Players told to clean up their acts

LONDON— Finger-jabbing players aggressively challenging referees. Rival teams in mass brawls. Touchline confrontations between managers.

They all feature in a show-reel of shame produced by English soccer authorities.

And the video is being shown to players at Premier League clubs ahead of the season as part of the latest crackdown on bad behaviour that damages the league’s image.

“We’re looking to make a step change in the way our participants behave and how they are seen around the world,” Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore said after showing the compilation of incidents of indiscipline at a former London courthouse on Wednesday.

It’s a delicate balancing act for the league, which doesn’t want to see the intense competitiveness disappear from its competition. Even Scudamore acknowledged it was a “guilty pleasure” watching the fiery and engrossing game between Chelsea and Tottenham last season that led to both teams being fined over a fracas.

“I felt an element of it was not right,” Scudamore said. “But you couldn’t go away from that game thinking it wasn’t compelling”

The Premier League is already the world’s wealthiest soccer competition, raising £8.3 billion pounds ($14 billion) from television rights for the next three seasons.

“People look to us to set the example across the world,” Scudamore said. “When you discuss what’s holding it back from being absolutely universally popular, one of the things that comes back time and time again is, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if the participants didn’t quite display some of those behavioural tendencies that just stepped over the edge?’”