Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore has stated that the English top flight intend to continue with pre-match handshakes, despite calls for them to be scrapped.
The handshakes have caused a controversy this season, as Luis Suarez refused to shake Patrice Evra’s hand after being given an eight-match ban for racially abusing the Manchester United defender.
The handshakes were also scrapped for a game between Chelsea and QPR due to the hostilities between John Terry and Anton Ferdinand, again over a racial controversy, but Scudamore expects the routine to remain in place.
“It’s not a handshake that says everybody loves everybody else,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s a handshake that says ‘whatever’s gone on before now and whatever will go on after this game is over, for the next 90 minutes, let’s just play a game of football’.
“It’s nothing more symbolic than that, which is why in our view, they should continue – period,” he confessed.
By Gareth McKnight
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