Clarke Carlisle welcomes crackdown on referee abuse

Marco Giacomelli11 April 2012

Clarke Carlisle, chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association, today backed the Premier League's crackdown on the abuse of referees but warned that everyone must be treated the same under the new rules.

The top-flight clubs hope their initiative will stop the "unacceptable" criticism of match officials by players and managers. It will start next season and run alongside the Football Association's Respect campaign.

The move follows a number of high-profile incidents this season, culminating in Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson receiving a five-match touchline ban for his television outburst at referee Martin Atkinson.

Carlisle welcomes the campaign but emphasised the need for the rulings to be definitive so that nobody feels hard done-by.

"As long as the guidelines are clear we will support them," said the Burnley defender.

"They need to make sure there are no grey areas so that referees can apply them consistently and players know where they stand.

"The guidelines must be clear because it can be a very emotive issue if it is subjective and incidents appear differently to different people."

Carlisle said the PFA's annual meetings with the Referees' Association had shown there had been a drop in the number of incidents involving players, and claimed that when incidents did happen they were blown out of proportion.

He added: "The number of incidents where referees are accosted are becoming fewer and fewer. It is just that where incidents are highlighted they now receive massive, global attention."

But Carlisle said the crackdown was not a sign that the FA's campaign had been a disappointment.

"Respect has not failed at all," he said. "The Referees' Association themselves have agreed the number of incidents - and the scale of the incidents - is reducing. It is definitely not failing but we are always looking to improve the image of the game."

The League Managers' Association are expected to respond to the initiative next week but with the proviso that more resources are dedicated to referees to improve decision-making.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore explained the thinking behind the move.

He said: "We need to concentrate on the player and manager relationship with the referee this time, as every one of us knows that there have been elements of unacceptable behaviour."

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