Flintoff rails against 'violent' Britain

Andrew Flintoff believes that compulsory sport in schools would help to improve the state of modern Britain, after admitting that, as a parent, the prospect of one day letting his daughter go out at night in the country's big cities fills him with dread.

In a wide-ranging interview with GQ magazine, Flintoff recalled how his involvement in age-group cricket "kept him out of trouble" as a teenager, but feared that Britain's modern youth didn't have the same willingness or opportunity to get involved in sporting activities.

"I think rap music has a lot to do with it," said Flintoff. "It makes it sound cool not to conform, and to be violent. That's why I think sport plays such an important role. It tackles everything from child obesity to drug abuse and binge drinking. A lot of kids don't get the chance to play sport. Our reputation abroad is getting worse, we are seen as a violent country now."

Flintoff, 31, is now the father of three young children, including a four-year-old daughter, Holly. "I see Manchester on a Friday night and I would be horrified seeing my daughter going to the bars. There are places I wouldn't go now. You see these reports of stabbings, bottlings, shootings, and you think: "What is happening to this country?"

When asked by the interviewer, Piers Morgan - a former editor of the tabloid newspaper The Mirror - whether immigration in Britain had failed, Flintoff gave a candid reply.

"I have no problems with a multicultural society, I think that it is to the benefit of the country," he said. "But you have to be careful to what levels you take it to. It annoys me when I phone a hotel receptionist in my own country and they don't understand what I am saying because they don't speak English. I think that's wrong, it's nothing to do with being politically correct or incorrect, it's just not right."