England football stars told how to behave
Football Association issues first code of conduct for players with national team
England's soccer stars are to be issued with a code of conduct to bring them in line with other major sporting bodies in an attempt to govern their behaviour when they are on and off international duty.
The new disciplinary procedures were outlined to England's players for the first time when they met at the new National Football Centre in Burton to prepare for tomorrow's World Cup qualifier against San Marino.
The scheme marks the culmination of eight months of work by the managing director of Club England, Adrian Bevington and his fellow board members, the director of football development, Trevor Brooking, the general secretary, Alex Horne, and FA chairman David Bernstein. The FA stressed the decision was not a knee-jerk reaction to any recent indiscretions by England players such as Ashley Cole, the Chelsea defender.
Cole has been charged by the FA for labelling the English game's governing body "a bunch of t**ts" last week in response to the questioning of his evidence in the John Terry racial abuse hearing.
Bernstein said: "Clearly in the past we've been hampered by not having a code and therefore some things have been less clear than they might have been.
"A draft code was approved at a recent board meeting and the first team has now heard in detail what it contains.
"It doesn't contain a list of possible offences and tariffs because in the real world you never know what is around the corner. But the players are now clear there are real consequences if they don't [adhere to the code]."
