Handshake cloud hangs over Ferdinand and Terry

• AFP, Thursday, April 26, 2012 3:41 PM

Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand may snub Chelsea defender John Terry's pre-match handshake this weekend when the teams play a Premier League match. Terry is facing a July 9 court case over allegations that he racially abused Ferdinand during QPR's victory over Chelsea in October. Terry, who lost the England captaincy over the issue, has strongly denied wrongdoing.

The English FA canceled handshakes when QPR faced Chelsea in the FA Cup in January, but the Premier League is adamant that the ritual will go ahead Sunday at Stamford Bridge. The Daily Mail reported that Ferdinand would shun Terry's handshake if it was offered upon advice from lawyers as well as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). However, the CPS insisted it had not advised Terry to avoid shaking hands with Ferdinand.  Premier League chief Richard Scudamore last month said the handshakes, introduced in 2004, would remain part of the game.

"It's not a handshake that says everybody loves everybody else," Scudamore said. It's a handshake that says 'whatever crap's gone on before now and whatever crap 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."

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