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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."