Footballers - role models for the young

With all the international football friendlies happening this evening it seems appropriate to talk about the example these men who are constantly in the public eye set for the Worlds youth. Almost every young male in the UK wants to be a professional footballer, they will even change the way they act and dress to emulate their sporting heroes. This leads to the question as to whether these footballers set a positive example for young people to follow or should we actively encourage our children to look in other places for a hero to follow.

David Beckham's recent move to PSG has been in the headlines for all the right reasons after he announced all of his wages would be donated to a French Children's Charity. This would surely suggest that Beckham is one of those individuals who's example we should strive to emulate as a recent pole showed how important we in the UK perceive doing the right thing. Giving to charity was number 10

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2273726/David-Beckham-Jessica-Ennis-Britons-role-models-1-5-believe-power-karma.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#axzz2K9MvWKsJ

However as always there is another side to the argument, we just need to look at the some of the awful actions committed by these so called "stars" to see how terrible an example they can set. Only the other day a Newcastle player was taken to hospital after a fight during a night out. Whilst I am aware that there are lots of fights all over the world, the fact that these footballers are constantly in the public eye and are often idolised by many children and young people then surely they should be expected to moderate their behaviour because of the bad example it sets for these young people to copy. Obviously these role models are only part of the puzzle when it comes to how a person behaves, but they are still an influence.

So now over to you, do you believe that these footballers should be deified like they are in the press as a positive example for how to behave or should they be weeded out of the public view so that they do not encourage anti social behaviour? Are sports stars in other countries actively striving to set a positive example to children?