By David Owen
November 12 – Chelsea’s handling of the Mark Clattenburg controversy has split British football fans clean down the middle.
This is the conclusion to be drawn from an exclusive new poll conducted by YouGov on behalf of insideworldfootball.
The survey, taken from a representative sample of British adults, shows that those familiar with the episode are divided 50:50 over Chelsea’s handling of the matter.
Once details are spelt out to all respondents, public opinion, particularly among women, swings more in Chelsea’s favour.
The poll also reveals that only about one person in 10 is aware of the Football Association (FA) rule stipulating that a “Participant shall immediately report” to the FA any “incident, facts or matters” which may constitute misconduct.
The episode dates from last month’s highly-charged clash between Chelsea and Manchester United that was officiated by Clattenburg (pictured top).
The match, during which two Chelsea players were dismissed, was won 3-2 by the Lancashire team.
Afterwards, Chelsea made a formal complaint to the FA over alleged “inappropriate language” said to have been aimed at one player, John Mikel Obi (pictured below, left), by the referee.
Chelsea said the complaint was a result of a “thorough investigation”.
A statement by Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO), the referees’ body, said Clattenburg would “cooperate fully” and welcomed “the opportunity for the facts to be established”
It has been reported that the referee denies any wrongdoing.
Asked by YouGov whether they thought Chelsea had acted properly by filing the complaint, those aware of the situation divided almost equally, with 36 per cent strongly agreeing, or tending to agree, that the club had acted properly and the same number disagreeing (The rest were “Don’t Knows”).
When a second question, giving a summary of the incident and Chelsea’s decision to formally complain to the FA about the John Mikel Obi allegation, but not Juan Mata’s, was put to all respondents, 40 per cent felt Chelsea should have acted on the John Mikel Obi allegation by filing a complaint to the FA and 23 per cent that they should not.
Women divided 43 per cent to 14 per cent on this question.
Only 12 per cent of those polled were aware of FA rule E 14 stipulating that a club shall immediately report any incident which may constitute misconduct.
Those aware of the episode were also relatively evenly split over the media’s handling of it, with 32 per cent thinking reports had been accurate and without bias and 28 per cent that they had not.
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.
Total sample size was 1,259 adults.
Fieldwork was undertaken on November 6-72012.
The survey was carried out online.
The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
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