New rule issued to fans or face being banned from every ground

A new rule has been issued to fans or they could face being banned from every ground in the league, it has been reported.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has confirmed this week that any supporter who is found guilty of discriminatory abuse in stadia or online will be refused entry from every ground in the top tier of English football.

This is put in place as part of new anti-discrimination regulations named the ‘No Room for Racism Action Plan’ – aiming to “make it clear any form of discriminatory behaviour is unacceptable in football and wider society”.

Talking of rules for fans, it’s a reminder that you also can not smoke or vape inside stadiums. We know how much some love to buy CBD vape juice while others use CBD vape pens for anxiety.

Speaking at a Premier League Kicks event to inspire young people, Masters also talked about the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic and changes to VAR for 2021/22.

He spoke confidently about the rule changes which are expected to have a purpose of preventing any potential future efforts to create a breakaway division similar to the European Super League.

Newly promoted Brentford are set to take on Arsenal on Friday the first game of the campaign and Masters is excited to see “over 300,000” fans back this weekend, with venues able to return to full capacity after a 2020/21 term largely played behind closed doors.

“Anti-discrimination is a big priority for the Premier League and all of its clubs, we won’t tolerate anti-discrimination behaviour in our grounds or online. We are trying to take as many steps as possible to deal with those issues”, he said to Sky Sports.

“We announced yesterday that if you are caught using discriminatory language then you can not only be banned from your own club but from all Premier League grounds and that includes online as well now.

“Secondly, we are doing a lot of steward training with fans coming back to help them deal with these situations should they arise.

“We hope they won’t and we’re helping with fans regarding fan education so they can understand the impact that this has on some people around them, particularly the players.

“It clearly still exists, we saw that over the summer with regards to the England team and it needs to be dealt with. We have a number of people dedicated to identifying these offensive posts, taking them down, working with social media companies.

“The companies have got to step up and we’ve been pressuring them, and we’ve got the Online Safety Bill coming through government so it’s what we’re all trying to achieve.”

HOW THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW PLAYED OUT

Q – Is the Premier League doing enough to combat discrimination?

A- “We are certainly trying to, the priority for us and for all of our clubs this year is our No Room for Racism Action Plan, a sweep of programmes designed to deal with the issues and also to improve opportunities for all the employment areas that we offer.”

Q – How excited are you for the start of the new season?

A – “We all get excited, it seems like the last season has just finished. The main thing about this season is having fans back, and at Brentford on Friday we’ll have a full stadium again and that’s fantastic.

“I’m absolutely sure the Premier League will continue to be competitive, Manchester City are going for their sixth title and you know they’ll be there or thereabouts, the transfer window now is in full swing.

“The league always gets a boost from major competitions so I think there’ll be more interest than normal because of Gareth Southgate’s brilliant England team’s performance at the Euros.

“This weekend we’ll have 300,000-plus fans back in stadiums and the Premier League will be kicking off again. I think any number, four, five or six [can win the title]. As so many have found, winning back-to-back titles is a huge mountain to climb.”

Q – Messi isn’t coming to the Premier League, is that a disappointment for you?

A – “The Premier League has always had its fair share of the world’s best players and we’re lucky to have that. I think there’s a unique set of circumstances around Lionel Messi, the pandemic, the situation at Barcelona with him leaving.

“It would have been nice to have seen Messi enjoy a few seasons in the Premier League in the twilight of his career but it wasn’t to be and we’ll be fine.”

Q –  Do you think that there will be less disruption due to coronavirus this season compared to last year?

A – “It is going to feel more normal but we have to, as we always have done, put safety first and we’re trying to create as safe an environment as possible for fans to return into.

“This virus has a habit of coming and second-guessing you at any point and we’ve been set loads of challenges by it and by the government and we’ll be ready to meet the next one should it come along.”

Q – What has been the financial impact of the pandemic?

A – “Across the Premier League economy in the last 18 months, we’ve lost about £1.5bn-plus in revenue and that creates some significant challenges for clubs to manage and they have done that.

“So it hasn’t been easy but what I can say is with fans back, with some of the broadcast agreements we have put in place, we have got a more secure footing.

“Not just for the Premier League but for the whole of the professional game who as you know we filter a lot of our revenue down to, into the pyramid and into grassroots. So it’s good news to everybody.”

Q – The owners’ charter changes were voted on in June, how confident are you that those changes can prevent a European Super League project from happening again?

A – “I think the charter changes we agreed to in June are an end to this. I think it’s not an end to perhaps some of the issues that created it. It was a bad idea, poorly executed and it’s been consigned to the past I believe.

