CityLife

Double faulters

SPORT is full of larger-than-life characters who have cried, sworn and shouted when things didn't go their way. Bad line call? Have a tantrum and insult the umpire. Been shown a yellow card? Cry like a baby.

These colourful incidents - as memorable as a brilliant backhand or a fantastic free kick - cement a player's reputation as a bad boy.

So, during the grip of sporting fever with Euro 2004 in full swing and Wimbledon due to start today, it's with baited breath that Manchester welcomes two sportsmen famous for their hellraising: Paul Gascoigne and Ilie Nastase.

Romanian-born tennis player Nastase, winner of two Grand Slam single titles and twice a Wimbledon finalist, who comes to Manchester tomorrow to promote his book, Mr Nastase (CollinsWillow, é18,99), was an explosive force on the seventies and eighties tennis circuit. Not for nothing was he nicknamed the Bucharest Buffoon and Mr Nasty, although he deserves the nickname of the Randy Romanian if his claim of sleeping with 2,000 women is anything to go by.

Apart from the womanising, his misbehaviour included shouting, swearing, throwing his racket about, stalling, and breaking a spectator's glasses - stunts that none of today's highly skilled but incredibly dull players would dare to consider.

Even at the age of 57, the former playboy is still a fixture on the tennis circuit - albeit the senior one - and is proud of the showmanship that captivated fans during an era when tennis was sexy, glamorous and intensely exciting.

He says: "When I played, the audience loved what I did. What I did was make the game more fun to watch. Sometimes what I did made me lose the match, but I didn't care and nothing happened to make me walk away from a match and hate it.

"I never planned any of the things that I did on court. I wanted to loosen things up, but I always wanted to win. Sometimes I crossed the line," he admits, "but when you do that you can't look back and regret it because the damage is done.

"I wasn't really a bad boy, but I was perceived like that. I think my behaviour was shocking to people because they had never seen anything like it. But I got upset when there was a bad call because it felt like someone stealing money from my pocket.

Angry

"Nowadays you see some players getting angry, but not often, because they get fined lots of money. In my day these fines didn't exist and I'm glad because I would've been much poorer.

"I don't like to compare myself to players of today because you can't tell people what to do or how to behave. But when I play Wimbledon this year I will be up to same old things," he chuckles.

A FEW days after this mischievous roué rolls into town, another sportsman arrives in Manchester. Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne - now on the road promoting his autobiography, Gazza: My Story (Headline, é18.99) - captured hearts with his tears at the 1990 World Cup semi-final, when a foolish tackle ended his dreams of playing in the final.

However, fewer people were won over by his loutish behaviour, his boozing and wife beating, which took him from hero to zero during a career which included spells at Newcastle, Spurs, Middlebrough, Everton, Glasgow Rangers, Lazio and even in China. His antics made him ideal tabloid fodder and he made more appearances on the front pages than he should have done.

Ellis Cashmore is Professor of Culture, Media and Sport at Staffordshire University. He is also an author - his latest work is called Beckham (Polity Press, é12.99) - and his books have shed valuable psychological light on sport.

He says: "We like rule breakers because secretly we'd like to break rules, too, but we can't so we admire people that can break rules but be unaffected by the punishment that comes with it, perhaps because they've got so much money that fines don't dent their pockets, or match suspensions don't affect the way fans feel about them. Cantona was an ace lawbreaker.

"We also like the unexpected and we warm to characters who are colourful and spontaneous because we see a reflection of how we'd like to be."

Ilie Nastase is at Waterstone's, St Ann's Square, tomorrow (June 22) at 12.30 pm. Paul Gascoigne is at the same branch of Waterstone's on Friday. Both events are free.