'Wayne Rooney holds the twin distinctions of being England's youngest full international player and goalscorer. He might also have become the youngest shown a red card had Sven-Goran Eriksson not taken the wise course of substituting him in the first half of the friendly in Madrid late last year. We were assured Rooney would learn. He has not. For this reason I was glad the FA suspended the 19-year-old for violent conduct after he pushed Bolton's Tal Ben Haim in the face on Boxing Day.
Sir Alex Ferguson made too much fuss about it. When he described the FA's disciplinary procedures as "immoral'' - they are usually criticised for being too painstaking in favour of the accused player - he verged on the mischievous. The FA got this right. Some, Ferguson included, have questioned the logic of judging Rooney guilty of violent conduct (within the meaning of football law) while charging Ben Haim with improper conduct in having appeared to exaggerate the effect of the blow. But these offences are hardly inimical: did not the Argentine midfielder Diego Simeone exaggerate the effect of David Beckham's kick in the 1998 World Cup, and was Beckham not dismissed regardless?
It happens all the time and there is even a practical argument in favour of ''going down too easily'' in that it (a) draws the referee's attention to the supposed offence and (b) reduces the chance of a further confrontation. Bolton are expected to make the latter point to the FA. But most people will be less interested in Ben Haim's fate than the career of Rooney, who has the talent to be England's equivalent of Diego Maradona but a temperament that, if untreated, could see him spend much of the next World Cup, as Beckham did a crucial hour and a bit of the last but one, cursing a moment of foolish indiscipline. On the Madrid night when Rooney was fortunate to escape dismissal for shoving Iker Casillas so hard in the back that the Spanish goalkeeper hurtled off the pitch and crashed into an advertising board, Eriksson intoned that he was young and would continue his education. What the FA have done can only assist the process. We are told Ferguson organised something in private, asking Roy Keane and other senior players to have a word with Rooney. Fine: that is Ferguson's business. The FA have responsibilities of their own.
If Rooney thinks he can put his hands in other people's faces with impunity, England could lose their prospective Maradona almost as quickly as they have found him. At the age Rooney is now - and for many years after that - Maradona received kickings far more harsh than Rooney will ever encounter. Yet, for all his off-the-field flaws, Maradona remained in many respects the ultimate professional, soldiering on for the team, retaliating with his divine skill. There was a glaring exception when, pre-empting a foul by Brazil's Batista during the 1982 World Cup, he dug his studs into the adversary's groin and was sent off. But Maradona truly did learn from that. Four years later he won the World Cup for Argentina --- and four years after that, hobbling, he carried them to the final. Rooney has to become such a man. Pandering to his petulance is not the way.'