Bad boys - and just occasionally the odd girl - are often held in higher esteem than those who play the game fairly, keep their noses clean off the field and are generally all round good eggs.

Going back into history there have been fistfuls of personalities across the whole spectrum of sports, from football and tennis through to cricket, boxing and athletics, who have broken or bent the rules. They have brought their games into disrepute both away from the field and in the theatre of competition, yet they are slapped warmly on the back by the fans and merely slapped on the wrist - if that - by the authorities.

Whether it is drugs, drinking, abusive behaviour or sheer boorishness, those who misbehave are all too frequently revered rather than reviled.

I could cite many examples, but you know who they are. However, a couple of high profile names who have featured prominently on the front pages rather than the back recently have, in my estimation, gone beyond the pale in dragging sport into the gutter.

The cases of two England stars, cricketer Ben Stokes and rugby's Danny Cipriani, both in the dock following incidents outside nightclubs, even pushed Brexit into the background for a day or two.

As it happened, Stokes was found not guilty of affray in Bristol after a Test match last year while Cipriani pleaded guilty to an assault on a policewoman while assisting arrest on a rugby trip in Jersey.

Stokes walked free after a case in which his behavour was claimed to be in defence of a gay couple who allegedly had been subjected to homophobic taunts.

Durham all rounder Stokes said in a statement, read to Bristol Crown Court, that he became involved in a violent street fight to stop his "gay friends" from being beaten up.

The 27-year-old maintained he only remained involved in the brawl, during which he allegedly knocked two men unconscious, because he believed he and others were in serious peril.

Stokes was cleared, despite video evidence which clearly showed him involved in a unsavoury episode of violence. Some legal experts have said the Crown Prosecution Service erred in bringing the charge of  affray rather than assault.

The case has led to several commentators, among them the Daily Mail's excellent Stephen Glover, admitting to being baffled by the affair, and its outcome. Me too.

I echo Glover's words. "The fact remains that, although a very violent public fight took place in which Stokes and others were involved, no-one has been held culpable, far less found guilty of a crime," he said. "This strikes me as odd.

"In particular, there are several unanswered questions. Some concern a number of what appear to be woeful prosecution errors.

"Others have to do with the mystifying inconsistencies of the cricket authorities, who embraced Stokes with unseemly haste [he was immediately re-instated to the England team against India in Nottingham] following his acquittal.

"And while the cricketer's exoneration cannot be overemphasised, I would still argue that his general behaviour - not least his spectacular drinking - has brought the game of cricket into disrepute."

Stokes may have beaten the affray rap but his behaviour that night has not impressed.

Although he denied he was drunk, he had by his own account consumed two or three pints of lager and five or six vodka and lemonades during the hours before the fight, as well as an unspecified number of Jagerbombs inside the Mbargo nightclub. 

Excessive drinking was also a major factor in the case of 30-year-old fly half Cipriani. He was fined £2,000 ($2,500/€2,200) and ordered to pay compensation to a  female police officer who was left with bruises and abrasions. 

His club, Gloucester, while initially declaring their support and condemning the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for wanting to discipline him - again - have also fined him.

He now awaits final judgement from Twickenham, though the RFU have made it clear they will not prevent England's coach Eddie Jones from picking him for the Autumn Tests if he wishes.

But the omens for Cipriani, a serial miscreant whose usually alcohol-fuelled misdeeds date back tom 2008, are not good as Jones is famously ill-disposed towards such behaviour. And the former England coach Sir Clive Woodward believes Cipriani should never wear an England shirt again. "Enough is enough," he says.

"Does booze culture give us the athletes we deserve?" asked one newspaper headline last week. Well, I suppose it makes a change from drugs.

But as in the areas of drug abuse in sport, the public are a forgiving lot. So, more often than not, are the authorities. Ask Justin Gatlin.

Talking of forgiveness, I was watching the former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury in Belfast last weekend where he won only his second comeback fight to earn an early crack at the World Boxing Council champion Deontray Wilder.

If you recall, Fury's lengthy absence from the ring was partially the result of a two year ban, imposed retrospectively, for drug abuse. But now the irrepressible "Gypsy Giant" is back as large as life and as controversially lippy as ever.

A few years back I had a run-in with him over his sewer-like language at a at a public function, an episode which cost him a £15,000 ($19,000/€17,000) fine from the British Boxing Board of Control. He promised that on his much-publicised return he would curb his tongue and until Saturday (August 18) night seemed to have done so.

Actually, I now find the odd industrial expletive acceptable in some televised sporting situations and felt there was no reason for BT Sport to apologise when Fury let slip a couple in a post-fight interview.

You can hear much worse in drama and comedy panel shows even before the watershed on the box these days. So I smiled to hear Fury give thanks "to the Lord Jesus Christ" for his points victory over opponent Francesco Pianeta before promptly labelling Anthony Joshua, the 2012 Olympic champion and now the holder of Fury's three confiscated belts, a "s**thouse".

He then told the onlooking Wilder: "I'm going to knock you the f*** out."

It reminded me of another occasion in Belfast a few years back when I was asked by my newspaper if I could interview the volatile, fire-breathing cleric, the late Rev Ian Paisley.

I tracked him down to a church hall in the suburbs where he was giving a typical hell-and-damnation sermon. When I gingerly approached to ask if I might speak to him he bellowed: "Can't you see I'm on God's business? Now f*** off!"

The Rev obviously missed his vocation. He should have been a sportsman.