Off-field behaviour is immaterial

The tendency to blame sportsmen for setting a bad example is a convenient way to shift the blame for our own failings.

Abhishek Mehrotra
Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant. The list of sports' fallen gods is endless.
Every time a sordid affair comes to light, the media has a field day and we the people go up in arms about the erosion of morals as well as the responsibility those in the spotlight have of ensuring our children grow up to be fine, upstanding citizens.
Forget the fact that we stop at the corner shop on our way to work or school and gleefully swoop on the tabloids dripping with the sleazy details of the latest sportsman caught with his pants down. Forget that we joyfully discuss those very details with colleagues and friends.
That is perhaps forgiveable, for there's a voyeur in all of us.
But it is when we pretend that Giggs having an affair is a moral affront to the general public that the whole situation begins to smack of hypocrisy. It's a bit like having steak for dinner before going out to attend a "Become a vegetarian" rally.
Never during his illustrious career has the Welshman claimed to be a paragon of virtue. It is we who placed that mantle on him and we who expected him to live up to the standards consistent with the image we have built of him in our minds. And when he failed, the reaction was predictably that of outrage (while checking out what Imogen Thomas looks like, of course).
I'm fairly certain there's no clause in Giggs' or any professional sportsman's contract forcing them to lead lives of austerity and celibacy. And I'm fairly certain that if you were to conduct a survey about reasons why people have affairs, the option "because my idol Boris Becker once did the same" won't be topping the list.
And even those who did tick that option would be using it as a cowardly way of shying away from the consequences of their own actions. Morality should be, and usually is, intensely personal - shaped by parents and friends, not by sportsmen who inhabit a world in which 100k a week salaries are the norm.
That is the other weapon that the moral police often uses in its fight against "moral decay". Their line of reasoning is that if someone is paid so much money, then he/she must be suddenly be devoid of all vices. That's laughable. Players are paid the big bucks to perform on the pitch, for the joy they bring us with stunning goals and superhuman shots. They're not paid to sit under trees and meditate once they're off the pitch.
Our faux outrage is not limited to sexual dalliances of course. Player caught smoking on a sidewalk? He's the scum of the earth. Player boozing in a nightclub? Time to berate him from the rooftops. Because now you'll see seething crowds of impressionable teenagers thronging the streets - cigarettes dangling from their lips and a bottle of whiskey in their hands. That's what youngsters do - they ape their idols - right?
We don't give our youngsters enough credit. If they do ape their idols - is it certain they'll take on board only their worst qualities? What about the intense hardwork that these pros put in? What about the single-minded focus with which they dedicate themselves to their art? Isn't that something worth copying and aren't most youngsters intelligent enough to realise that?
I'm not for a moment suggesting that Giggs having an affair is right. All I'm saying is that it does not matter what Ryan Giggs does outside of the football pitch. And the same goes for every sportsman who has been berated, lampooned and criticised in public forums for supposedly immoral behaviour.
That is not to condone behaviour like drunk-driving or bar-brawls either, for that puts the lives of others at risk i.e. behaviour we would not condone in those closest to us as well.
But all this nonsense about "setting a bad example" and "having a negative impact on our youngsters" must stop. The children are smart enough to separate right from wrong and if they aren't - the fault lies with the parents, with the upbringing or with that youngster's own moral compass.
It's time we stopped placing our idols on pedestals and then being desperately disappointed when a shocking revelation kicks that pedestal out from under them.
We should enjoy the geniuses who dot the sporting firmament. Revel in their athleticism, their marvellous physical prowess and the beauty with which they practise their respective arts.
But we must not berate them for not living up to some arbitrary moral standard that is in sync with our personal worldviews.