Gay jibe shames soccer super-rich

Some soccer players are at their most articulate when communicating with gestures that see one or more fingers raised to the opposition. But one player who made his point by wiggling his bottom has found that body language does not come without a penalty.

English football may have experienced a degree of gentrification in recent years with less violence in all-seater stadiums and clubs which employ resident poets to intellectualise over their progress.

Out on the pitch though there is little to indicate players' behaviour has improved in line with salaries which see some becoming millionaires before they reach their 21st birthday. Many believe it is time players stopped trading insults learned in the school yard and started behaving like professionals.

Even by the standards of Premiership football, Chelsea's Graeme Le Saux and Robbie Fowler, who turns out for Liverpool, have formidable reputations for hotheaded behaviour. Both play in the English squad but have run into trouble for an incident in the league competition.

In a recent match at the London club's Stamford Bridge ground, Fowler continually taunted Le Saux calling him a 'faggot' and a 'poof' and other terms used to question a man's sexuality.

But the 23-year-old, who collects GBP40,000 (HK$500,000) a week for his goal scoring talent, went too far when he bent over and wiggled his backside at Le Saux, who later took his revenge with an elbow to the Liverpool player's head, knocking him to the ground.