The Premier League has seen an improvement in both incidents of players surrounding match officials and charges of mass confrontations as part of wider overall advancements across the game as a result of the new Participant Behaviour Charter.
Introduced five months ago as part of the "Love Football. Protect the Game" campaign, the new Charter detailed stronger measures for addressing unacceptable conduct on the pitch, on the sidelines and in the stands on a matchday.
The new approach is in place across the Premier League, EFL, National League System (Steps 1-4), Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship, with match officials being empowered to take stronger action.
Alongside this remains a consistent application of the existing measures, when participant behaviour falls below expected standards. As a result, there has been a significant rise in cautions for dissent for players.
There has been a marked decrease in the number of mass confrontation charges from three last season to zero in 2023/24, and the increase in dissent cautions reflects the stronger stance being taken by referees in this area.
The numbers below show how the first five months of the current season compare with the same period of the 2022/23 campaign.
Misconduct cases in Premier League
- 80% decrease in charges for surrounding of a match official (from five charges to one)
- 100% decrease in charges for mass confrontations (from three charges to zero)
- 83% decrease in charges for technical area misconduct (from six charges to one)
Match discipline in Premier League
- 233.3% increase in dissent cautions for players (from 24 to 80 cautions)
'Real progress being made'
“We are pleased to see real progress made in the management of on-field and technical area behaviour so far in the Premier League this season," Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said.
"Professional football sets an example to those who play and watch the game at all levels, so it is encouraging to see this approach has already had a positive impact on our game.
"We will continue to back our match officials to deliver these stronger measures in the Premier League and recognise that this plays a big part in continuing to deliver a competitive and compelling competition for all.”
'More robust with our actions'
Howard Webb, Chief Refereeing Officer at PGMOL, added: “Everyone recognised standards needed to be better and we were empowered and supported by the game to be more robust with our actions to address that declining behaviour.
"A culture change won’t happen overnight and it is early days, but we are moving in the right direction and our officials are successfully delivering on our part of the collective football effort to reset behaviours, protect the reputation and promote the positive image of the game for the next generations.
"There’s been improvements in some behaviours already which is encouraging to see and the aim is that other behaviours, such as dissent, decrease to a much lower level in time. That is the real indication of the progress and with the power of example being so strong, we all have a continued duty to hold firm for the benefit of the game’s future.”