Soccer back in dock again as Johnson gets six years

Former England player jailed after being found guilty of sexual activity with under-age fan

Soccer was accused of having a "cultural problem" as former England international Adam Johnson was sentenced to six years in prison after engaging in unlawful sexual activity with a 15-year-old fan.

Johnson, once a winger with Sunderland and Manchester City, was found guilty on Thursday following an incident in his Range Rover car in County Durham, northeast England, last year.

It has become increasingly commonplace to hear English soccer fans voicing their disillusionment with the cash-rich Premier League.

One criticism is that in paying the likes of Johnson a weekly wage of $84,675, more than three times the average annual salary in the town where they play, clubs such as northeast side Sunderland have created a generation of spoilt players, who then expect to be indulged off the field as well.

It was a view that found echoes in a letter sent by Britain's NSPCC children's charity to the chairman of England's governing Football Association, Greg Dyke, on Thursday.

"The NSPCC's concern lies not in the behavior of a single individual - although that is horrifying - but in the approach taken by Sunderland ... We are worried this could be a cultural problem within football as a whole," wrote Peter Wanless, the charity's chief executive.

Johnson, 28, was sacked by struggling Premier League side Sunderland straight after his guilty plea.

But the fallout saw the club's chief executive, Margaret Byrne, resign on March 8 after she accepted making a "serious mistake" in being party to letting Johnson play on for nearly a year despite knowing he had admitted to kissing a 15-year-old girl.

Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of England's Professional Footballers' Association, insisted his organization took child protection seriously and his members were aware of "danger zones" involving young female fans.

"It's not as though we don't know the law of the land and we don't expect footballers to be immune from it," Taylor told BBC Sport after Johnson was sentenced.

"Of course there will be times when there are danger zones. With young women, particularly girls, then that's even more dangerous.

"So they (footballers) need to be very, very mindful and there's a line beyond which they just do not cross," said Taylor, who went on to say the PFA needed to "work even harder on these child protection and safeguarding issues".

Taylor said Johnson's chances of playing professionally again were "very remote".

(China Daily 03/26/2016 page11)