I am no expert in football strategy but, after nearly 40 years working mainly in London secondary schools, I can claim to be an expert in effective behavioural strategies with young people.

When I have had to deal with badly-behaved young people, the stock excuse has usually been along the lines of: "It's not my fault". That excuse is a lot more common in 2006 than it was 20 years ago.

Some young people, caught and punished for unacceptable behaviour, mutter darkly about reprisals - and who can blame them when they see prominent thugs getting away with similarly unacceptable behaviour.

We all saw Rooney's boot in the groin of another footballer, and yet, somehow, the message has come over it was Ronaldo's fault, not his. Have we heard any sort of apology from Rooney, or even an expression of regret? No, of course not but we have had reports of his threat against Ronaldo - "I'm going to sort him out".

So Rooney's behaviour is no better than that of a playground thug.

And what will be done about it and who will do it?

Four weeks ago, following the murders of young people in London, I wrote to the Football Association (and Arsenal FC), asking what, together, we could do to tackle the growing problem of violence in UK.

The response from both organisations was, unsurprisingly, banal and complacent.

I think their answers meant they were doing enough already and weren't going to do any more.

Footballers, and the FA, have the ability to make an enormous contribution in helping us to tackle the growing violence on our streets.

We should not only expect them to take an active role in a country-wide strategy, we should demand it.

After all, people such as Rooney are paid more in a day than most nurses earn in a year surely we should expect them to do something serious to earn that sort of money?

Sadly, I suspect we shall now indulge in a media-frenzy, excusing Rooney and vilifying Ronaldo and, as a result, we shall continue to let down the majority of decent, law-abiding young people in the UK.

They will still not be able to rely upon people with clout, working together, to get over the message that violence is unacceptable, thereby doing something positive to make our streets safer.

And we will all raise our hands in horror when we hear of the murder of the next young person, and the next, and the next...

-Dr Stuart Newton, Peacehaven