In an important step toward tolerance in athletics, the National Football League is cracking down on abusive on-field language this season.
League officials are showing players an officiating video during training camps that highlights the “zero tolerance” policy for use of racial or homophobic slurs on the field, reports The Washington Post.
In the video, Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, tells NFL staffers, “We are all professionals. You have worked hard and excelled for the honor and the privilege of playing in the National Football League. So have your competitors and game officials. Respect them. No amount of emotion should give way to demeaning and offensive language or actions in our workplace. That includes the locker room, on the practice field, during a game or when traveling as a team.”
The video also makes it clear that coaches, officials and NFL staff members on all levels will be held to the same standards, and are susceptible to discipline for abusive language.
The NFL has appeared to be making an effort to quell intolerance since the Rams drafted openly gay rookie Michael Sam.
The 2014 regular season begins September 4 when the Super Bowl Champion Seahawks host the Packers on NBC.
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