Call for body cameras after Judge disputes referee’s claim
There were calls last night for referees to wear body cameras after Ipswich Town midfielder Alan Judge angrily denied calling Darren Drysdale a “cheating bald c---”.
The charity Ref Support UK also demanded the release of a recording of the on-field confrontation between Judge and Drysdale, which the player claimed the club had in their possession and “backs me up”.
Professional Game Match Officials Ltd records officials’ conversations in the Premier League, but not in the English Football League.
“We need to have a way of safely recording those conversations at all levels and the obvious way to do it is with body cameras,” Martin Cassidy, Ref Support UK’S chief executive, said. “Think John Terry versus Anton Ferdinand, Mark Clattenburg versus John Obi Mikel. Every single type of abuse would be solved.”
Cassidy said his charity had previously approached the Football Association about body cameras, but was told it had “no appetite” for them. His call for any recording of the Drysdale-judge confrontation to be released was echoed by Keith Hackett, the former head of PGMOL. A spokesman for Ipswich said: “We would be more than happy to pass on the audio to the football authorities on their request.” He also said both the club and Judge “would support” referees being mic’d up.
The FA made clear it considered the matter closed, adding: “Under the current laws of the game, body cams are not permitted.”
Drysdale, who was banned for four matches for the confrontation with Judge last month, told the disciplinary commission he had been on the receiving end of the worst volley of abuse in his career, before he moved his own head forward and snarled in the player’s face.