“We are in discussions with those clubs involved and we will put in place rule changes to make sure that these things won’t happen again. We had a lot of support from the government and in particular, from fans, everybody showed what they thought of the concept.

“They played a huge role in seeing it off within 48 hours of it being born. Whether it’s the Premier League, English football or European, you either believe in a sporting pyramid or you don’t and I do and I know that Premier League clubs do as well.”

Q – There will be thicker lines with VAR when it comes to offsides this season, can you explain what the changes will be?

A – “There is a raft of changes coming through the PGMOL which are all good. The handball law has changed for the better so we’ll see a few of those really offensive handballs being given by the laws of the game.

“I think generally, referees are going to try and let the game flow more, having a higher tolerance for giving fouls on the pitch particularly for lower body contact and particularly in the penalty area.

“It’s come from how VAR was managed during the Euros and players’ feedback and from coaches and executives over the summer. What we did see during the Euros was a higher threshold for intervention and again that is going to come in in the Premier League and we hope that’ll be successful.

“With regards to marginal offsides going back to an original decision, it is where the attacking and defending lines are drawn together, another thicker line will be put on top of those lines and the benefit of the doubt will be given to the attacker. So we think that up to 20 goals last season would have been given [if the system had been in place].

“The telemetry workings of the VAR official won’t be on-screen, they won’t be shown to the fans at home anymore and it will just be the one thicker line. We thought it was frustrating supporters actually watching it and that they’d rather find out what the final result was.”

As a new rule gets issued to fans or face being banned from every ground, Twitter users reacted to it…

@Neaarii: People really be on here right now being like “muh free speech”., on a thread saying racism and discrimination will be punished. We see you 🤡

@gregnewman16: No gets it that the online abuse is all from kids that never been to the game anyway this isn’t a punishment

@DarrenCowan6: And when does the @premierleague face a investigation in to why Newcastle can’t have a takeover 🤔

@scott_dufc: Fair enough but its ok for him to discriminate against newcastle yeah?

@D_Simba94: Common sense. And honestly who pays money to go watch their team just to abuse players? What’s the fun in that? Life’s to short to be so hateful towards certain group.

@1964roscoe1964: Ask him how the cartels doing, I see they really struggling wi money like they said when dumping every other club in English pyramid by colluding to join a ESL in a right mess. Funny how they can spend £100s of millions on transfers n wages.saving on fining themselves I guess.

@agentSmith999: Discrimination – making or showing an unfair or prejudicial distinction between different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, sex, state ownership or how far north they are located

@JasonCK26: About time

@TheAndernator: All well & good, but what about corrupt Chief Execs who are in cahoots with ‘Big 6’ clubs in order to maintain a closed shop of competitive teams?!? Will they be punished too??

@GazzaArsenal: These silly little sound bites against issues are pathetic and why we can’t get out of the 80’s. Been going to football for 35 odd years and never been asked or seen someone asked to produce ID when buying of attending. 🙄

@DAZM6988: Its a start, now the @EFL should join this, and @Twitter needs to mandate ID for accounts, its the only way.

@pvgreg: they need to be reported, prosecuted and locked up…. set an example…. wipe it out!!!

@John96398924: It’s only taken until 2021 great work 👏

@dabulltattoo1: Take it he’s banned already then for his discrimination towards #NUFC

@RobertEvansDJ: The majority of them have never been to a game in their lives anyway so it’s hardly a punishment!

@DL5872: Since when has he gave a f*ck about anything but himself and his beloved “big” 6

@alexparsons75: Obviously Qatar & the big six ? Allowed him to say more than no comment.

@khristian4000: Name and shame all of them. Ban them for life from all grounds, and that should include any grounds under all World Football Organisations in all countries.

@D_R_S33: How about your stance on aiding corruption and cartels within your farce of a league?

@onmyshoe: Maybe practice what you preach @premierleague?? You are discriminating against #NUFC fans!!

@PhilPowell2: Excellent plan -any chance him and his cash in hand mates can take heed of it and stop discriminating against NUFC

@roburko67: I’m looking forward to Masters being banned from being a company director for his role in the breaking of anti competion law regarding the NUFC takeover !

@ISimpson73: What’s the punishment for Masters and Hoffman after keeping an EPL club in limbo for 15 months? What’s the punishment for PL CEO and chairman for secretly helping the European Super League clubs deciding who can compete with them? #PremierLeagueIsCorrupt

Free speech doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want without consequences.

— Sonny Stark (@Sonny_AOW) August 12, 2021