Tiscali Community Who cares

Today's high-profile footballers are constantly chastised for setting a poor example, both on and off the field. There is a danger that this clamour for increased responsibility is heaping unrealistic expectations upon the sport. To suggest that footballers should be role models not only ignores the root causes of wider issues such as antisocial behaviour, but can also come into conflict with the primary focus of high-level sportsmen and women - pursing sporting excellence.

The expectation that footballers be role models is relatively recent. No hysterical outcry followed Billy Bremner and Graeme Souness when they routinely raised fists and elbows in their attempts to win the ball. George Best's off-the-field exploits were greeted more with amusement than with moralising. Nowadays, the snarling and combative Wayne Rooney is regarded as setting a bad example to the younger generation, and David Beckham's alleged adulterous antics outside of football generate more publicity than his goals on the pitch!

Recently, Joey Barton, the volatile Manchester City midfielder, was accused of assaulting and swearing at a female steward in a match against Aston Villa. A report in the Guardian suggested that his 'professional reputation has been dragged through the mud yet again'. You can just picture the head-shaking and tut-tutting amongst the authorities. Yet is it really his professional reputation that is in tatters? What fundamentally constitutes his responsibilities as a footballer? What is the role, if any, of high-level sportsmen and women in society?

In sport, the primary goal is to achieve the highest level of performance possible. The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius (faster, higher, stronger) remain true today. Sport is defined by breaking boundaries, pushing the limits and producing inspiring, mesmerising moments of physical prowess and skill. It is this that elite sportsmen and women strive to attain, and in turn what motivates our young pretenders and contented community participants.

Rooney's spectacular winning volley against Newcastle United last season, or Zinedine Zidane's near-majestic ball control on the pitch, his ability to control the ebb and flow of a game like a conductor leads an orchestra, this is the very essence of the sport and why it captures the imagination like few other activities or games can. A footballer's fundamental raison d'être is to achieve their potential as a player. That is the reason they have been recruited by their club and are so revered by fans, and they should be held accountable for this and this alone.

To speak of role models, then, is to create a mythical relationship between sport and society, imposing a responsibility upon sport that has nothing to do with its internal world. Asking footballers to be good role models heaps unrealistic demands upon them and the sport, and ignores the real problems sport is being associated with. Richard Caborn, the Minister for Sport, clearly expects footballers to impact upon the behaviour of youngsters in school, arguing that 'what happens on the park on Saturday also happens in the playground on Monday'.

Possibly, but who is truly accountable for that behaviour? A child may well see a player blaspheming on a football pitch and seek to copy this, yet is it really for that player to teach that child what is right and wrong? Whatever happened to parental responsibility, the role of education, or the positive messages a coach can pass on? Children will come up against bad examples every day - if we want to tackle antisocial or offensive behaviour then we have to look far deeper than the influence of our footballing superstars! We mustn't feel that our youngsters are such precious and vulnerable mites that they can be scarred for life by being exposed to a bit of effing and blinding.

Provoking and potentially combating antisocial behaviour is not the only connection made with the behaviour of these high-profile players. Oona King, writing in the Daily Telegraph, goes so far as to suggest that footballers can combat racism. What we need is a 'Muslim Rooney' she argues. This comment is so far wide of the mark it reminds me of Frank Lampard this summer! Sportsmen and women cannot be compartmentalised according to race and religion. The beauty of the game is that it wholly transcends these distinctions. Hence whether you are Muslim or not, that 'Rooney moment' against Newcastle is exactly what should inspire you to take up football, regardless of your background.

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