Ramón Jesurún's controversial defense of Colombian arbitration and the VAR

Controversies with the actions of the referees and the VAR continue to be a daily occurrence on all dates of the Colombian League. The criticism is intensifying and the level of the judges is increasingly questioned.

The most recent occurred this Sunday, in the match that Jaguares won 2-1 against Millonarios. The central judge of that match, Luis Delgado, sanctioned a penalty in favor of the visitor that no one saw at the time. The Colombian Football Federation revealed the VAR audios and agreed with the referee.

Ramón Jesurún, president of the FCF, referred to that specific play and gave full support to Delgado. “I was watching the game without any problems and suddenly, in the 90th minute, they called a penalty that no one saw. I did not see it. I started watching the replay of the game and I was worried. Today we published the VAR audio and it was a penalty, the referee acted perfectly. That it is subtle, that it is imperceptible. That's another thing, the regulations do not talk about imperceptibility,” Jesurún said on ESPN Team F.

Jesurún once again referred to the controversy of the Pereira vs. match. Junior, in which referee Andrés Rojas and the VAR validated a goal by Steven Rodríguez, despite the fact that Carlos Bacca was ahead in the previous play.

“That night I didn't sleep, worried, and I got up very early to watch the video. I'm not a referee, I'm a fan here: I see that the goalkeeper didn't move, that Bacca didn't distract him. I arrived at the office, asked them to send the VAR audio, and it was the same as what I had perceived. I asked as a personal favor that it be studied internationally. And they told me that it was a very strange play, but they congratulated us, that the VAR acted well,” said the leader.

Jesurún believes that criticism of the referees and the VAR must be toned down. “We have to be mature and not always think that there is bad faith or corruption. They always try to get it right and always act in good faith. Europeans always accept what the VAR decides. They always have an advantage over us, that could help us. If we change, that could help avoid the generation of violence that these types of comments are generating in Colombian soccer,” he declared.

Jesurún does not want all the VAR audios to be revealed

The president of the FCF is not in favor of revealing all the VAR audios. “We cannot convert all the audits that a referee makes in 10 VAR matches and make them public. We would go crazy. We have to be selective and look for the audios that have generated reasonable doubt within the fan, within the press and within the context of football,” he explained.

“We cannot convert all the audits that a referee makes in 10 VAR matches and make them public. We would go crazy. “We have to be selective”

He also defended the fact that those in charge of the VAR have not been very experienced referees, with a curious example. “To be a VAR referee you do not necessarily have to have directed. I'm going to give a real life example. Today, scientifically speaking, to detect cancer, they listen to a person: th
ey are not necessarily doctors, through the computer, through images resulting from the examinations performed on the patient, there are engineers, economists, administrators, they are the ones who have the great truth of what the patient has. I'm not making that up, I've looked at it on my pages. I have a friend who is an engineer and mechanic who is an expert in deciding images about possible diseases that lead to cancer and what he says is accurate, regardless of what the doctor says. Those who manage the VAR have not necessarily been referees, and even successful referees. Why shouldn't they build trust if they are prepared?

According to Jesurún, Colombian referees have never been as prepared as they are now. “What the Federation has invested in the last three or four years in the preparation of the VAR, VAR referees, assistants and normal referees is considerable. We have never had referee preparation of such quality as in the last three or four years. What happens is that technology strips down to the smallest detail. The referees suddenly do not have the moment to make a certain decision that the VAR is suddenly giving them. The 100 percent invented VAR is not there,” he assured.

Jesurún does not agree with the professionalization of arbitration. “The issue of professionalization of arbitration sounds nice, it sounds ideal, but the examples in the world have not been successful. For them to be 100 percent football officials and working all the time for football would not be easy. We do not have the concentration of football in the same region. In Argentina, 80 percent are in Buenos Aires. In Paraguay, everything is in Asunción. Colombia is a very dense and heterogeneous country. Furthermore, it is very complicated business wise, hiring 100, 150 referees and the same referee making two flagrant errors. What would happen,” he insisted.

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