By Andrew Warshaw
February 22 – German football legend Franz Beckenbauer says players should do more handshaking in order to improve sportsmanship.
Liverpool’s Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez controversially refused to shake the hand of Manchester United’s Patrice Evra before the recent Premier League game between the two rival clubs after returning from an eight-match ban for allegedly racially abusing the French defender.
Back in November, FIFA President Sepp Blatter himself became embroiled in a handshaking controversy following reports that Chelsea and England defender John Terry had aimed racial abuse at Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand.
Blatter suggested that on-field confrontations should be settled by a handshake afterwards but later apologised for any misinterpretation.
Terry, who denies the allegations, will stand trial in July and has been stripped of the England captaincy.
Some of football’s pundits have suggested that handshakes are meaningless and should be scrapped but Beckenbauer, who chaired a meeting of FIFA’s Task Force Football 2014 today, said one its recommendations was that players should meet opponents in the centre circle after matches.
“At full time I think it would be a better image…when leaving the pitch together and not refusing a handshake,” Beckenbauer said.
“They should be role models and should behave like role models.”
He said it was imperative there was no repetition of the Suarez-Evra affair, seen by millions of fans worldwide when supporting the English giants.
“This is the first time I ever saw it myself,” said Beckenbauer.
“I think we simply have to stop it.”
The Task Force panel, comprising the great and the good of world football, was set up after the 2010 World Cup to improve the quality of competition in time for the Brazil tournament in 2014.
Beckenbauer said encouraging handshakes and sportsmanship were “small things that could improve the image of football.”
He suggested that teams could leave the field together at half-time and emerge for the second period together, as well as gather in the centre circle after the final whistle.
“That is what we used to do when I was at school,” Beckenbauer said.
“I believe one should leave the pitch the same way one has entered the pitch.”
The meeting also discussed the so-called “triple punishment” of red card, penalty and suspension for fouls committed inside the penalty area that prevented a goalscoring chance.
The common view was that a penalty and a yellow card were sufficient for less serious offences, with a red being reserved for only the most dangerous fouls.
The corresponding rule changes will be put to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) for their approval at their annual meeting on March 3.
The Task Force members also decided that coaches who have been sent-off should not be allowed to leave the stands at half-time and should not therefore have access to the dressing room.
And, in accordance with a study currently being conducted by UEFA, it was agreed that abandoned matches completed on a later date should recommence at the point at which play was interrupted rather than being replayed in full.
Finally, it was proposed that 12 substitutes should be allowed on the bench rather than the current limit of seven.
This will also be forwarded to IFAB.
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