As captain of England's national team, John Terry is used to
appearing in the sports pages. But on Saturday, his picture was
splashed across the front pages of Britain's newspapers, and not
because of his skill on the field.
A High Court judge lifted a court order Friday that had
prevented the media from reporting allegations about Terry's
private life - a so-called "super injunction" which barred
publication that any order even existed.
The court order related to a story about the 29-year-old
Terry, who is married with two children, and his ties with another
woman whom the judge did not name.
After the injunction was lifted, it wasn't just the country's
famously racy tabloids that published page after page about the
football (soccer) star - some of Britain's more conservative
broadsheet newspapers followed the story as well for its long-term
impact on the country's strict media laws.
Ambi Sitham, a media lawyer, called High Court judge Michael
Tugendhat's decision "hugely significant," and said while those
with legitimate privacy concerns would continue to be protected,
people trying to escape scrutiny for other reasons won't find
relief in the courts.
"It's a big red flag for high-profile people, who are
increasingly using privacy law to keep sordid details out of the
press," she said.
In December, a similar injunction barred journalists in
Britain from publishing material about Tiger Woods, even blocking
the media from revealing the details of the order itself. Woods has
since confessed to marital infidelities, lost millions as
sponsorship deals evaporated, taken an unspecified amount of time
off from professional golf and disappeared from public view.
Terry, whose past bad boy antics have been frequently
chronicled by the press, never had the saintly reputation of Woods.
Still, he is one of the sport's highest-paid stars playing the
world's most popular game for one of the most renowned clubs -
Chelsea - in the English Premier League, the world's wealthiest.
Britain doesn't have a formal privacy law, but is a signatory
to the European Convention on Human Rights. That guarantees the
right to respect for privacy and family life, and this clause has
been used repeatedly by celebrities to fight media exposes.
The position of England captain is highly prestigious in
Britain - David Beckham was the team's previous leader. Terry had
been working on his image after a series of damaging incidents and
last year was named "Dad of the Year" by a condiments company.
The injunction was granted Jan. 22 after Terry learned that a
newspaper was about to publish a story about his private life.
Tugendhat, however, said Terry appeared more concerned about
the effect that publication of the allegations might have on his
public image rather than his private life, saying the "claim is
essentially a business matter."
Terry - who is identified as LNS in the judgment - has
several sponsorship deals on top of his reported weekly salary of
170,000 pounds ($275,000; ?197,000) with Chelsea.
"I have reached the view that it is likely that the nub of
LNS's complaint in this case is the protection of reputation, and
not of any other aspect of LNS's private life," the judgment says.
"The real basis for the concern of LNS is likely to be the impact
of any adverse publicity upon the business of earning sponsorship
and similar income."
The judge did say the woman in question was "a famous person"
but not from the sporting world - and not as famous as Terry.
British papers on Saturday reported that the woman was a model who
already had a son with one of Terry's former teammates, a player
who may also be chosen for England's World Cup team.
His team, Chelsea, has called the situation "a personal
matter" and said they would give Terry and his family "all the
support they need in dealing with it."
Much speculation Saturday focused on how the allegations
could affect Terry's position on the England team and its run at
the World Cup this summer in South Africa. Coach Fabio Capello has
instilled a strict disciplinary code within the squad, and could
pull the captaincy from Terry if he thought his off-field behavior
might affect the team.
"The daily headlines will continue to question his fitness to
lead. In Fleet Street parlance, this story has legs and will run
and run," sports columnist Henry Winter wrote in the Daily
Telegraph. "If it seems that Terry's conduct and continued
ownership of the captain's armband affects morale going into a
World Cup, then Capello has no choice. Terry should go."
Terry has played for Chelsea his entire career. The Blues
fended off an attempt by Manchester City to sign him last year by
giving him a pay rise that reportedly made him the highest-paid
player in the Premier League.
Appointed Chelsea captain in 2004, he has won two Premier
League titles, three FA Cups and two League Cups in the most
successful period in the club's history.
He was first choice in central defense for England at the
2004 European Championship and 2006 World Cup, after which he was
named national team captain when Beckham relinquished the role.
But allegations of off-field transgressions have followed him
throughout his career. He was fined by Chelsea after he and three
teammates drunkenly abused American guests at a hotel the day after
the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Terry has also been ejected from
nightclubs and newspapers have accused him of infidelities several
times.
But Terry has retained the England captaincy, even after the
country's failure to reach the 2008 European Championship, and
appeared in advertisements for Samsung and sportswear manufacturer
Umbro.
Despite speculation that he might hide out after all the bad
publicity, Terry started in his team's game Saturday. He was booed
by fans but scored the winning goal in Chelsea's 2-1 victory over
Burnley, keeping his team on top of the Premier League.
"He is a fantastic player," Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti
said after the game. "That is his private life. He is about work.
We don't have to say nothing because he is very professional."
Associated Press sports writer Stuart Condie contributed to
this report from London.
