Wayne Rooney: Those football people who defend England captain’s 5am booze binge are hypocrites
Why saying it is fine for our elite stars to abuse their bodies is fuelling the country's fall from world class
WAYNE ROONEY'S grovelling apology for getting legless until 5am has exposed the huge hypocrisy that lies behind why England may never be world beaters again.
A deep-rooted attitude that allows footballers to let themselves down as they pay lip-service to the title of 'elite athletes'.
One that still persists within the game that is just another obstacle in the way of the country being able to compete at the top table.
Rooney was shamed into saying sorry for shifting so much alcohol he was a drunken mess - 'paralytic' according to witnesses - whilst apparently still on international duty with the England side.
Cue the predictable faux outrage among those in the game, and a wide section of supporters. "What's wrong with having a few drinks?", they ask. "He was on a day off," is another excuse.
I'll tell you what is wrong. Elite sportsmen, those truly world class talents we want our players to be, they just don't do this.
The same people queuing up to defend Rooney are very often the ones who lambaste England's footballers for not being able to compete at the elite level.
They criticise the national team for falling short, attack the players for not producing at the major tournaments, and fall over themselves to eulogise over how great foreign players are in comparison.
You don't become great by accident. And you very rarely become great by swigging booze to such an extent you can barely walk, three days before you may be asked to play for your country.
When was the last time you saw or heard of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Lionel Messi and the like battered as dawn broke? Or Sergio Busquets, Andreas Iniesta and Xavi?
Of course, Rooney was injured so it doesn't matter, comes the reply. Two things on this.
The decision for him to leave the squad had not been made at that stage, which exposes a lack of professionalism of the highest order with the squad due to report for training at 11am.
And if he already knew in his own mind he would miss the Spain game, is an all-night bender really giving yourself the best chance possible of recovering in time for a game the following weekend? Sports scientists everywhere will tell you it isn't.
But this is not really about Rooney, it is about the general belief among those in the game that abusing your body to such an extent is still acceptable.
No-one is saying grown adults are not free to have a drink, but do it responsibly and not to excess. In exchange for the unbelievable wealth, just make the sacrifices needed to be the very best you can be.
You cannot have it both ways. If you want to be elite, then live the life of an elite.
There is a saying in boxing that to be truly world class, you have to 'live the life' of a boxer. By that, they mean keep your body in peak condition all the time, don't abuse it and over-indulge.
The same is now true in football. We are not back in those 'golden' days of the 1970s, when footballers played hard but partied even harder. The game is a different physical animal now.
Ah, the fond memories of yesteryear, of stories about players turning up drunk for training on the way home from another night on the tiles.
Except, in England it seems we are still back in the past. We love the tales of Tony Adams, Paul Gascoigne, Ray Parlour - the comedy moments of dressing room banter, often involving outrageous acts of drunken tomfoolery.
We talk of characters, smile at anecdotes of some of the ludicrous situations players got themselves involved in.
We argue that footballers should be allowed to cut loose, to let off steam as the adults they are.
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All the while despairing that at the highest level, for some reason our boys just aren't as good as our opponents.
You cannot have it both ways. If you want to be elite, then live the life of an elite.
If you want England to be the best, don't excuse those who fall short because of personal failures - you are just giving them the environment where they think it is OK.
And until we stop telling our players it's OK to fall short, well, just take a guess what will happen.