Alfonso Pérez Burrull (Comillas, 1965) refereed for 13 seasons in the First Division. The vice president of his union during that entire stage was Enríquez Negreira, to whom FC Barcelona paid around seven million euros over 17 years in exchange for alleged arbitration reports and today causing all kinds of suspicions. Through La Vanguardia, Pérez Burrull requests respect for the work of those referees, whose reputation is stained today. “We are the victims of all this. We are not to blame, ”he remarks.
How did you receive the news?
With a mixture of anger and sadness. Also impotence. It doesn’t seem ethical to me. I would like to have Negreira in front of me and tell him why have you done this to us? He is very ugly. You feel bad because there has also been a rumor for years that referees harm football and this gives rise to even more speculation.
Have you talked to other colleagues from that time?
Yes of course. We are ojipláticos and pissed off.
Do you plan to do any joint action?
The best way to do that is to let the Prosecutor’s Office work. The referees are the first interested in knowing the truth. We are the main victims because suspicion falls on us.
Were arbitration reports common in your time?
I never heard of referee reports. I really want to know what they consisted of. I don’t understand how you can report on people. There is no point in writing a report writing if I draw a red card with my right or left hand or if I have more or less character.
Does the price paid seem reasonable to you?
I don’t think that what can be explained about the referees is so valuable or so extensive as to pay those amounts of money. I wonder if there isn’t something else. But I don’t know what it can consist of.
In 2007 you sent off Ronaldinho on the penultimate day against Getafe. Then Real Madrid took the League…
Nobody likes to expel players. But that foul was a kick without the ball. I wanted to ask Ronaldinho if he was new. He was instantly sorry for what he had done. But I had to get the card.
Did they tell you that you hadn’t behaved well with Barça?
Yes of course. And with Real Madrid. In 13 years they tell you everything. It is part of the soccer liturgy.
Who received you at the Camp Nou?
No one came to see me at any hotel. I would arrive at the Camp Nou, take a walk around the field and the delegate, Carles Naval, would come to greet me. I also remember greeting people like Amador Bernabeu or Nicolau Casaus. But that was it, a cordial greeting. They were people with a lot of seny.
What memories do you have of Vice President Enríquez Negreira?
He was a distant person with the referees. We knew that he was the vice president but we did not know his functions.
Did you at any point suggest how you had to referee FC Barcelona?
That is science fiction. These types of conversations never exist within the arbitration group.
And of your son, Javier Enríquez, what memories do you have?
He came to Santander to a convention of referees. It was before the start of the 2008-2009 season. He didn’t tell us that he was the vice president’s son. He said that he had a coaching company. It was a session that was not scheduled in our calendar and that occurred in the last few days. I was always skeptical.
Because?
Because I think that to talk about the psychology of refereeing one has to have been a referee.
Were your classmates also skeptical?
Not all. There was a generational issue. He caught me at the age of 43 and 12 seasons in the First Division. At 30 years old and without so much experience, you don’t react like that.
Do you put your hand in the fire for all your companions?
Yes of course.
What sanctions do you expect?
Sportingly, the facts have prescribed. If something serious has happened, we can only draw conclusions and learn from this. Afterwards, regardless of the criminal sanctions that there may be, I do believe that we must stop questioning the honesty of the referees.
How can the stain that remains on the arbitration body be cleaned?
Raising the voice Making it clear that we have not done anything.