But keen television viewers may recognise the actor from the series Footballers Wives, in which he played a footballer, and Dream Team, in which he played ... er ... a footballer again.

Perhaps fearful of being typecast, Mr Venice has been off trying different roles in Hollywood. He pops up in The Bourne Ultimatum as a spy and will appear as a bodyguard in the next Batman movie.

But just when he thought he had escaped football for good, one organisation has dragged him back kicking, if not screaming on to the pitch.

Mr Venice was among the participants in last week’s National Association of Head Teachers’ celebrity football match.

His team-mates included Lil’ Chris, the teen who appeared in the second series of Channel 4‘s Rock School, and Jimmy Constable, the pop singer who was in the (unfortunately named) boy band 911.

Sneering types might question how high such figures rank on the celebrity scale and they were the biggest names on the teams.

But we’ll have no such cynicism here. The event was designed to raise the profile of School Aid, a campaign by headteachers and the Christian charity World Aid to raise more than pound;500,000 to help children complete their education in the developing world. So three cheers for all involved, especially Mr Venice.

* www.schoolaid.tv