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AFC Emley manager Darren Hepworth
AFC Emley manager Darren Hepworth says the Premier League has to lead from the front as the authorities begin a bid to cut out offensive language and behaviour.
The Premier League, Football League and FA have joined forces to issue hard-hitting guidelines to match officials regarding “intolerable behaviour”. Conduct of coaches in the technical areas will also come under close scrutiny.
Hepworth backs the clampdown and believes it will be good for society in the long run.
Hepworth told Non League Yorkshire: “It is a good thing if it is enforced properly. The challenge with these types of guidelines is when there are inconsistencies.
“You do see situations where officials will quite frankly put the ear muffs on and not communicate.
“It has to be consistent at all levels, but if the Premier League follows what it has said it will be do then it will help the game.
“Go right down to junior football and that takes its lead from what it sees on the Television on a Saturday night or on a Sunday afternoon.
“If the players are giving ‘f’ and ‘Jeff’ on the TV, well that’s what the kids will do because they think it is acceptable as they see their idols do it. The Premier League has to set the right levels.
“Players have to set the right example and officials have to set the right example by being consistent when they act on it.
“If they both do then culturally we’ll start to see the change in the game. If they don’t, things won’t change.
“The Premier League has an obligation to change, a social obligation to do it because there is so much money and so much commercial interest in it. It is so big, not just financially, but in its social interest. It has a huge influence on society.
“Those guys have to accept that as they’re paid to be role models. If they set the right example, it can benefit not just sport, but the broader society.”