Terry backs campaign to show referees respect
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Terry backs Premier League campaign to show referees respect
Top-flight clubs have flung their support behind a Premier League initiative which will place more responsibility on club captains to control their team-mates and respect referees in a bid to curb the ugly scenes which have marred some high-profile games in recent seasons.
The Get On With The Game campaign, a response to the Football Association's recently launched Respect scheme, is supported by all 20 clubs and will see captains and senior coaching staff present at the exchange of the team sheets in advance of every league fixture in a bid to open another line of communication with referees.
Officials will also seek the captains' cooperation on the pitch at flashpoints in matches, while television monitors are to be removed from technical areas in a bid to avoid overt dissent over decisions.
The three major broadcasters - BSkyB, Setanta and the BBC - will also use the former referees Dermot Gallagher and Paul Durkin to offer insights into key decisions in an attempt to avoid any confusion, with the Premier League's chief executive Richard Scudamore insistent that there is a united desire to improve standards of behaviour in the most high-profile league in world football.
"I have been in this job 10 years now and I sense a mood for something to happen," said Scudamore. "If we had mentioned this three years ago I think the reaction would have been different. Now everyone - club chairmen, managers, players, officials, fans, media - are all saying we saw things last season that overstepped the mark."
The initiative was welcomed by players present at a glitzy launch staged in three venues simultaneously nationwide yesterday. John Terry, whose Chelsea side were sanctioned for failing to control their players at Manchester United and Derby last season, pledged his support for a scheme that was highlighted nationwide by Ashley Cole's ill-timed dissent against the referee Mike Riley during the 4-4 draw with Tottenham at White Hart Lane earlier this year.
"It's unfair to pick one person or one club out because we've all committed it," said Terry. "I could show you 100 videos of different players and different clubs committing offences. We've all done it. That's in the past and we move on trying to make it better. The will's there, definitely, to improve. This is a step in the right direction because the only way we were going to move forward was by taking some responsibility.
"We still need the tackles flying in and the high tempo in games, to let games flow, and the referees also have a responsibility as well. But the important thing is there is now some consistency. There are now rules. Last year, was there or wasn't there a rule where you couldn't surround the referee? I couldn't tell you. Now there's a rule. You can't. It's the captain who has that responsibility to go and speak to the referee. The others guys are going to get booked. Now we all know that, there's some consistency - from the referees' association, from the panel, from the players."
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But are the referees up to the job?
Can they stop making wrong decisions?
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Its not actually their fault, even referees make mistakes sometimes. After all, they are human. It actually all boils down to the money. These days winning the EPL or the champions league brings in millons of dollars to players in terms of bonus, I can't prove this but i do think that these days players are more motivated to play for money than their love of the game. Look at players like Ronaldo and Robinho, willing to switch clubs simply because another club pays them better.
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some referees ought to be shot sometimes
but to err is human...
n nowadays players really like to bully referee, dunno why...