And, at the end of that game, after England’s predictably poor penalty performance, several of Beckham’s team-mates followed his example, slumping to the turf for a wee cry.

I could go on and on with the list of footballing blubbers, who lost all perspective about a game which is, after all, only that.

Well, buck up I say.

Those tear-soaked players would do well to follow the example of Roy Keane and Michael Ballack.

Both players have, like Paul Gascoigne, experienced that agonising moment of being booked in a semi-final, meaning they would miss the biggest game of their lives.

But unlike Gascoigne, Keane and Ballack just got on with it. They didn’t cry or wallow in their own misfortune, they inspired their respective teams to victory and to finals in which they wouldn’t play.

No doubt, with the Olympics about to start, we will see more sporting tears. Athletes will discover that, after four years of gruelling training, they were not quite good enough.

As they watch a rival take the bouquet and the gold medal, some will be tempted to turn on the waterworks.

A single Vaughan-like tear might be just about acceptable, but I’d prefer if the disappointed athletes of Beijing follow the example of Keane and Ballack instead.