PERHAPS the spud-faced nipper, as Private Eye refer to our Wayne, has some long-running dispute with Canon or Fujinon lenses? Why else hurl abuse at a TV camera?

Swearing at Hammers’ fans booing him might have offered a vague explanation – but a camera? From Sky? Source of his obscene wealth?

The FA’s reaction, though, smacks of pandering to the London-based-and-biased media.

As a result the FA could find they have not so much shot themselves in the foot as blown a leg off. If this is the first step in driving swearing from the game I am all for it but don’t hold your breath.

I will guarantee at least one player, in close-up, in HD3DTV, hurling obscenities at the ref and his assistants about some decision in pretty well any televised match.

Only an illiterate, myopic dyslexic would miss what was said, yet it is routinely ignored.

If officials react it is a red card so as they don’t report it obviously they don’t see it, leaving the FA free to act. Foul and abusive language to a match official is more serious than Rooney’s rant – ask any parks’ player with a five-week ban for a robust opinion on a ref’s decision.

So are we going to see the FA charging all players caught swearing on TV? If they do then foul-mouthed Wayne, perversely, will have done the game a favour. If they don’t ... well it will just look like petty vindictiveness because of who Rooney is and who he plays for.

Remember Rooney swearing at fans on camera after the draw with Algeria in last year’s World Cup? If the FA are so concerned why didn’t they make an example of him then?

Action, of course, would have meant losing him for two World Cup matches.

Meanwhile, anyone with a functioning brain cell would have spotted that the Cricket World Cup lasted what seemed several months too long.

Two brain cells would see the solution to increase the number of teams from 14 to 16 to give four groups of four rather than two cumbersome groups of seven.

Currently that would mean adding Scotland and, bizarrely, Afghanistan, spreading cricket’s gospel wider.

So what does the ICC do? Cut the numbers to ten snuffing out any interest beyond Test nations at a stroke. Brilliant.