Ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder and BBC Pundit Jermaine Jenas is in hot water after hurling abuse at the referee during the north London derby, just months after being the face of an anti-referee abuse campaign.
The 40-year-old took to Twitter to label the referee of the north London derby Robert Jones a “sh**house” before adding that referees are ‘ruining our game’ after he opted to award a penalty to the Gunners for a handball from Cristian Romero inside the penalty area.
It comes less than two months after he was the face of a campaign set up by the FA aiming to reduce the abuse thrown at referees during football matches called ‘Love Football, Protect The Game’.
In that campaign, he had told viewers that ‘We all must do better” before urging “no more abuse” towards those in charge of games.
“Whether out on the pitch, in the stands or on the sidelines, we have all got to do better at all levels. No more surrounding refs, no more abuse. Let’s make sure that this season is different. Let’s protect the game.”
The chief executive of the referees charity Ref Support UK Martin Cassidy slammed Jenas as disgraceful, telling the Times:
“This was really disgraceful by Jermaine Jenas. One week he is being paid by the FA and other football bodies to front a campaign against the abuse of referees, the next he is posting abusive messages about a referee.
“The One Show has even done pieces about online abuse of match officials. I don’t think this adds to the image of the BBC either — it’s totally inappropriate.
“This kind of thing ends up with what we saw happened to Anthony Taylor last season when his family was harassed at the airport after he was criticised by José Mourinho after the Europa League final.”
Jenas spent six years as a Tottenham player, in which time he appeared 202 times as well as representing England on 21 occasions.
The game ended as a 2-2 draw as his former side came from behind twice to snatch a point against their north London rivals.
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