The full penalty of the law

(Note – all the teams named are the current teams of these players at the time of writing)

Only those who have spent the last few days on a different planet will not have heard of Steven Gerrard’s arrest and charge of assault and affray. It will be interesting to see how the authorities deal with such a famous and popular – at least as an international – player. It will be even more interesting to see how a club as prestigious as Liverpool decides to proceed with such a delicate matter.

What is increasingly more mundane, however, is the fact that a professional footballer has fallen foul of the law while showing his true colours. It is something we have come to expect in the last few years, as recent news items show. While Gerrard was “helping police with their enquiries” twenty-year-old Sheffield United player Jordan Robertson was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving after a father of five was killed in a road accident over Christmas.

Earlier this year we have already seen 25-year-old Newcastle United player Joey Barton sentenced to six months in jail, also for assault and affray (note to Gerrard and the judge who will try his case, if it comes to trial), and 25-year-old Plymouth Argyle player Luke McCormick sentenced to seven years and four months for killing two little children in a car crash. Barton also has previous for night-time road accidents, having injured a pedestrian in 2005.

The football hall of shame has, in recent years, also seen the inclusion of Jermaine Pennant (driving offences), Marlon King (driving offences and two cases of assault, one involving punching a woman), and Glen Johnson and Ben May (shoplifting, of all things).

TO LET THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME

Luke McCormick was at first suspended by his employers, Plymouth Argyle, then sacked, although the euphemism “contract cancelled by mutual consent” was used in the press. When his friend David Norris – the man whose wedding had provided McCormick with the excuse to go overboard – made the immature and offensive “handcuffs gesture” during a goal celebration and compounded his stupidity by lying about the gesture, his employers Ipswich Town fined him £25,000.

(Some people may also recall Tim Cahill’s “handcuffs gesture” during a goal celebration earlier this year. This was directed at his own brother, who is serving a prison sentence and was meant as a gesture of brotherly support as opposed to one of insolent defiance, although it could also be argued that it may be seen to endorse violence.)

It remains to be seen whether McCormick will be welcomed back into the footballing fold, but the omens, for him at least, are good. Lee Hughes, the 32-year-old Oldham Athletic player, was jailed for six years in August 2004 for killing one person and injuring another in a road accident during the 2003-4 season. Hughes even fled the scene rather than face up to his crime.

Hughes’ employers at the time, West Bromwich Albion, terminated his contract after the player had been sentenced. However, not only was Hughes bailed awaiting trial – allowing him to shrug off any alleged distress and become his club’s top scorer – he was offered a new contract at Oldham Athletic while still in prison. Barton, Pennant, King, Johnson and May still earn the obscene amounts paid to professional footballers of any division, and there is no doubt that Liverpool FC will abandon all pretence of dignity or integrity by continuing to employ Gerrard should he be convicted.

THE DEBT TO SOCIETY

Lee Hughes would argue that he paid the price for his crime – he was convicted of an offence and given a sentence which he served in accordance with the laws of his country – and that those laws state that not only should he not be punished beyond that, but he should be allowed every opportunity to re-enter society on an equal footing with any other citizen. He should certainly not be punished by being refused work simply because of his record.

It is indeed shocking when the holier-than-thou element of our society decides to continue punishing people for mistakes they have made in the past. How can a person be expected to live a decent life if the meagre opportunities they have clung to in the past are now converted into a brick wall of total rejection?

However, there is a clear case in favour of not allowing people to resume certain occupations even after completing sentences, depending on the crime and the occupation. A person convicted of any sort of crime involving children should not be a school teacher, for example. Somebody convicted of fraud should not be allowed to work in government or in any job involving the handling of large amounts of money.

ROLE MODELS

Anybody who has worked with children knows how influential football is on their lives. When a kid has a ball at their feet, they run like their favourite player and celebrate a goal in the same way, even though the goal is scored between two jerseys. In 1986 some of my classmates even came in wearing plaster casts on perfectly healthy arms. Nowadays, of course, children even protest in the same way as their idols, first diving then twisting their faces in perfect imitation.

The point is that they see the actions of their heroes, and the consequences of such actions. Children are not stupid – they are far more intelligent than a lot of people give them credit for. They may or may not think that the actions are acceptable, but they will always take note of a lack of punishment, and incorporate that knowledge into their take on the world.

And subsequently, their take on the world around them and the society they live in will manifest itself in the way they behave towards members of that society. So do we really want to allow the likes of McCormick and Gerrard to be their role models?