The press is a funny old thing, isn't it?
Quite literally everybody reading this will remember just how much Wayne Rooney's name was dragged through the mud by a series of national newspapers for having a few too many glasses of wine at a recent wedding party. Right? Remember that?
His status as England captain was called into question. It was a terribly bad example to set for someone in such a position of power. He ignored the wishes of his manager Gareth Southgate to get to bed, apparently (as was reported at the time), might we add, and was forced to apologise.
Let's bear in mind here this was on a night off, where Rooney was given the chance to let his hair down. Whether what he did was right or wrong remains up for debate, even while it's been played out so much that nobody actually cares any more, but the matter of footballers drinking has cropped up again over the Christmas period.
Now They Might Win Something ! England Players Banned From Night Outs After Rooney Wedding Photos https://t.co/wLmZjw4BIJ pic.twitter.com/CSa7CCddSs
Liverpool's Roberto Firmino, another high profile Premier League star, was arrested in the early hours of Christmas Eve after being caught drink-driving. He was charged and will appear in courton January 31, the same day Liverpool host Premier League title rivals Chelsea at Anfield.
Yet, after the mainstream pressspent their time digging out Rooney for his behaviour a mere six weeks before (lookhereandherefor examples), Firmino's, come on, incredibly more serious actions were merely brushed under the carpet after his performance in the Reds' 4-1 win over Stoke City.
Rooney has a few drinks on his day off in a hotel, crucified.
Firmino drink drives, endangers lives and gets this. The hypocrisy is real. pic.twitter.com/QoGMMVf9Pt
"The Drinks Are On Me", read the Mirror's headline, labelling Firmino's incident a 'drink-drive rap'. Wedding-gate dominated the headlines for weeks, much to most people's unhappiness, while Firmino's treatment in the media for possibly endangering lives on the road pales in comparison.
Perhaps it's the nature of the press to do everything to destroy their own. Perhaps it's just because it's Wayne Rooney, and people want to read about him. But it's an indication of today's press how two incidents - deriving from the same thing but differing in seriousness - have been misrepresented.
It's not a case of team or player bias from this end, either. Rooney was literally doing nothing illegal, and nothing to endanger others, yet Firmino has effectively gotten off scot-free in the press. He likely will not get off scot-free when he attends court.
Manchester United fans on Twitter in particular have noticed the differences, as you'll be able to see below.
Rooney goes to a wedding and gets smashed and gets bad press. Because firmino is foreign witty puns get cracked about a moron behind a wheel pic.twitter.com/4rIgtl2FqA
So Rooney gets drunk at a wedding The Sun makes him a joke firminho drink drives could possibly kill some1 and gets lauded!!!#mufc pic.twitter.com/ZVO3dVHFKZ
Rooney drinking wine in hotel bar on a day off.
Firmino caught drink driving.
A tale of two headlines. Enough said. #mufc pic.twitter.com/94mp0ZaDjk
Do you remember the headlines about Wayne Rooney having wine in a hotel during a day off? Firmino gets done drink driving.... 樂 pic.twitter.com/0HNQQyxXcs
Not that we expect any consistency, decency or sensible headlines from the tabloids. Always happy to point it out though.
The press is a funny old thing, isn't it?