PGMOL facing calls to drug test referees after David Coote scandal

Drugs tests must be introduced for referees after footage emerged which appeared to show David Coote snorting white powder, former Professional Game Match Official Ltd (PGMOL) chief Keith Hackett has warned.

Claiming English football’s leaders had blocked such a proposal while he was running PGMOL, Hackett told Telegraph Sport there were now no excuses for checks similar to those carried out on players not to be adopted.

Fifa medical chiefs also previously considered drugs tests for referees but it appears they were never introduced.

Hackett said the latest video of Coote, who was already facing the sack after being filmed purportedly calling Jürgen Klopp “a c---” and “f---ing arrogant”, was a wake-up call for PGMOL amid what was “a duty of care towards its employees and the game”.

“What is really concerning me is that the integrity of every referee in the organisation is now in question,” Hackett added.

Credit: X / @AnfieldEdition

Hackett said he had proposed drugs tests for referees to the PGMOL board, which includes the chief executives of the Football Association, Premier League and English Football League, about two decades ago.

“I thought, if the players have to go through this process, why not referees?” he said. “That wasn’t accepted by the board. I think, at that particular time, it was just rejected as, ‘It doesn’t happen to referees’.”

In 2012, Jiri Dvorak, Fifa’s then chief medical officer, said talks had begun over drug testing match officials.

“We have started to discuss this and this is something for the future which will be discussed to possibly include an anti-doping programme for referees,” he said.

“We do not have an indication that this is a problem but this is something we have to look at. The referees are a neglected population.”

Michel D’Hooghe, the chairman of Fifa’s medical committee, added: “The referee is an athlete on the field so I think he should be subjected to the same rules.”

PGMOL and Fifa have been approached for comment on whether they plan to introduce drugs tests in light of the latest video of Coote. Match officials are currently not subject to the World Anti-Doping Code.

Uefa has launched its own investigation

Uefa, meanwhile, has become the latest governing body to open an investigation into Coote following the white-powder video.

An eight-second film allegedly showing him with a rolled-up banknote was said to have been taken 24 hours after Coote served as assistant video assistant referee for France’s Euro 2024 quarter-final win over Portugal on July 5.

Videos and photographs were obtained by The Sun two days after the Premier League referee was suspended over two other clips showing him repeatedly calling Klopp a “c---” after officiating a Liverpool match.

The first new video, reportedly shared via WhatsApp by Coote, shows white powder on a table alongside prescription drugs, a credit card and the Terry Hayes novel The Year of the Locust.

The footage was allegedly filmed in a Uefa-funded hotel room. A separate photo sent from Frankfurt on July 1 allegedly shows Coote’s credit cards on a saucer either side of six lines of powder.

Meanwhile, Richard Keys, who lost his job at Sky Sports in 2011 after leaked footage showed him and Andy Gray making a series of sexist remarks, has urged PGMOL not to sack Coote.

Warning of a “devastating outcome” unless the referee was instead demoted to the EFL, Keys wrote in his blog: “Clearly Coote can’t ref again in the PL, but to destroy his life over this would be wrong. Right now he’s in a very dark place. Tick. I’ve been there.

“I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t continue with his job in the EFL. I know I’ve argued that PL refs shouldn’t be demoted to the EFL when they’re in poor form, and I stand by that, but this is different.

“If we genuinely believe in ‘well being and mental health’ we have no choice but to sanction Coote and then let him get on with his life. Anything else might lead to a devastating outcome. Tick. I’ve nearly been there.

“All of the above of course depends on Coote’s problems not getting any worse.”