In a world where a footballers form can be affected by a simple tweet, there is nowhere for some of the biggest personalities in the game to hide when caught out.
Former Gunners transfer target Wayne Rooney is the latest heavyweight name to have his face sprawled across the papers after he was found drink driving in a car that wasn’t even his.
The Everton striker will need a good criminal and DUI lawyer as he was arrested at 2am on September 1st and is due to appear in court next Monday, just 24 hours after the Toffees take on his former side, Manchester United.
In light of England’s all-time leading goalscorer getting caught under the influence, Ticketgum.com conducted research into sporting criminals and the results put football in a bad light.
Their analysis found that a staggering 52% of all driving convictions amongst sport stars were committed by footballers despite the heavy internal punishments football clubs are introducing. This is something that needs to be improved. Footballers need to drive more carefully. Perhaps the clubs should request that players involved in car accidents take driving lessons in Stockport, for example. That would allow them to familiarize themselves with the driving laws, ensuring that they become more aware on the roads.
Ex-Arsenal players Jermaine Pennant and Tony Adams were both found guilty of similar offences, which led to their playing career being overshadowed by the media.
When looking at the Ticketgum.com’s research in more depth, the most common convictions amongst footballers are driving related, compared to motorsports and basketball which are far more common to drug offences.
The next most common convictions in footballers was assault at 20% and fraud at 17%, posing questions as to whether or not these are the role models we should look up to.
From a wider viewing point it is a small majority that make up these numbers but reports in the media have called for heavier punishments on top-level stars to set some sort of example to younger people.
This leads me to the final result of the research, which shows that 20% of all sports figure convictions involve footballers, making it the worst sport for criminal convictions.
These figures have to be taken seriously, but a lot is already being done to ensure issues like this are filtered out amongst top footballers who believe they can get away with it.
Football clubs are enforcing tougher punishments like wage cuts and deciding to pull players out of games until the media hype settles down.
Meanwhile, the sheer openness that is Twitter means there’s no room for error when it comes to conducting yourself as a footballer, whether you see that as a good thing or a bad thing in this day and age is another argument!
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