Totally disagree, as I said on your board. Cole's evidence directly contradicted Anton's and if Anton believes his own evidence was the truth, as you'd assume, you can understand why he doesn't want to shake the man's hand. The video didn't seem to show Cole making any attempt to shake Anton's hand either, I thought. It's all getting tedious though, the sooner the FA get rid of the handshakes the better.
I totally see your point YV just happen to disagree with you bar the last sentence. As I've said on my Facebook I think it should be scrapped due to the gamesmanship and cheating that goes on today in football. Why would Al Habsi want to shake the hand of Welbeck who cheated against him? Or why would Reither want to shake the hand of Odemwingie who basically tried to cripple him? Or Van Persie shake Adebayor's hand after the latter raked his face with his studs? Shawcross and Ramsey the same, it's awkward for them.
I'm old school i suppose, I don't agree with the pregame handshake. You spend the build up to the game, getting yourself psyched up to get stuck in to opposition, then you have to switch all that off and be nice to them. Every player is the same, just get on with the game, and you shake hands afterwards and have a drink in the bar, thats how its been forever till this nonsense was brought in. Someone used the analogy boxers touch gloves before a fight, well they've always done that, silly comparison.
Regarding the handshake, someone on 606 phone in yesterday made a good point that the handshake probably has more to do with getting nice shots of the Barclays Premier League banner than actual respect, be it symbolic or actual. The real player-player relationships are viewed in the tunnel.
