Refereeing controversies, a great Italian hobby

Date: 7th May 2017 at 7:11am
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For better or worse, refereeing mistakes have always been a part of the beautiful game.

Be it a missed offside call, a wrongfully awarded penalty, a booking instead of a sending off, they have always sparked criticism and controversy.

However, when it comes to Serie A, things tend to draw a little bit more attention.

Accusations of being on clubs’ payrolls, favoritism, intentionally turning a blind eye to obvious things in order to support the so-called big teams are among the many things referees have to deal with.

Italian football has had its fair share of mistakes. However, unlike in other parts of Europe, controversy and conspiracy theories tend to always find their way to the front pages.

The Mark Iuliano vs. Ronaldo incident in April 1998, when Inter were not awarded an obvious penalty, Pierluigi Collina’s decision that despite the pitch conditions, the Perugia-Juventus match in May 2000,  Calciopoli and Sulley Muntari’s goal that was not given against Juventus in February 2012 are among the chief examples given by those ironically claiming that Serie A is the best league in the world when it comes to crucial refereeing errors.

After the Muntari situation, one of the bigger controversies was the Juventus vs. Roma match on 5 October 2014 which ended 3-2 for Massimiliano Allegri’s men which saw two dubious penalties given to the home side.

“I don’t know if we are being beaten by the referees but we certainly weren’t beaten by Juventus, they always win by hook or by crook,” Francesco Totti said after the match.

Controversies as big as those were largely absent during the 2015-16 season. However, it’s safe to say that this season has been an excellent opportunity for the conspiracy theorists to once again be vocal. Instead of debating which side has benefitted the most from referring mistakes, let’s just point to the key examples of what most observers consider to be the two biggest refereeing mistakes this season.

22 October – Milan v Juventus.

A first-half free kick from Miralem Pjanic was controversially disallowed for what looked a tight offside call, having initially been given by the officials.

According to Allegri, Milan players influenced the referees to disallow the goal and the match ended 1-0 for the hosts.

5 February – Juventus v Inter.

A curious incident took place where Giorgio Chiellini seemed to take a free kick back towards Gianluigi Buffon, it was intercepted by Mauro Icardi and the referee halted play.

After the match, Inter coach Stefano Pioli also said there had been two penalties for his team in the first half, which further added to the tension.

The bad news for Italian referees’ reputation is that the official in both cases was Nicola Rizzoli, arguably the best in the business on the peninsula.

So, what can Italy do to improve the situation?

Many agree that the best option is video assistant referees (VAR) and the FIGC is heavily promoting its adoption. The former referee Roberto Rosetti agrees. He is of the opinion that technology should be tried out from 2018. The officials would then be able to be helped by VAR.

According to him, decisions made by a VAR would, among other things, reduce the need for interpretation and take the pressure away from referees.

Even though there are some that say that mistakes are part of the game, while purists even claim that mistakes are an integral part of the game, it’s hard to disagree with Rosetti’s views, especially since he knows how little is needed to spark controversy in Italy.

Regardless of whichever viewpoint one supports on how things should be improved, the fact remains – Italy needs to do something to reduce controversies, despite the fact that there will always be conspiracy theorists.  The Calciopoli scandal and refereeing issues were among the reasons that have contributed to Serie A’s damaged.

Though it’s easier said than done and much work will be needed, everyone – supporters, players, coaches and owners – want results to make the front pages instead of pictures of referees and quotes by players and coaches criticising officials.

 

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