Football’s Sordid s*x Scandals: Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema prostitution scandal the latest of many
A few months ago, before the World Cup took place in South Africa, the French football team got wind of a serious scandal involving a few of its most famous players. Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema were alleged to have had s*x with an underage prostitute. The scandal was put on hold while the French team went and make a mess of their World Cup appearance (the 2006 World Cup finalists were knocked out of the tournament in the first round). Now that they have returned to France, the pair has been formally accused of underage prostitution. Whether they will face jail time or not, we will have to wait and see, but this is just one of the many s*x scandals surrounding the world of football.
The seedy affair involving the French team members, if true, has far reaching consequences. Franck Ribery is married and has two children. He has already admitted to having s*x with the prostitute, Zahia Dehar, but he said that he was unaware that she was underage at the time. It is unlikely that these two footballers would be convicted and sent to jail because rich footballers and celebrities always seem to find their way ‘out’ of messy situations like this one. But if by some miracle they do, that would mean that the already weak French football team will be without two of their major stars for (potentially) three years. It will not happen, though, and they will, like C-list celebrity Lindsay Lohan, probably spend 20 days of a 45 day jail sentence in the slammer and then walk away scot-free. The issue with this case is the fact that it rests on the testimony of the former prostitute against the testimony of the French footballers, and so it is going to be a very difficult case to determine. Whatever happens, though, this is one scandal to look out for in the days and months to come.
It is not only French players who have been known to partake in sordid s*x affairs; players in the English Premiership are not far behind. One of the most famous footballers of the Premiership, Wayne Rooney, was allegedly involved in an illicit affair a few years ago. No one knows if this episode is true or not, but he is claimed to have had an affair with a 52 year old grandmother in a London brothel. Another story involves the exploits of footballer Stan Collymore and the fact that he would go to car parks and engage in sexual activities with strangers. He was actually caught by two reporters and admitted the whole affair to them. Finally, the great David Beckham was thought to have had an affair with his personal assistant while in Madrid. This was the flimsiest of all the affair stories and really does not hold too much weight, but is included here just to show that s*x scandals can affect any player out there.
If we move to Northern Ireland, a scandal involving 5 of its footballers has rocked the country and its football federation. A few footballers for the Northern Ireland team filmed themselves having s*x with a fan in a hotel bathroom. The video was then placed on the internet and was pretty damning evidence of their activities. It seemed they were trying to emulate the exploits of their more famous neighbours over in the English Premier League. They felt their fame and wealth could allow them to get away with the dodgy activities, but they were found out and the chief of the IFA was furious and disciplined them all severely.
There seems to be a bit of a mystery here. Footballers are very rich, famous and usually have very beautiful wives (Victoria Beckham, anyone?) and partners. Why do they engage in sexual affairs with women only to be caught and sometimes formally accused by a court of law? It could be they are not satisfied with all that they have; they keep on wanting more until it gets them into serious trouble. The money and fame could go to their heads and they feel they can get away with anything and everything. These types of scandals will keep coming to our news channels and papers with no end in sight. By engaging in these kinds of activities, footballers sully their own names and the teams they play for, and stop being role models for millions of fans around the world that adore them.
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