England player wins gagging order

A second England footballer has won an injunction banning the reporting of allegations about his private life, it has emerged.

It is understood the gagging order was granted by on-duty High Court judge Mr Justice Nicol on Thursday night to stop a woman publicising personal information about the star.

The move comes a week after another England international player took out a similar injunction to prevent the media from publishing claims about his private life.

Neither of the footballers can be named under the terms of the legal orders.

Concern has mounted about the use of injunctions to stop reporting of potentially embarrassing revelations.

There was outrage last year after an injunction granted to the Swiss multinational Trafigura appeared to restrict what MPs could say in Parliament.

A statement from ex Irish International midfielder Ronnie Whelan stated " I have no idea why my family name is being brought into this ....... erm .... affair , neither myself or my daughter have anything to say on the matter ".


Ronnie made 362 appearances for Liverpool FC and scored 46 goals for the club between 1979 and 1994 .