REVEALED: The Most Common Crimes Committed by Sport Players

Wayne Rooney who left Manchester United for Everton recently had  landed himself in hot water with not only his missus but also the law, when he was found driving a car allegedly owned by a 29-year-old female, whilst under the influence of alcohol. Reports regarding the lives of sporting stars are often a mixture of stories about charitable donations and salacious scandal, so this recent report about Rooney was an unlikely shock to anyone. Drink driving offences have been rife amongst footballers over recent years, more so than any other sport. In fact, data has revealed that 52% of all driving convictions amongst sport stars were committed by footballers. Ticket Gum wanted to see who takes the crown for other crimes committed in the sports world. Looking at the charges brought against almost 300 professional athletes, we looked at the most common convictions for nine different sports. The results revealed, unsurprisingly, that driving offences were most common amongst footballers, drink driving in particular consisted of 43% of the driving offences. Baseball players were more likely to be charged with drug offences (35% of convictions were for this), but they were not alone, as players of basketball, motorsports, skateboarding and American football were all most likely to be convicted of drug-related crimes too. Cricket players on the other hand were more likely to be found guilty of fraud (38%). Darts players were mostly convicted of assault, perhaps a consequence of their often-boozy environment. The most common conviction for boxers was for theft and burglary charges (24%). The most common convictions for each sport (offence as % of all convictions for that sport)

• Football: Driving offences (23%)
• Baseball: Drug offences (35%)
• Basketball: Drug offences (29%)
• Boxing: Theft/burglary offences (24%)
• Cricket: Fraud (38%)
• Darts: Assault (83%)
• Motorsports: Drug offences (36%)
• Skateboarding: Drug offences (56%)
• American Football: Drug Offences (25%)

Analysis of the results also proved that footballers were more likely than any other sports person to commit a crime. In fact, they were guilty of over 20% of all crimes committed by athletes. The full break down for each sport is revealed in the following graphics: