Drastic measures. Measures that would have a direct impact on the competition. The Spanish referees have exploded because they are fed up with “permanent attacks” and threaten to take some action if they do not put an end to the climate of tension that has been created around the collective. The referees consider it “a perfectly measured and organized campaign” against them. The concern is such that the possibility of going on strike and paralyzing the League is on the table if there is no change in that rarefied environment.
“From the professional arbitration of Spanish football we want to convey our deep concern for the unfortunate situation that has been generated around the group that we represent and that is promoted and promoted from different fronts,” says the harsh statement from the referees, which denotes the anger of the estate.
The Negreira case and the suspicions it has aroused, the fierce criticism from the teams that feel harmed, the constant attacks on young referees in lower categories… But the last straw for the referees was a video published by LaLiga, where the director of Competitions, Luis Gil, according to the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), ridiculed “the arbitration proceedings”.
“We regret the permanent attacks by LaLiga and its main leaders,” the referees complain bitterly, who feel like a throwing weapon in the fight between Javier Tebas, president of the club association, and the RFEF, chaired by Luis Rubiales. In his opinion, LaLiga has set out to “generate an unbreathable climate towards our collective, sow doubt about our decisions and undermine refereeing professionalism”. For this reason, the First and Second Division referees request “respect and institutional responsibility.”
In addition, the CTA makes clear the contradiction that supposes that the leaders of LaLiga do not stop “permanently regretting a reputational crisis in Spanish football” and at the same time they themselves are the ones who collaborate to “generate it through a call for tension and to the violence against the referees in a maneuver that only leads to the devaluation of our football and its discreditâ€.
The statement insists on remembering that the CTA does not make the referee appointments for the parties, but the one who designates is the CACP, where the Federation has a representative, LaLiga appoints another and the third member is by consensus between the two. If it does not exist, it is chosen by the CSD.
The referees raise their voices to defend and make clear their “autonomy” from LaLiga and the clubs, something that must remain so “despite the confusion in which they have tried to plunge the fan”. “A deep reflection is urgently needed in the face of such irresponsible behaviors that must be stopped as soon as possible for the good name of Spanish football,” they claim, while pointing out that in football there are always mistakes by all its protagonists: the leaders, the footballers and the referees.
The tension, they denounce, is not confined solely to professional football but also affects “minors who start in lower categories and who lack security on the field, children who are singled out, insulted, threatened and, what is more serious, physically attacked â€, something that they describe as “intolerable†and that they consider a “direct effect of the media smear campaign†suffered by the elite.
The referees’ brief ends by calling for reflection so as not to regret “any more misfortuneâ€. In case of not perceiving any reaction, the referees consider “drastic measures” that would have a direct impact on the competition, they warn.
