Jermaine Jenas has been slammed by a referee charity over his ‘disgraceful’ tweet on the handball decision during Arsenal v Tottenham.
The BBC presenter has been criticised for his comments during Sunday’s North London Derby which saw the two sides play out a 2-2 draw.
He let rip on social media after a VAR check which saw Romero penalised for handball, after official Rob Jones had at first waved away protests, after the intervention of the video assistant referee.
That decision had much of the Spurs fanbase reeling, questioning the intent of Romero, who produced a lunge in to block a shot from going in.
Arsenal regained the lead through Bukayo Saka from the penalty spot.
Jenas tweeted on the decision: “Complete s***house off a referee! They’re all ruining our game!”
This led to a response from RefSupportUK, who replied: “This is a disgraceful tweet and you should be ashamed.
“Your tweet encourages on line abuse of referees and considering your role on TV your employers need to give their head a wobble.
“Remember Anthony Taylor and his family were attacked at an airport because of antics such as yours.”
Complete sh**house off a referee! They’re all ruining the our game!
— Jermaine Jenas (@jjenas8) September 24, 2023
@BBCTheOneShow @BBC I don’t believe that one of your presenters posting on line abuse towards anyone is compliant with your code of conduct or standards. The hypocrisy here is breathtaking.
Wonder if the @FA will distance themselves from this hypocrite? pic.twitter.com/OIJ1DgrGpX
— Refsupportuk (@refsupportuk) September 25, 2023
Jermaine Jenas’ rant comes two months after he was the face of a video which saw the Premier League and EFL introduce new measures on behaviour of players, managers and fans.
In the clip, which has now resurfaced following his latest tweet about referees, he talks about how football should be a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone.
It comes with a series of new measures brought in to help improve the behaviour of players, managers and coaches across the game, which will be introduced this season.
Dermot Gallagher gave his reaction to the incident, saying on Sky Sports on Monday: “Does Romero use his arms to balance for what he’s going into? Yes. But his arms are out, it strikes his arm. It blocks the shot going in. He might feel hard done by to concede a penalty, but he’s lucky as if Bissouma wasn’t behind him, he would have also been sent off as it was heading to the goal with no defender.
“His arm is out, VAR has seen it, it’s heading towards the goal. It didn’t surprise me when I saw the replay.”
Speaking on Sky Sports’ live commentary, Gary Neville said: “Well as a defender, I would like to think that shouldn’t be given against me. When VAR looks at it 25 times, it tells me they’re not sure.
“Because of the desperation of the defender trying to block the ball, he puts his knee on the floor, his arm is raised, try it at home, for me that’s a natural position. I think a lot will agree with me, a lot won’t but at the end of the day, if they look at it for so long, how can they be sure? I just think it’s a natural movement to try and stop the shot.”
Neville continued: “It’s a big moment, but I wouldn’t oversell it to Arsenal – there’s still a long way to go. Romero won’t be happy, Postecoglou won’t be happy but Saka, he just epitomises calmness.”
✅ Correct decision
Dermot Gallagher says Arsenal were rightly awarded a penalty for a Cristian Romero handball. 💭 pic.twitter.com/fX6xf5R62D
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 25, 2023
Ange Postecoglou admitted he was confused over the handball rule, with further questions raised about it after a number of key problems and controversy at the weekend.
“Mate, I couldn’t see but I’ve got no idea about the handball rule,” he said. “I really don’t.
“I saw the one yesterday at Wolves and it just seems if it hits your hand it’s a penalty and then other times if it hits your hand, it isn’t a penalty. I’ve got no idea.
“It is the one rule in the game I just don’t understand. Unless we start developing armless defenders I don’t know how you are supposed to block things and be in a natural position. It is what it is mate.
“You kind of hope these things even themselves out over the course of a year but I don’t understand the handball rule. I have said that to referees in the past and I don’t know how they see it to be honest.”
This is how fans reacted with Jermaine Jenas slammed by a referee charity over his ‘disgraceful’ tweet on the handball decision…
@LiveGRfootball: Surely you should know better Mr Jenas? @refsupportuk
@MarcSpurs: Same ref who didn’t give pen until VAR told him to look again on opening day of the season.. and how was that Nketiah not red carded for challenge on Vicario.. Reckless, dangerous, excessive force..
@RealForestTV: Shame you arent so vocal on #NFFC many VAR pants down moments JJ
@benkelly2525: What did you make your video at the start of the season for then if you’re saying things like this? So ironically hypocritical. Also your grammar here is questionable at best
@dannyjbradders: You’ll be calling out the abuse of refs at amateur level next, not realising that tweets like this don’t help.
@nickthorpe888: Didn’t you just do an advert about respecting referees?
@MrChagi: This didn’t make the edit of your ‘love football, protect the game’ video…
@sanfordmouth: This is a very hateful tweet. Thought Jenas would be above this. I thought the ref kept a lid on the game pretty well. He gave a 50/50 decision to one of the 50’s. Stop inciting hatred. You’re a role model.
@ContraryImp:
A list of things actually ruining the game
Players cheating
Players play acting
Players constantly abusing referees
Twitter abuse of officials
The loss of sporting etiquette and dignity
@dannk23: What’s Romero supposed to do there
@1882__THFC: One of the worst refs out there, he loves giving penalties against us, it’s the 3rd in 3 games when none were penalties. Never gives us anything, can’t wait to give something against us. Also the ball was deflected of our players foot on to his arm so alone thats not a penalty
@jamie_h_1979: Without them, you can’t play the game! Players make mistakes every game that cost their team points, bad pass, a goal keeper fumble or an easy shot that misses the target. How is that different? Refs don’t go out there to intentionally make errors, they’re only human too
@Carwyn_Tywyn: You should be disciplined by @BBCSport for this. You are basically giving a free pass for anyone to abuse refs at all levels of the game.
@damonc81: Tbh he isn’t wrong. Shocker decision to not send off Nketiah for a late dangerous tackle at speed… the VAR is a joke too especially when you compare it to the Chelsea one that did get reviewed….. the refs have had an awful start to the season and are wildly inconsistent
@Chris_Penfold79: Always supported referees as during a game from the angle they may be at or at full speed they may miss something but with the replays they get with VAR there is no excuse about the huge inconsistency of their decisions which is having a massive impact in games.
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