Jack Wilshere is "unprofessional" to smoke, says former England rugby star Kyran Bracken

Former England rugby star Kyran Bracken has criticised Jack Wilshere and other sportsmen who smoke, labelling them as “unprofessional”.

Arsenal midfielder Wilshere has been photographed smoking several times in the last year, while other England footballers such as Ashley Cole are also known to have smoked.

Speaking on National No Smoking Day, Bracken said he used to notice team-mates that smoked struggling with fitness during his 10-year spell with England rugby.

“From a sportsman’s point of view smoking is not going to help,” Bracken told Sky Sports.

“When I played for England for 10 years, every team I played in there were one or two who smoked and you could tell when they were doing a fitness test that they struggled.

“It's not very professional and the image it gives makes people think it’s cool to smoke. They think ‘oh, if Ashley Cole or Jack Wilshere is smoking then I might smoke – it’s a trendy, hip thing'.

“I thought that the ban on smoking indoors would stamp it out but it’s proving still quite difficult to do that.”

Wilshere, who has not played for Arsenal since November because of injury, was recently snapped smoking from a shisha pipe – forcing manager Arsene Wenger to come out in his defence.

Wenger said last month: “Everywhere you go people make photos, but one second of your life does not define who you are.

“It would be wrong to give him that kind of reputation because he is a serious player and he works very hard."