The last time that the Spanish referees stood in front of a microphone was in the Spanish Super Cup, held in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of January, when football had not yet exploded in its face. Negreira case. This Friday, the field and VAR referees of the Copa del Rey final between Real Madrid and Osasuna (Saturday, 10:00 p.m., La1 and Movistar), José María Sánchez Martínez and Santiago Jaime Latre, respectively, appeared before the media. “We have nothing to say [sobre el terremoto]”, Sánchez Martínez wanted to settle quickly. “We do the work freely and independently. Our honor is above all else, ”added the braid concisely, who did elaborate much more on other controversial points of his activity. For example, the hands inside the area, a matter of contention almost in every match.
“We make arbitration self-criticism,” the referee started. “It is the first thing we do behind closed doors. We have meetings where we analyze decisions in which imbalances have been seen. But I wish that when it came to hands, they were all black or white. Those that do not admit debate. The problem is that there are gray situations in which there may be interpretations. In gray, will be the referee’s criteria. This is not an exact science”, warned Sánchez Martínez, who came to make it clear that the noise will never end. Although he did claim, he almost demanded that the rest of the Spanish football estates “do not turn hits into mistakes because that favors confusion and criticism.” “We provide work and pedagogy to explain all the situations at the beginning of the season, but we also ask for responsibility”, he concluded about the section on hands susceptible (or not) to penalties, a matter of habitual misunderstanding by players, coaches and managers .
If this type of maximum penalties have become a hole (more black than gray), another debate that is beginning to raise a lot of volume is the large number of red cards that are shown in the League, well above other competitions. “It is the most serious and dissuasive sanction. This is a mechanism to protect the health of the players. That is our priority, ”said Sánchez Martínez, who was blunt on this issue, without any room for self-criticism that he had shown with his hands inside the area.
Rejection of LaLiga’s proposal
He Negreira case The controversy around the referees has multiplied and the magnifying glass is no longer only put on their decisions on the field and VAR, but also on their internal organization. LaLiga has publicly stated its intention that the referees cease to be under the exclusive umbrella of the federation, with whom it has a long war, to create a new estate in which other players in Spanish football have a voice and vote. “We did not contemplate that possibility. Our closest body is the Technical Committee of Referees and, therefore, the federation”, clarified Sánchez Martínez, who once again was very energetic when it came to demanding respect for his colleagues in the base categories, harassed, according to his version, by insults, threats and attacks. “A pretty bad breeding ground is being created. We have to set an example as a society. It cannot be ‘everything goes here’, because we would create a monster. Football also has to have values. And forgive me for philosophizing”, commented the main referee of the Cup final.
At the meeting at La Cartuja in Seville, there will once again be a semi-automatic offside, just like in the Spanish Super Cup, both competitions organized by the federation. The publication of the audios and communications between the field referee and the VAR is a step that, however, nobody has yet taken in Spain. “We have nothing to hide, but the question I have,” said Jaime Latre, video arbitration referee this Saturday, “is whether this would help anything.”
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