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It's always party time in Wayne's world...

No wonder Wayne Rooney has been playing away from home; it's almost part of the game now, writes Una Mullally

Wayne Rooney were at the centre of a media storm last week

The wife: Colleen Rooney

The wannabe Wag: Julie Thompson

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Here's a little conundrum for you. Why do young, rich footballers with loads of spare time have sex with women who are willing to have sex with them? Because they can. Complex, no? Well, maybe. Last Sunday we awoke Groundhog Day-like to the revelation that a Premier League footballer had cheated on his partner. This time it was Wayne Rooney. His partner is the neo-English Rose Coleen McLoughlin. And there was a prostitute called Jennifer Thompson. Well, two prostitutes, actually, but who's counting?

What we know now is that the golden calf of English soccer had at least seven sexual encounters with a 21-year-old prostitute over a four-month period when his wife was pregnant with their son Kai. Rooney paid her £1,200 a go, sometimes on the spot, on one occasion leaving the money for her in an envelope marked 'Jenny' at his friend's designer clothes shop in Manchester. He met her at the 235 Casino, a favoured haunt of United players, and she subsequently accompanied him to nightclubs, once to a team dinner at Rio Ferdinand's restaurant (where team mate Michael Owen apparently looked at them "with disgust") and often to the Lowry Hotel in Salford, where Rooney once paid £200 for some Marlboro Lights.

The fallout is massive. Rooney is a player who hasn't been able to find his form of late. England manager Fabio Capello has already disciplined John Terry by stripping him of his captaincy after he allegedly had it off with his teammate Wayne Bridge's partner, and as a devout Cath-olic, Capello will be none too pleased with his key striker's behaviour. Rooney's parents-in-law have told him never to set foot in their house again. Coleen isn't speaking to him. And he faces endless ridicule from opposition fans. Coleen isn't seen as a Wag, like partners of other footballers. She has been with Rooney since they were teenagers, and has stood by him through his previous dalliances with prostitutes (he infamously slept with a grandmother nicknamed 'Old Slapper' at a seedy northern brothel) and has become a multi-millionaire in her own right through product endorsements, TV presenting and writing magazine columns. She could, very easily, step away, like Cheryl Cole did from Ashley Cole as he racked up infidelities this year.

Alex Ferguson refused to address the issue on Friday, but he will one day have to contemplate the behaviour of his players. Manchester United is infamous for its Christmas parties, namely in 2007, when Rio Ferdinand collected £100,000 from players for a bash where wives and girlfriends were banned and replaced with 100 individually selected young women who accompanied them to a nightclub via the obligatory visit to a nude lap dancing club.

Prior to that party there were allegations printed in the Sun that Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson had an orgy with five prostitutes. In contrast, Ferguson is very much in favour of footballers marrying early, believing it creates a sense of stability in a tumultuous lifestyle.

As 2010 reinforces itself as The Year Of The Cheat (Tiger Woods, Ronan Keating, David Letterman, Jesse James – aka Sandra Bullock's other half – and Mark Owen) it does appear that English footballers display a disproportionate amount of infidelity. And as the red tops rub their hands with glee at the prospect of more and more sordid – or as they have it, 'juicy' – details emerging from Rooney playing away, there's also some head scratching to be done. Why? What is it about the culture of the league that seems to foster such behaviour?

Former Spurs player Rohan Ricketts wrote a fascinating piece last week for the website Sabotage Times revealing the sexual indiscretions of footballers: "I soon discovered that there's a sense of entitlement that comes with the money and fame of being a footballer which makes you think you can do anything you like and no one can hurt you," he said, before describing a number of sordid incidents featuring anonymous English internationals. Ricketts also characterised women chasing footballers as "vultures", an interesting description which echoes the press sentiment that demonises and demeans women who try to attract the attention of rich, thick footballers. The Daily Telegraph, for example, described Thompson as "a fame-hungry wannabe Wag". There is almost an entire industry of women who strive for Wagdom, who pay staff in nightclubs to point out footballers, who offer sexual favours and group sex in re­turn for being seen on the arm of some useless midfielder.

Being a Wag offers a lifestyle of shopping, holidays in Dubai, giant mock Tudor houses and a life free of work. Of course, such a dream is dependent on footballers guiding them to it. Poor Wayne Rooney. With a knocked-up wife, a few free evenings, willing conspirators and a prostitute at a loose end, how could he not help himself?