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Football Association to launch England player code of conduct

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments300

The Duke of Cambridge shakes Ashley Cole's hand

Football Association chairman David Bernstein is to bring in a code of conduct for England players.

The move follows a number of recent indiscretions by internationals, most notably defender Ashley Cole.

Those players who break the code could be suspended from England duty.

"They are incredible role models with incredibly high profiles and their behaviour is extremely important," said Bernstein. "This really should have been brought in years and years ago."

Cole found himself in trouble after posting a Twitter message that insulted the FA in the wake of the hearing into club-mate and fellow defender John Terry.

The 31-year-old left-back later deleted the tweet and apologised to Bernstein before meeting Prince William when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge officially opened the FA new centre of excellence at St George's Park on Tuesday.

But the Chelsea player, who has 98 caps for his country, still faces an FA charge and has until 16:00 BST on Thursday, 11 October to respond.

Bernstein, Club England managing director Adrian Bevington, FA general secretary Alex Horne and the FA's director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking have given the senior England squad a 10-minute bullet point presentation on what they expect in terms of behaviour.

"I came into this position as chairman with five things I'd identified, one of which was respect, in its wider sense, not just towards referees but player-to-player, the whole respect agenda," said Bernstein, who took up his role in January 2011.

The former Manchester City chairman added: "I'm beginning to think it's the most important thing I've got to deal with as chairman of the FA."

He added that action to help improve the conduct of players was overdue.

"These guys share a desire to play for England," he said. "They really do value it. But the FA is a complicated organisation. Having the whole regulatory side alongside Club England has created a degree of confusion. There has been a lack of clarity and the fact we haven't sat down with them has led to a bit of fuzziness."

Players have not been banned from using Twitter by the FA but there will be punishments if they break the rules which will soon come into force.

"If someone transgresses in a way that brings the integrity of the team or themselves or the organisation into question, we have the ability to warn them or to suspend them from England," said Bevington.

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300 comments

  • Comment posted by Lee, at 10:59 10 Oct 2012

    @95 And there in lies the problem. People would rather have their kids respect a person for their skill at their job than for the way they conduct themsleves in their daily lives. If somebody uses prostitutes, drink drives, uses racist and foul language and generally shows no regard for anyone but themselves its a case of 'don't judge him for that son, he can kick a ball really well'. Pretty sad.

  • Comment posted by FreeSpeech, at 09:14 10 Oct 2012

    So are the FA seriously implying that Ashley Cole wouldn't have worded his tweet that way if there was a code of conduct? Good old FA arranging deck chairs on the Titanic as usual. Focus on cheating first , retrospective analysis and punishments for diving and fouls.

  • Comment posted by David Mason-Hawes, at 08:31 10 Oct 2012

    The real shame is that something like a code of conduct is even required in the first place.

    Says A LOT about the state of football and those that play it these days.

  • Comment posted by User0579543146, at 09:15 10 Oct 2012

    I think football should take a leaf out of Rugby Union where the players call the referee sir and if they give any back chat are marched 10m closer to the opposition goal line. Young football academy players are taught respect so what happens when they are awarded their final contract? A large minority seem to turn into self obsessed yobs.

  • Comment posted by mc1805, at 08:25 10 Oct 2012

    How about a code of conduct for the FA, could go something like this;

    1) Consistent decisions
    2) Consistent punishment
    3) More consistency in rules 1 and 2

    Then they might get more respect!

    PS I would make a list of inconsistencies in the FA but would need a lot more than 399 characters.

  • Comment posted by User0805064593, at 10:19 10 Oct 2012

    I work as a teacher. If I were to behave in such a fashion as these footballers do, being insulting in a public forum to my colleagues, the profession and the people who see me as a role model (ie my students), I would be sacked. No matter how talented or successful or popular I was. And rightly so.

  • Comment posted by busterrabbit, at 08:46 10 Oct 2012

    Too much money and protected by their clubs and expensive lawyers they think they're untouchable. Drink driving, fighting in nightclubs, having sex with teammates' partners. In professional sport such stupid behaviour is pretty much the preserve of footballers, often english. Despite their huge wealth they seem to be ill disciplined, ill educated and semi literate, with no respect for any rules.

  • Comment posted by User0315773583, at 08:48 10 Oct 2012

    So they could have made an example of Cole and other players but have consistently failed to do so, and yet think that a bit of paper telling these overpaid prima-donna's to behave will work?

    The FA are useless and for once Cashley was right with his tweet.

  • Comment posted by briblogg, at 10:46 10 Oct 2012

    This is just tinkering and pussyfooting around the egdges when there are huge problems in the game that need to be tackled ('scuse the pun).
    Racism, poor refereeing, lack of technology, endemic cheating and play acting, dreadful lack of respect for officials by players and managers alike. These are the real problems the FA needs to urgently address as top-level football is curently unwatchable.

  • Comment posted by Jesus the Teddy Bear, at 09:57 10 Oct 2012

    I blame luis suarez

  • Comment posted by The world is going to hell in a hand cart, at 09:31 10 Oct 2012

    Well seeing that the average cognitive age of footballers if about five then some playground rules makes perfect sense. I wonder if footballers were the source of the phrase "more money than sense"?

  • Comment posted by fredo, at 11:52 10 Oct 2012

    Mr Bernstein,could you now launch a code of conduct for the Football Association,then maybe you would get somewhere with the players.

  • Comment posted by User0394835610, at 08:07 10 Oct 2012

    The problem starts at school. Footballers are often not well educated and when interviewed often show a distinct lack basic communication skills. As role models top players should spend some of their inflated salaries on educating themselves instead of buying flash cars. Education should be part of youth coaching - a code of conduct addresses the result not the root of the problem.

  • Comment posted by PaulH, at 08:35 10 Oct 2012

    Why only England players? Surely with the antics and disrespectful attitude of league players it would be better to apply it across the borad.

  • Comment posted by User0863157753, at 10:25 10 Oct 2012

    Why should this code of conduct only apply to England players ? I have thought that a code of conduct is long overdue and should apply to all players, managers, club owners and match officials alike. Hopefully, when all requirements are in black and white, there will be fewer cases of double standards when penalising those who break the rules.

  • Comment posted by Lee, at 10:38 10 Oct 2012

    @52. To suggest that the isolated incidents in rugby compares to the lack of discipline in football is laughable, but that's a different argument. Footballers are self absorbed and disrespectful because they can do what they like safe in the knowledge that 40,000 people will come along on saturday to pay £35 and sing their name regardless of how pitiful an excuse for a human being they are.

  • Comment posted by D1679170963361, at 08:46 10 Oct 2012

    There's something badly wrong with English football if the FA feel the need to issue a code of conduct to the most senior players.

  • Comment posted by suzyp, at 12:20 10 Oct 2012

    shame the mens england team couldn't behave like the womens football team eh? they play with equal passion and probably not much money; no hissy fits there............

  • Comment posted by CLYON, at 08:59 10 Oct 2012

    I'm absolutely stunned they don't have any form of one already - naive I guess, but I'd have thought it'd be a basic part of running a national team.

  • Comment posted by just_missing_leg, at 09:11 10 Oct 2012

    ....well, the FA really is up the creek when it admits to not having a 'code of conduct'. What do these people DO all day long?
    (David Davies wasn't even a decent newsreader).

    Bernstein's interview yesterday regarding Cole was deplorable. It was full of "um" and "ah". No conviction about the discipline necessary to curb these distasteful characters we have representing the national team.