A 27-YEAR-OLD man has a few beers on a Sunday afternoon at a bar.

There's nothing wrong or illegal about that. At 27, you've got the drinking age covered, consumption was moderate and beer is a legal product.

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But welcome to the world of Steven May, where such innocent actions in his own time are considered unacceptable by his employer.

Footballers regularly bemoan their fishbowl lives, and while it was a fishbowl moment which drew attention to May's actions when a questionable member of the public took a photo of May with beer in hand, it was his football club's adverse reaction which made this a story.

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Melbourne Football Club said May, considered responsible and mature enough by his former club to have been installed as captain for two years, made a "poor decision on the weekend to go to a pub". 

"It's not a good look for him and not in line with … the standards we're trying to set as a footy club," Demons footy boss Josh Mahoney said. 

The Demons said there was a drinking ban on players who were recovering from injury. May arrived at Melbourne late last year in questionable physical condition and suffered a groin complaint in round two. He has also long-endured other "personal issues".

Alcohol should never be used as a coping tool, and there's no suggestion May was doing that.

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In the club's eyes, May drinking at a Richmond bar was a bad look given his poor start to life as a Demon after eight years with Gold Coast.

I didn’t view it that way. In my eyes, the Demons' stance on May is control gone mad. 

The bad look in my eyes was a football club telling an employee that he can't have a legal and responsible outlet to his clearly stressful life.