Wayne Rooney: In the Public Interest or Irrelevant Nonsense?

It seems barely a week can go by these days without a sports star scandal. Can you believe this guy had an affair with eighty women? Did you see that story about the bowls player who stole a penguin from the zoo? These kinds of claims may seem ludicrous and exaggerated, but they could very easily, it seems, pop up on both the front and back pages of the newspapers next week.

Is it all getting a little out of hand? Have we become so obsessed with celebrity status and culture that we cannot go a few days without our fix of their private lives? Are their personal ups and, even more predominantly, their downs now acting as the fuel of our incessant drug abuse?

Or is what goes on in these people’s private lives in the public interest? Could you argue that these celebrities choose to spend their lives in the public eye, so therefore they cannot complain when things turn a little sour? If they milk their celebrity status to enhance their positive reputation, are we then entitled to milk it to enhance their negative one?

I know what you’re thinking, too many questions, right? Unfortunately this issue poses so many questions that we cannot help but ask them. And because we have become so obsessed with the celebrity lifestyle, it has become even more important to try and answer them.

This issue has been brought to the fore of my attention in the wake of the Wayne Rooney scandal. For two weeks the media could do nothing but write follow-up story after follow-up story on Rooney’s illicit affair with a young prostitute.

Where he did it, why he did it, how he arranged it, how he ever got away with it, how he could turn his back on his then-pregnant wife—All valid points to address. But is it really important to address them in the public eye, in the media.

I must admit when the scandal first broke I thought to myself (as a Manchester United fan) "great, unwanted media attention on our best player just a at time when he really needs to be focusing on regaining the form which saw him score 34 goals in 42 games last season." My gut reaction was how it would affect the football team he plays for (and I support).

My first reaction was not "oh my god, how could a man do such a thing? How could he do that to his wife? This is outrageous, everyone must know every detail." I’m sorry, I just don’t care that much. What Wayne Rooney does in his private life does not affect me personally in the slightest; I don’t condone his actions, but they do not affect me.

But then I began to think about it on a larger scale. This man has been in the public eye since he burst on to the scene as a 16-year-old prodigy to English football. For eight years now all of England’s hopes and dreams of winning a major football tournament have been pinned on Wayne Rooney. On a football level alone he has broken the hearts of fans across England.

Well, so what, I thought to myself? It’s only a game. Wrong. Whatever your wife or girlfriend might say to you when she asks can she watch Strictly Come Dancing instead of you watching the match, football is not just a game.

It is more than that. It is an escape from the reality of the mundane, the everyday, the normal. It is 90 minutes when you can forget about your nine-to-five and imagine a life of glamour, girls, fame and money. It is the ability to dream.

And this is where Wayne Rooney’s actions come in. This is a man who, without football, without the dream job, would be just like you or me; bored of his normal life. And to take that for granted like he has is a cardinal sin in the eyes of so many men. It’s not the "oh he shouldn’t have done that to his wife" (although he shouldn’t have), it’s the "oh he should respect how lucky he is." That’s what gets us.

From the media’s side, this kind of scandal is gold dust. People inevitably will want to read about the misery of others. The term is schadenfreude. Taking pleasure from the misfortune of others. And we love it.

This is the reason why we have become so obsessed with celebrity culture in the first place. We care far less when they do something honourable than when they get caught doing something wrong and irresponsible. It makes us feel better about ourselves when we do it. We like that they are only human, like us.

So the media believe that it is their duty to bring this feeling to the people. And it is. Whether you like the ideology of it or not it simply is. If Wayne Rooney is allowed to exploit the media to sell his wedding photos to Now magazine, then who is to say the News of the World should not be allowed to exploit his life to sell their newspaper?

The News of the World may not always do things with the greatest of respect or ethical value, but they do have an obligation to report what they feel is in the public interest. And, to be honest, the Wayne Rooney scandal is.

When a star in the public eye is making over €11 million a year in sponsorship endorsements, as well as around €6 million a year in salary, he has a responsibility to behave in a manner which respects those who follow his day-to-day life, not to mention a manner which respects his wife and family. Sleeping with prostitutes while your wife is pregnant does not really constitute appropriate and respectful behaviour in my eyes.

The only surprising thing is that most of his endorsements have been unaffected by the scandal. Apart from Coca-Cola withdrawing his face from some promotional cans, Rooney has held on to all his endorsement deals, including EA Sports and Nike. Lucky boy, Wayne, lucky boy.

My closing point is a sentimental one, ironically. For eight years now Wayne Rooney has been the role model and hero for every eight-year-old boy in England, and many others around the world. He is the star they look up to, and wish to be one day. They want nothing more than to emulate their icon. On recent events, let’s hope they don’t.