Arbitration
«The doors of our house are open but what we cannot do is walk with hypocrisy in many things. When I am interested, I complain and when the same situation benefits me, I keep quiet, “lamented the president of the CTA in his first arbitration balance before the media
Continuing with the tradition established by Carlos Velasco Carballo, his successor at the head of the Technical Committee of Referees, Luis Medina Cantalejo, made this Tuesday the traditional balance of the refereeing work once the first two thirds of the season had been consumed. In the first place, the former Andalusian referee expressed his “concern about respect for the figure of the referee.” “Today the websites and social networks of the teams are used to belittle and criticize in an interested and negative way,” added the president of the CTA, urging each club to contact the institution he directs to express their concerns. regarding arbitration.
More specifically, Medina Cantalejo was sincere when it came to acknowledging the confusion regarding one of the most controversial plays of the season, Oyarzabal’s disallowed goal in the Betis-Real Sociedad Cup quarter-finals due to offside. The first image that the television production showed to justify the VAR decision showed the ‘txuri urdin’ player in a legal position but was later replaced by the one that had really been taken into account from the Las Rozas VOR, with the attacker in an illegal situation .
“Things must be admitted and not disguised. An image had been created that said the disallowed goal was correct because the defender’s foot was further forward. That was not the image that was sent. From Hawk-Eye -the company in charge of the realization- a written justification was sent where they admitted the error and from there the move was analyzed with audio and the entire sequence. That play deserved that we meet and talk about it. I think it was totally clarified with this team, “valued the highest representative of the referees in reference to the most controversial move of the course.
«The doors of our house are open but what we cannot do is walk with hypocrisy in many things. When I am interested I complain and when the same situation benefits me I shut up. If we take off our masks, we all take them off. The issue of institutional respect for the referee is something that we have to work on because it is something that is going to grow. The topic of social networks today has no filter and it hurts, therefore it is time to say: ‘it’s enough’”, the Sevillian influenced in this sense.
“I would ask you for a little restraint. I understand that what sells is criticism and controversy but if you can lend a hand I would greatly appreciate it”, Medina Cantalejo addressed the press, concerned about incidents such as the “throwing of objects, the use of pyrotechnics, flares or canisters of smoke and violent acts in sports venues”, before which the CTA has created a specific action protocol, which can even lead to the temporary or permanent suspension of the match.
Cash game and hands
In line with Xavi’s proposal after the Europa League match between Barça and Napoli, the president of the CTA also valued effective playing time as one of the referee’s greatest concerns, a concept in which the League presents some of the worst data in European football, with constant stops and interruptions.
“I am in favor of only sanctioning clear hands, but there are times when what is clear to the referee on the field is later seen by us and it is not so clear. We would save a lot if it were sanctioned like this, but sometimes with that criterion we would inevitably eat some, ”Medina Cantalejo was honest about the criteria for judging hands, one of the most discussed concepts in current arbitration.