Rio Ferdinand's interpretation of morality role models

      Rio Ferdinand loves any positive publicity which helps to maintain his image as a leading footballer, and thereby a great role model for his adoring fans. Whether he sets out to be a role model or not is largely irrelevant, because it has long been recognised that those whom small boys look upon as their heroes are the models on which those same young boys will seek to emulate. What personalities such as footballers need to recognise therefore, is the responsibility that they have to their fans in particular and society in general. For any of them, Rio Ferdinand or anyone else, to attempt to denounce this responsibility is to betray their fans to an unpardonable degree.
      The fact of the matter is that, as a prominent football personality, Rio Ferdinand is of interest to the public in news terms, whether that news is considered to be favourable or unfavourable. Once such a role model is in the eye of the public they have to accept to a large degree that they have a responsibility to maintain a wholesome image. Rio Ferdinand has engaged upon various liaisons outside of his marriage, and so the message that he sends out to those who consider him to be a role model is that it's perfectly okay to behave in a similar manner when they are married to someone. He implies by his behaviour that promises given during the marriage ceremony are worthless whenever you want them to be.
      The current court action is no more than an attempt on Ferdinand's behalf to get the courts to legitimise his philandering, claiming that the moral atmosphere is different in modern day times. The truth is that, whilst morality may have sunk to a low amongst many, particularly amongst those who, like many footballers, are paid vast sums of money for kicking a ball around a field, this does not alter the morality code that people should be living by.
      Ferdinand has gone to great lengths in the past to portray himself as a role model for the young, and as a faithful partner to his wife, devoted to maintaining a harmonious married life, but the truth is that he is a poor role model for those whom he seeks to inspire, and by virtue of his philandering, he has proven himself an unfaithful partner to his wife.
      He deserves to lose his privacy battle against the Sunday Mirror article, because his behaviour deems that he has no rights to keep such a matter out of the public arena simply because he wants to keep it secret. Most people who do wrong things would like to keep their misdemeanours away from the public's gaze, but unfortunately, when you court publicity for the good things then you have to accept that it will seek out the bad as well.