Commandment 11: Thou Shalt Be Well Behaved

Throughout the last year it has difficult to open any British newspaper without finding a story about a football player misbehaving, often under the influence of too much drink and ending with a trip to the courts. One aspect which has interested me and set the old brain cogs turning was the revelation the majority of footballers have 'behaviour' clauses in their contracts. Depending on the severity of their misdemeanour and the course of action taken, they are signed up to have their pay docked. Even if the behaviour isn't criminal, say they've been reported of being, ahem, overly enjoying themselves with the aide of alcohol, they can wave goodbye to a weeks wages and for some that can be anything up to £30k.

Hardly surprising but I am not privy to the intricacies of the F1 drivers' personal contracts though one would be surprised if in today's publicity conscious world they did not carry a similar clause or at least an unwritten agreement. It is a blanket term of all employment from fishmonger to Formula One driver to declare all criminal convictions and to agree that a future conviction can lead to immediate termination of contracts. In Formula One this is a rare occurrence and as you'd expect preferably kept quiet. The most recent and most high profile case would be that of Tomas Scheckter who was immediately released from his Jaguar test driver position after pleading guilty to kerb crawling.

In 1991 I attended the Belgian Grand Prix where the fashionable item of clothing was a 'Gachot Why?' t-shirt. Jordan driver, Betrand Gachot had been involved in what today's papers would term 'road rage' the previous December which came to court shortly before the Belgian Grand Prix. After a slight car accident in London Gachot had sprayed the other driver with CS gas, a prohibited item in Britain. Expecting a fine or suspended sentence Gachot was gobsmacked when the jury returned a 10-2 guilty verdict and he was given a custodial sentence for assault and possession of a prohibited weapon. Gachot was taken to Brixton Prison and his Jordan drive at Spa was taken by someone called Michael Schumacher..

The mood in Belgium was quite something. There was a distinctive split amongst drivers, teams and fans as to whether Gachot's plight was deserved. A group of drivers came out to protest, some of whom had earlier demonstrated outside the British Embassy in Brussels. Fans scrawled support for Gachot on the track. There were chunters when it was announced Special Constable Mansell hadn't signed the petition. Others wondered what the fuss was about, a man had broken the law and in some eyes, was lucky to come away with the sentence he had.

On release from prison Gachot returned to racing. Frankly, he was never a talent that lit the tarmac aflame in promise but he was a dependable mid-field runner. Support was evident and it was hoped that the past forgotten. But soon his F1 career faded and it cannot be denied that his conviction and the negative publicity it generated was part of that equation. (He went on to achieve success in Sportscar racing and also to market the energy drink Hype - Ed)

Once a driver breaks a civil law it is not as much a moral judgement taken but a financial decision. If any conviction brings a driver into disrepute it will reflect on the team, which has ramifications for sponsorship deals and commercial opportunities so it is totally understandable why the driver is asked to close the door on their way out. Of course there is a sliding scale in terms of the severity of any transgression. Breaking traffic laws is looked upon with a frown, a slap and the comfortable knowledge Johnny Racing-Driver caught doing 110mph down the M1 will be met with friendly smirks on the whole.

Now there are more reports of sportsmen and women being fined by their teams for behaviour which might not break the law but be deemed unsuitable by their bosses. Drivers are discouraged from the old playboy image as bosses want total mental commitment. And if the truth be known they do not want to overly encourage the public perception that playboy tag now carries, the image of non-professionalism. There is little difference between breaking the law being drunk and disorderly, and making a tit of yourself being tipsy and merry in full view of the media court.

I can fully understand the position of team bosses but I cannot help but think this uniformed behaviour that is so actively encouraged is just one of many aspects sucking the spirit out of the sport. Now the public persona is of utmost importance, the individuality of drivers is slowly ebbing away and we are left with bog-standard, prepped line chanters. Not that am advocating a paddock of Eddie Irvine's (heaven forbid) but I feel we need to have some distinctive characters in the paddock.

Drivers are human (no, really, there's biological proof) and therefore err. They are not whiter than white but have by their profession taken a public career that leads them to be investigated, baited and held up as role models. Sanitising their public persona suffocates the very individuality that drives (sic) them to reach the heights of elite sports. Let them vent off, let them have a say and most controversial of all, let them take charge of their own behaviour and the consequences thereof. They're adults, they're capable of behaving appropriately and if they can't manage that small feat then haul them over the coals content in the knowledge at least we are seeing the true man which is far more enlightening than any spin the PR men and managers can produce.

© Rebecca Hobbs

(c)RH PR 2007