FOOTBALLERS and Association chiefs have been urged by a Swindon women’s refuge chief to set a better example to youngsters.

It came as new figures obtained by the Swindon Advertiser showed more than 1,029 domestic abuse reports were made to Wiltshire Police over the period of last year’s World Cup – the highest figure of any of the three most recent tournaments.

In total, 799 were logged by the force as crimes, up from 275 during the 2014 World Cup and 327 in the tournament four years earlier.

Olwen Kelly, director of Swindon Women’s Aid, said: “I think the Football Association and others do have to take responsibility in educating men. Football is still a predominantly a male game. I think they do have some responsibility to promote what is a good model and it don’ts include going out, getting drunk, coming back to hotel rooms and sharing women.”

She pointed to the colourful private lives of well-known footballers like Wayne Rooney, who has admitted to visiting prostitutes while his partner Coleen was pregnant with firstborn Kai. “What are the consequences of his actions? There’s nothing really,” she added.

The Swindon Women’s Aid chief said the refuge often heard more reports of abuse around the time of major tournaments like the World Cup, as adrenaline and all day drinking combined to create a dangerous cocktail.

“There will be people who are off work, enjoying the game. People will be drinking all day,” she said. "I don’t want people to think domestic abuse is a result of alcohol. That’s too easy. However, if you have people drinking all day that can exaggerate the abuse. If you’re already in an abusive relationship and you add this into the mix, that will just make things a lot worse.”

Last year, police forces around the country ran social media campaigns warning that domestic abuse would not be tolerated during or even after the World Cup.

And, while abuse charities welcomed the added exposure, said it was important the issue was not forgotten when the teams flew home from Russia. Sandra Horley, chief executive at Refuge, told the BBC: “Women experience violence and abuse at the hands of their partners every day, not just when football is on TV.”

In Wiltshire, officers said that although domestic abuse reports had risen year on year since the 2010 World Cup, they had not seen a spike during the tournament itself.

Det Insp Simon Childe said: “However, it is concerning that domestic violence and abuse continues to be on the increase, both in Wiltshire and throughout the UK nationally.

“Part of that is certainly down to increased awareness and reporting of these types of incidents and we would always encourage people to report issues to us.

“We hope the message is getting out there – if you are either a victim of domestic abuse or you have concerns about a friend or a member of your family, please speak to police. There is support out there and we can help you, we just need you to tell someone.”