Screen test for Jones the voice

Stephen Brenkley reveals that the hard man of Wimbledon is craving a film career

IF you allow your imagination free rein it is possible to see in Vinny Jones a combination of Mel Gibson and Clint Eastwood. True, it may have to be Gibson as he appeared in Braveheart, playing the uncompromising warrior William Wallace, and Eastwood in one of his meaner cowboy-with- no-name guises, but the elements are there.

Jones, the Wimbledon and Wales midfield player, has the necessary blend: gauntness of features, a resolute spirit, a refusal to be cowed by authority and, just occasionally, a twinkle in the eyes which betrays a gentler core, though he has never taken to the pitch with his face daubed in blue warpaint.

The similarities to Hollywood's two men of the moment - Gibson's picture about the Scottish freedom fighter having swept to triumph in the Oscars and Eastwood, at the age of 65, having swept a 30-year-old TV presenter, Dina Ruiz, up the aisle - only occurred when Vinny divulged his post- football ambitions.

"I would love to star in a really big film," he said. "I know I could do it. I like being on the box, it doesn't worry me at all and I think the secret would be just to be myself. In five or six years, when I've finished playing, nothing would suit me more."

Jones, 31, expressed his desire while discussing a more imminent speaking role at a conference on sport, organised by the Council of Europe in The Hague this week. Jones has been invited to participate together with other luminaries such as President Mandela, Damon Hill (both of whom will address the assembly over a satellite link) and the Dutch footballer Ruud Gullit.

Jones, the former hod carrier, has begun to harbour hopes of the silver screen (and perhaps, given his recently acquired status as a Welshman in footballing terms, he may seek advice from Sir Anthony Hopkins) since his success as a public speaker to the most unlikely audiences. Last year he was a wow both at the Oxford Union debating society on VE Day and later at Eton. Despite prior misgivings both university and college were delighted with his contribution. Vinny told the former: "We're here because people done what they done 50 years ago."

But whatever syntactical shortcomings he might possess (not as abundant, unkind souls might suggest, as his midfield defects) he has spotted the ingredient essential to convincing oration and probably to persuasive acting: be yourself and be true to yourself. "I never make the mistake of talking about something I know nothing about," he said. "I stick to what I'm experienced in. I think that's why I've been OK on the television because I don't try to do what some footballers do, be a bit fancy and get all mixed up. I get nervous but not worried."

He has long since worked out the words of wisdom with which he will bless The Hague conference and the television debate after it ("I don't want to go into them particularly because I'm not one for dress rehearsals") and they will not all necessarily be about football. is quick to emphasise that he also knows about real life. "I left school early, my parents split up, I went abroad to Sweden when I was 19, and that wasn't particularly easy. I was two or three weeks off my 22nd birthday when I made my League debut. My main footballing dreams now are with Wales. They've given me a big boost."

The conference, the second of its kind after an inaugural event in Portugal last year, intends to examine sporting issues on which Vinny may well be able to offer an enlightening view, such as violence and over-competitiveness. He has been sent off 10 times in his career though sometimes his forbidding looks - the Eastwood-Gibson combination - may have made him an easy refereeing target. His brushes with authority, however, are not yet tempting him to seek different pastures.

"I know I've got to plan for the future and I think I'd be good on screen but I intend to be playing for another five, six or seven years," he explained. "Players are much fitter, they look after themselves better. It's not steak and chips and a couple of pints these days."

Hollywood, or at least EastEnders, will simply have to wait.