5 great players who are poor role models
Despite rival sports having plenty of problems with their own athletes – performance-enhancing drugs, for instance – it’s common for fans of them to sling mud at footballers, stating that the players are bad role models in comparison to athletes from other sports.
Unfortunately, for a lot of the time, they’re right. For every player like Cristiano Ronaldo – who treats his body like a temple – and Juan Mata – who is renowned for his philanthropy off the pitch – there are others who like nothing more than to abuse their bodies off the pitch and abuse the officials and opposing players when they’re on it.
Here are five players who are poor role models for any fans watching.
#1 Wayne Rooney
The highest-profile British player of the past decade, Wayne Rooney has often found himself embroiled in controversy, both on and off the pitch, and while a lot of the time he comes across like a down-to-earth family man, there are other incidents that leave you scratching your head and questioning his position as a role model.
On the pitch, Rooney’s career has largely been blemish-free in comparison to some of his peers, but he’s still been involved in more than one unsavoury situation. He’s been sent off twice while representing England and while you can almost excuse his red card in the 2006 World Cup against Portugal; his second – brandished for an incident that saw him lash out at a Montenegrin player for no good reason – was ridiculous and saw him banned for the first two games of Euro 2012.
Then there are the issues surrounding his language – the 2010 World Cup saw him captured barking insults into a TV camera at his own fans following a poor performance from England that saw them boo, and then there was the infamous incident in the 2010/11 season that saw him fined for swearing into a TV camera following a goal against West Ham – his 100th in the Premier League for Manchester United.
As for his off-pitch behaviour, where do you start? There are the allegations that he had prostitutes, dating back to his early days at Everton and also in 2010 after he was married with children, and more recently he’s had alcohol issues, photographed in 2016 with wine-stained lips while on duty with England and then charged with drink-driving earlier this year. He might’ve been an incredibly talented player at his peak, but Wayne Rooney has never been a great role model off the pitch.