Born in Liverpool, Rooney's boyhood team was always Everton F.C.; his love for his home town club was famously bore out when he wore a T-shirt reading "Once a blue, Always a blue". T-shirts aside, however, he would end up playing just two seasons with Everton before demanding, and then executing, a transfer.

Rooney was brought up in an urban area of eastern Liverpool called Croxteth, where he and his two brothers attended the local De La Salle Catholic School.

Although he has been under an intense media spotlight since first arriving on the scene in 2002, it was not until his performances at the Euro 2004 that he gained a reputation on the world stage, as he spearheaded the English attack, scoring four goals.

Wayne Rooney's career has been tainted with moments of ill-discipline. In September 2005, against Northern Ireland, Rooney launched an on-field outburst at former England captain David Beckham, but since then, the pair have played down the bust-up.

His ill-discipline led to his dismissal in the 0-0 draw with Villarreal during United's Champions League encounter in Spain. Rooney was sent off for dissent following his sarcastic applauding of the referee, Kim Milton Nielsen, after he was initially booked for what he felt was an unfair booking.

Rooney has pledged to keep his temper under control and both his club and international managers have defended him, citing his youth as the main reason for his behaviour. It is known that other teams and players are familiar with Rooney's disciplinary problems and sometimes use them against him, teasing him or provoking him. Since the 2004-05 season he has been trying to keep his temper in check, as shown by a drop in cards received in the 2005-06 season. In the quarter-final match with Portugal, Rooney was sent off after an incident during the 62nd minute of the match. He became only the third English player to be given a red card while playing a match in a World Cup Finals. Rooney was struggling to gain proper control of the ball as he was involved in a tangle with Ricardo Carvalho and Armando Petit, during which he appeared to stamp on Carvalho's groin. The incident occurred right in front of Argentinian referee Horacio Elizondo. As play was stopped, Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo, a fellow teammate of his at Manchester United, remonstrated with the referee. Rooney then pushed Ronaldo and was shown the red card for what was thought to be a combination of the incidents involving Carvalho and Ronaldo. However, on July 4, Elizondo told The Times that the red card was due to the stamp on Carvalho, and not the scuffle afterwards. He said "It was violent play and therefore he got a red card. People can say what they want (about Ronaldo) but this had absolutely no influence. For me it was a clear red card, so I didn't react to the Portuguese players."

After the match, the BBC pundit team, led by Gary Lineker, showed a clip of what they found interesting in light of Rooney's dismissal. Before the match, Rooney's Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo approached him from behind and aggressively placed his head close to Rooney before speaking directly into his ear . Rooney's reaction and the look on Ronaldo's face suggested that the act was far from playful. Following Rooney's dismissal, Ronaldo was seen winking at the Portuguese bench. Cristiano Ronaldo said in a post-match press conference that he had not urged the referee to take out a red card, but just pointed out that Rooney had committed a foul.

On July 3, Rooney released a statement saying, "I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano but am disappointed that he chose to get involved. I suppose I do, though, have to remember that on that particular occasion we were not team-mates." He also claimed that his actions were accidental. He also defended his own actions in the statement: "I want to say absolutely categorically that I did not intentionally put my foot down on Ricardo Carvalho. He slid in from behind me and unfortunately ended up in a positioning where my foot was inevitably going to end up as I kept my balance. That's all there was to it. When the referee produced the red card I was amazed - gobsmacked."

Wayne Rooney was investigated by FIFA's disciplinary committee after being sent off during England's World Cup quarter-final defeat against Portugal, banned for two competitive matches and fined 5,000 Swiss francs.

Rooney was sent off again for Manchester United in an Amsterdam Tournament game against FC Porto on August 4 for the alleged use of an elbow, and was subsequently handed a three-match ban by the English FA following their receipt of a 23-page report from referee Ruud Bossen explaining why he felt it was necessary to send Rooney off in the aforementioned game. This was viewed as surprising, as other players sent off in pre-season friendly matches were not so sanctioned, and Rooney wrote to the FA threatening to withdraw the FA's permission to use his image rights if the ban was not revoked - however the FA has no procedure to do so.

Though not related to in-field action, there were reports by British media that Rooney punched Blackburn's Michael Gray on September 2. The alleged incident that happened inside a Manchester restaurant was a result of suggestive comments by Gray towards Rooney's fiancee Coleen McLoughlin. Police were not informed about that incident.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Rooney)