In days long past the public looked up to sporting heroes and encouraged their children to emulate them. That is a lot harder to do now - because the sporting pages seem to consist of a litany of accounts of bad behavior on and off the field.
It is said that money is the root of all evil - and the behaviour of our sports people changed when money entered sport. Decades ago sport was for amateurs and the only reward for winning was glory. Today, glory comes a long second to a huge wad of money !
Unfortunately riches have encouraged our sports people to copy the odious behavior of movie stars. Those in the film industry who have the luck to star in a highly successful movie demand obscene sums of money for future appearances - and seem to lap up bad publicity. The more their actions are reported in the tabloids the more the public hungers for details - and the bigger the returns at the box office wherever they appear.
Today our so called sporting heroes think nothing of bashing their girl friends, taking drugs, driving drunk, using offensive sledging to unsettle other players - and having sexual affairs with any of the horde of female followers who dote on their celebrity status.
The courts seem to indulge them with lenient penalties and their sporting associations are quick to front spin doctors to play down the offences. No wonder school playgrounds are deteriorating into the law of the jungle with behaviour to match. With such examples on every television sporting programme what else can we expect ?
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