Totally agree with Platini on this one. There is nothing worse than players running the length of the pitch to have a pop at the ref if they don't agree with a decision. Personally I think refs should just give out a straight red to any player that does , that would soon put a stop to it. John Terry is one of the worst offenders in doing this and may cost him the England captaincy if he ain't careful as Capello won't put up with any c***p!

Footballers eh? It's like they never grow up ffs!!! Just because they earn vast amounts of money and get recognised pretty much wherever they go does not give them the right to throw a tantrum when things don't go there way...sometimes I wish their mother's would send them to their rooms and ground them for a week lol They are not above everyone else and are not too famous to show respect to officials or anybody for that matter...my 11 yr old does karate and she can get he licence revoked if she shows lack of respect to a school teacher, her sensai or an official in a competition. More sanctions should be put in place for the players who show dissent what is happening now does not work and/or is not implemented during a match.

Totally agree with ya. Maybe you should get your 11 year old to kick some of these over pampered so called professional footballers into shape

I agree fully on both accounts,even back in my days playing football when tackles were tackles,and the hardman on the pitch physically showed his pressence to you within the first two minutes,and if you were kicked up in the air you just got up got on with them game and made sure that offending player got one back twice as hard........and all this done without one bit of complaint or bitch back at the ref if he happened to mark your cards just a good old whatever and carried on with game.

It seems Fifa,Uefa and the FA in bringing in all these new rules to safe-guard players etc,has done more damage than ever by generating more and more softy players who wish they still had hold of mummys apron strings and spoilt rich kids attitudes.

she might make them cry

Terry backs referee respect plans

John Terry says referee incidents are publicised more nowadays
Chelsea captain John Terry says he would back plans to stamp out the hounding of referees.
Terry was speaking in light of criticism directed towards Chelsea for their disrespectful behaviour towards Mike Riley on Wednesday night.

It was the latest in a series of incidents which have led for calls to introduce new rules that would only allow captains to speak to referees.

"I think it'll be one of them where I'll have to give it a go," said Terry.


Interview: Chelsea captain John Terry


"But if it doesn't work then the FA will have to say no, it isn't working," he told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme.

Chelsea players surrounded referee Riley appearing to bully him out of red carding Ashley Cole following a late tackle on Alan Hutton during Wednesday's 4-4 draw with Tottenham.

Cole has been widely condemned for his behaviour towards Riley to whom he refused to acknowledge or even look at as the referee attempted to yellow card him.

But Terry has defended the behaviour of the Chelsea players following the incident.

"It is a natural reaction," he said.

"The fans show their frustration and the players do the same because they are passionate about the game.

"I do agree there has to be a line drawn and confronting the referee has to be taken out of the game."

The behaviour of footballers and the standard of tackling has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks but Terry does not believe the game has changed or that challenges or attitudes are getting worse.

These tackles have gone on for years and have never been spoken of before

John Terry

"I personally don't think it has got out of hand and I don't think it is any worse than it used to be," he said.

"It is just being publicised and spoken about a bit more at the moment.

"These tackles have gone on for years and have never been spoken of before.

"Usually it was just a yellow card and everyone would get on with it. Now it is spoken about on television and publicised in the papers and ex-referees are given their views and the game has moved on a lot."

JT has some valid points,and i do agree to many pundits and retired refs tend to stir things even more than needed as tv cameras show enough to allow these incidents to be fully and properly anaylised.
I dont agree with jt saying its no worse today than it was a few years back,yeah you had a player mouthing back the ref but never to the extent of physically man handling the ref or even intimidating him the way players do nowadays.

JT is one of the worse culprits for running the length of the field and confonting the ref if he doesn't like a decision so I don't know what he is going on about....yet again someone who does one thing and says another...thats leading by example eh JT?