Rebellious Vinnie "Axe" Jones: How the scandalous football star became a movie star

We all know the bully Vinnie Jones well as an actor, especially beloved by the cult director Guy Ritchie. But not everyone knows that before starting a successful career in cinema, Vinnie was no less a successful football player.

However, even then he was in his repertoire, as he brawled, fought and abused alcohol.

Looking at the impressive figure of Jones, it is difficult to imagine that as a child he was a short, thin boy. Vinnie dreamed of becoming a professional footballer and even studied at the Watford football academy. But if he could still play in children's teams, then his physical characteristics were not suitable for adult football.

At the Watford club, Jones was rejected, and then he was refused one by one by all the professional clubs in England to whom he offered his services.

A streak of failures knocked Vinnie out of the rut and he decided to quit the sport. The guy worked on construction sites, as a security guard in a supermarket and even tried to volunteer for the war when the conflict between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands began.

But football never let Jones go and in 1984 he was invited to the Wildstone club, where he began his turbulent sports career. As part of this team, Vinnie won several amateur matches and even the FA Cup. The next club of the young athlete was the Swedish Holmsund. The Scandinavian footballer liked it.

Jones had problems with alcohol even at the beginning of his career. Vini, who had grown from a short, thin teenager into a 190-centimeter bully, got drunk like a shoemaker and provoked fights, from which he almost always emerged victorious. He did not change himself on the field either — his style of play was too tough even for the 80s, when they did not like to stand on ceremony in football.

Good players, even with bad habits, are always worth their weight in gold, and in 1986 Jones was called home to play for Wimbledon. Vinnie really liked this club, as his teammates led a lifestyle close to him. Almost all the players were simple guys "from the outskirts" and the lack of professionalism was more than compensated by a tough game.

Journalists dubbed the club a "gang of psychos" and Vinnie was the most frostbitten of all the players.

This is how Jones recalled his years at Wimbledon. He not only made ruthless tackles, but also openly kicked opponents, and often already defeated. The ugliest case in his football career was the case of Paul Gascoigne, whom Vinnie grabbed by the genitals during a match.

Vinnie, who played in the 80s and 90s, miraculously managed to avoid disqualification, which would have been inevitable for him today. In 1988, when Wimbledon won the FA Cup, the press wrote that to give the cup to a club where such scoundrels as Jones play is to disgrace British football.

But even in the hooligan "Wimbledon" they got tired of Jones' antics and in 1989 they said goodbye to him. After that, Vinnie played a little for Leeds, Sheffield and Chelsea, until his hometown club came to their senses and called the troublemaker back. After that, the favorite of journalists spent 6 more very productive years at Wimbledon.

In the team, Jones was nicknamed "Axe" for his cool temper and he justified his nickname not only on the field, but also in life. The footballer had a lot of offenses, ranging from drunk driving and ending with a fight on the street. As in sports, Vinnie was lucky in life — he always walked on the very edge, getting off with fines and correctional labor.

During this period of his life, Jones starred in a film for the first time, though in a documentary. With several other bonecrackers like him, Vinnie told the camera how to cripple rivals and mock the judges. It is not known how much the scandalous footballer received for filming, but it is known for sure that the Football Association fined him 20 thousand euros for participating in the film.

By the end of the 90s, Jones had exhausted himself as an athlete and was no longer in demand. It is likely that he was waiting for a bouncer's place in a bar and a gradual decline from alcohol, but Guy Ritchie noticed the charismatic football player. The director saw Vinnie in one of the football programs and immediately realized that this was the type he needed for the film.

The athlete was invited to the audition, where he went straight from the police station, where he found himself after another brawl. Vinnie approached Richie and performed his first role in the movie "Cards, money, two barrels". The picture was low-budget and, like many other arthouse films, the fate of a little-known "masterpiece" for the elite had to await it.

But it turned out quite differently — the film became a cult and glorified both the director and the actors who played key roles. Vinnie didn't have to try too hard — his racketeer hero Big Chris speaks his language and behaves the same way as Jones himself.

After the success of the first picture, there were shootings in "Big Kush", "Hijack in 60 seconds" and "Euro Tour". Many believe that the most significant picture in the actor's career, at the moment, is the film "Bonecrusher". In it, Jones plays a football player who finds himself behind bars.

To date, Vinnie Jones has starred in more than fifty feature films and TV series. Somewhere his hero is not even secondary, but just appears for a few minutes, but this already adds a special poignancy to the film. The former bully athlete is rich and famous all over the world, but at the same time the longing for football does not leave him.

Jones often says in interviews that he is happy with his career in cinema, but it cannot replace football for him. The actor is sure that if he was now offered to return to the big sport as a player or coach, he would give up everything and go back to the field.