Vinnie Jones: from Football Fields to Online Casinos
Vinnie Jones: From Modest Childhood to Passion for Football
Football fans and moviegoers probably know him well. Vinnie Jones is the English bad boy who became a professional soccer player, Hollywood star, and online casinos dealer. Ready to discover the amazing journey of the Wimbledon Crazy Gang leader? Let’s go with GAMRFIRST.
Vincent Peter Jones was born on January 5, 1965, in Bedmond, a small town in Hertfordshire, located a few dozen kilometers northwest of London. From a modest family, young Winnie grew up in a loving environment, between a mother, a housewife, and a father, a forest ranger who loved hunting and fishing. Early in life, the boy discovered football fields and dreamed, like all his friends, of playing for the legendary Watford club.
Unfortunately, at the age of 13, Vinnie's world fell apart. His parents divorced, and the teenager became increasingly angry. A behavior he would maintain throughout his soccer career.
Vinnie Jones: A Footballer with a Sulfurous Reputation
Vinnie Jones's First Steps Into Professional Soccer
At the age of 19, Vinnie Jones signed his first semi-pro contract with the Wealdstone club. But the salary was meager, and the young man had to continue working as a brick carrier on construction sites.
In 1986, at the age of 21, he was recruited by the Wimbledon club, which offered him his first professional contract. It was a real turning point in his career and the beginning of his reputation as the bad boy of English football. The beginnings were promising. Vinnie even scored a goal against the great Manchester United in his second match. The rest would make football history.
Vinnie Jones, Leader of the Crazy Gang
It was not for his football playing skills that Vinnie Jones would go down in history. The public would remember above all his ultra-violent playing style and his lack of fair play on the field. Very quickly, he became the leader of the team that the press called the Crazy Gang. Dangerous tackles, elbow blows, insults and provocations, the group, trained by Bobby Gould, terrorized the English league. Paul Gascoigne himself fell victim to them in 1988, during a match between Newcastle and Wimbledon. Yet, this strategy worked, and in 1989, the Crazy Gang won the FA Cup final against Liverpool 1-0. It would be the first and only trophy in the club's history.
"Vinnie the Butcher," as the press called him from then on, signed with Leeds and became second-division champion the same year. In 1991, he was recruited by Sheffield United, where his strategy remained the same: a violent playing style, where almost anything was allowed. Besides, Vinnie received the fastest yellow card in history that year... only 3 seconds after kickoff. Throughout his career, he accumulated no less than 104 warnings in total and was sent off the field twelve times.
The Scandal of the Soccer’s Hard Men
In October 1992, a video caused a stir on the other side of the Channel. Vinnie Jones spent more than an hour promoting violent actions on the field, explaining how to intimidate his opponents. The scandal erupted, and the condemnation was unanimous. Vinnie, a newly signed player for Wimbledon again after two years with Chelsea, was removed from the team. On the other hand, the English Football Federation fined the player £20,000 and suspended him for six months. The penalty seemed severe. However, the public delighted in Jones's speech. In a matter of weeks, the tape climbed to second place among the best sports video sales that year.
Finally, Vinnie hung up his cleats in 1998, as England tried to rid itself of dirty playing and hooligans. Another life began for the Bedmond native.
Good to know: learn more about Vinnie Jones's life
In 1998, the legendary Wimbledon player published his autobiography, entitled "Confessions of a Bad Boy." He notably recounts his childhood broken by his parents' divorce, his life as a football player, and his love for his wife.
Vinnie Jones: Between Success on the Big Screen and Old Demons
A Successful Transition to the Movie Industry
With his soccer career just ended, Vinnie Jones discovered movie sets. Within a few years, he became a recognized supporting actor in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Vinnie Jones has a style and presence. His bad boy personality caught Guy Ritchie's eye, who offered him a tailor-made starring role in 1998's "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels". The film was a hit, and Vinnie won the British Best Newcomer Actor Award that year.
Vinnie Jones and Guy Ritchie continued their collaboration two years later with Snatch, a film starring Brad Pitt. In this gangster role, Vinnie showcased all his talent and achieved great success with the public.
Later on, the former bad boy acted in numerous films such as Gone in 60 Seconds with Nicolas Cage in 2000, Mean Machine in 2001, X-Men in 2006, and more recently, Bulletproof, released in 2022. In total, since the end of his soccer career, Vinnie Jones has acted in more than 100 films and series. A great transformation!
In recent years, Vinnie Jones has appeared on television shows such as X-Factor or Big Brother.
A Turbulent Private Life
With his playing career over, Vinnie Jones had to face his old demons again. He was repeatedly convicted of drunken driving and fell into severe depression. He even admitted to attempting suicide before changing his mind at the last minute, saved by his dog and his wife, Tania. It was precisely for her that Vinnie Jones decided to redeem himself. Despite his partner's death in 2019, Vinnie perseveres and settles into a cottage, far from the city, to enjoy a peaceful life. In his late fifties, Vinnie Jones decided to embark on his third life.
Vinnie Jones: Online Casinos Dealer
In March 2022, Vinnie Jones signed a partnership with the online game developer Real Dealer Studios. The former soccer player and actor now plays the role of dealer during live games. His role: entertaining traditional tabletop games like poker, roulette, and Blackjack. He ensures the smooth running of the games, distributes the cards, and collects the bets, charged with giving and confirming the results.
Carefully crafted in terms of graphics, with excellent image quality and smooth streaming, live games like Vinnie Jones Blackjack, available on GAMRFIRST, offer players an identical experience to that of physical casinos.
That's quite a journey! After a contested but remarkable career in football, the leader of the Crazy Gang bewitched the movie world. And just when we thought he was far from the spotlight, Vinnie Jones surprised us again with an unexpected transformation in the world of online casinos. So, what will be the next stage in Vinnie Jones's life? Let's place our bets.