Team captains will be given extra responsibility in stamping out dissent in a new initiative launched yesterday in England.

Premier League's chief executive Richard Scudamore admitted high-profile incidents of dissent last season forced English football's governing bodies to come together and act.

In a declaration of war on dissent, the Respect campaign was launched in a bid to improve standards of behaviour at all levels of English football, beginning with Sunday's FA Community Shield.

Scudamore said: "We want to see this programme becoming much more than just a campaign, and results in making unacceptable behaviour just that - unacceptable."

Under the Respect blueprint, team captains will carry extra responsibility to help referees "manage games", meeting them before kick-off in Premier League games and being called on to help officials stamp out incidents of dissent.