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If Tiger Woods is reading this, he should probably stop right now.

Because as the latest chapter in the golf star’s public humiliation was marked with the extra whammy of an estimated multimillion dollar divorce settlement, Woods probably doesn’t need to be informed that there are a bunch of English soccer players who are getting away with the type, if perhaps not the number, of liaisons which sullied his previously fine name.

The American legal system, and the unshakeable constitutional right of free speech in the United States, meant that Woods had no place to hide once the media got hold of the salacious details of his multitude of indiscretions. Do the crime (figuratively speaking), do the time: the air-time, column inches and the accompanying social scrutiny.

Not so however, for a number of English soccer players, who are using a “draconian” legal loophole to cover up their murky deeds and stop them from being reported to the public.

Due to British and European law the soccer players and their legal representatives have been able to gain injunctions preventing the publication of reports of potentially scandalous behavior. As a result, stories in the national press about “another England footballer” winning an injunction to gag revelations about his private life have become a common sight, leaving the public to guess at the identity of the player and the exact nature of the banned story.

This issue came to the forefront earlier this year, when English national team captain John Terry gained an injunction preventing a newspaper from publishing a report that he had indulged in an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, mother to the infant child of Wayne Bridge, Terry’s former teammate at club side Chelsea.

The injunction only worked briefly, eventually being overturned on appeal when a judge deemed that Terry’s primary motivation for concealing the story was to protect his endorsement interests rather than his privacy.

In cases since then though, the players, and the lawyers, have gotten smarter.

The new English Premier League season is only two weeks old, but there have already been two cases of national team members gaining assistance from the courts to prevent publication of details they want kept secret.

“The reality is that in some cases footballers, who routinely exploit the media for commercial gain, are using the law to cover up their own lies and present a false image to the public,” said Rachel Welsh, an eminent British media lawyer, in an email to Yahoo! Sports. “An injunction preventing publication is a draconian measure and further limits the freedom of expression of the media.

“In the UK, public figures already have the chance to claim substantial damages if a media outlet is found to have breached their privacy or published false information which affects their reputation. This gives them even more protection. It is a situation that would be seen as quite unusual for Americans, as there is nothing like this fetter on free speech in the USA.”

American law provides media outlets constitutional protection on free speech and – provided a report does not contain falsity and actual malice – a public figure would have little chance of recourse.

In Europe however, public figures are guarded by privacy laws which dictate that the media must show that information is both correct and in the public interest.

“The significant concern that the media have is that when you are newsgathering, then information is going to be significantly more expensive,” said media lawyer Mark Stephens in an interview with the Daily Telegraph earlier this year. “The rich and powerful will use it to try and stop coverage and newsgathering about them.”

Even Perroncel, who despaired at the way the media portrayed her as a scarlet woman – and has always denied any affair with Terry – came out in support of the media’s rights.

“There are some people who enjoy the limelight, and they let the press have really intimate information, like weddings, baptisms and so on,” Perroncel told the Daily Mail. “So why should these people then be allowed to cherry pick what the newspapers write about them?

“I know how expensive it is to take out an injunction, and it’s not fair that footballers should be allowed to protect themselves because of their money.”

Stories of infidelity that were not prevented by an injunction have included England stars Ashley Cole and Peter Crouch, all adding to a public backlash against the team. Increasingly, the English public is coming to regard its soccer stars as an overpaid, underperforming bunch who show little regard for normal boundaries of decency.

England is not falling out of love with its national game but has lost its respect for many of the men who play it.