London: The bitter fallout from English football's high-profile racism case resurfaced on Friday in front of UEFA President Michel Platini as John Terry refused to shake hands with the man who stripped him of the England captaincy.
The snub came at an event in London where European champion Chelsea were handing back the Champions League trophy ahead of next month's final at Wembley Stadium.
Terry was sacked as England captain last year by Football Association chairman David Bernstein as he awaited trial on a charge he racially abused a rival while playing for Chelsea.
Despite being cleared in criminal trial, an FA disciplinary panel went on to ban Terry for four matches for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in a Premier League match at Queens Park Rangers.
In what is believed to be their first meeting since then, Terry was caught on camera by broadcaster Sky Sports refusing to shake Bernstein's hand at Banqueting House, a palace near to Downing Street in London.
"Listen it's a difficult one for me," Terry said later. "Obviously he was the one who spoke about me in the court case and said things I don't want to talk (about). It's probably a subject that we should maybe just avoid."
Bernstein never appeared in court or gave evidence against Terry in last July's trial, although the FA did pursue its own case against him. Terry retired from international duty in September just before his FA hearing, which also led to the defender being handed a record fine of 220,000 pounds (then $356,000).
Bernstein claimed he did not notice the snub from Terry, who arrived with team-mates and senior Chelsea executives.
"I think we should talk about more positive things than that sort of nonsense," Bernstein said.
When pushed, the head of English football described his relationship with Terry as "a little distant."
"I'm not really terribly concerned to be absolutely honest," Bernstein said. "I've got other things to think in my last few months (in the job), I've got other priorities."
Terry's case, on the back of Liverpool striker Luis Suarez receiving an eight-match ban for racial abuse and several incidents of fan trouble, led to Prime Minister David Cameron convening a summit on the apparent resurgence of racism in English football.
The FA is currently considering beefing up its racism sanctions, while Platini is asking football associations across Europe to adopt a minimum 10-match ban for such abuse.
"We will be coming up with our own proposal in the near future," Bernstein said. "We have listened very carefully but we will do our own thing in our own way, which will be fairly soon."
"We put in our report to the prime minister with a great number of recommendations and I'm aiming of getting a first tranche of those announced as implemented by the end of this month. It is very much the top of my own personal agenda."
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