The Barcelona Scandal: Can We Trust Football?
When news broke out of Cadena Ser that FC Barcelona had a working relationship with the former vice-president of the Spanish Referees Committee, Enriquez Negrera, no one expected the only honest, logical comment to come from arch-rivals coach Carlo Ancelotti.
This is an ideal opportunity to hit below the belt, as you can see, all kinds of beatings in reality, but the Italian's statement was expressive of the enormity of the matter, because, when he spoke of "the importance of the reputation of La Liga", he saw more than gloating, slander, and the usual verbal battles between officials of the two clubs; The fact that doubt - just doubt - about the results of one team in the league strips the credibility of the entire league.
A Scandal, However
Let's start first by what the situation is on the promise of avoiding tedious legal details; Dasnil 95, owned by Negrera, provided "technical and arbitration advice" to Barcelona between 2016-2018 for 1.4 million euros in three instalments. These services included reports on how to deal with different referees and their methods in dealing with matches, in addition to reports on the most prominent young talents in the junior stages and the lower levels of Spanish football.
As Laporta explained in a brief statement - and perhaps the only correct information that the scandal produced - such consultations are very common among major football clubs, and are not surprising in any sense. The main problem here is - as I expected - the fact that Negrira was working as a vice-president of the Referees Committee at that time before he left at the end of the 2017-2018 season.
The financial payments stopped at the same moment of his departure, which adds to the matter of suspicion, and some analyses considered the amounts mentioned “exaggerated for consultations of this kind,” so that the suspicion turned into an unspoken popular judgment. What is interesting about the first reactions is that Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, which many consider being lurking with Real Madrid and Barcelona, or rather prejudiced against them, stated that he did not see anything suspicious in Barcelona's matches during that period - 2016 to 2018.
Of course, this is a huge exaggeration, often aimed at vindicating the La Liga referees themselves because most of them are still active until the moment, but any follower is well aware that any 10 consecutive matches for any team in La Liga must witness a few decisions ranging from controversial to catastrophic, not to mention two full seasons for a team accused of bribing the vice chairman of the Referees Committee.
But the same man confirmed that the fact that the incident was proven means that the Catalan giants have violated the law, and this is exactly the problem. Why might Barcelona and its officials raise doubts about themselves by resorting to an institution owned by an active referee - while they could have obtained similar advice from other parties - if it was not useful? And why did the payments stop after Negrera left office?
Going back to this era, you can be certain that Barcelona was treated unfairly in a number of matches during that period, especially in the 2016-2017 season. There are times when it is difficult to disagree or argue. Of course, in other matches, Barcelona received the preferential treatment of the big boys sometimes that became usual and natural, given that what was repeated was decided - some of Busquets’ artificial falls under pressure, for example - but the problem is that the Cadena Seir earthquake, like an earthquake, had aftershocks.
Andujar Oliver, the former referee, mentioned some disturbing details on “Onda Cero” radio, specifically about the relationship of Jose Maria Negrera, Enriquez’s son and director of his company, with the referees active in that period, and his attendance at some important Barcelona matches, and his delivery of the referees to the stadium before the whistle.
The network expands when you discover that Jose, in addition to leading his father's company, was also a member of the technical committee for the referees, meaning that his roles included training the referees, giving them instructions, and communicating with them constantly. Don't worry, this story will continue to amaze you.
Indeed, one of the advantages of this scandal, or perhaps the only one, is that it may give you an opportunity to practice schadenfreude in good conscience; Given that we are not alone.
Sudden entry
We think the of what Germans call "Schadenfreude", meaning to gloat. The important thing is that Andujar's statements lead you to the counter-statements made by another former referee, Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez. If you were an old La Liga fan, you probably remember him; Somewhat short, with rebellious black hair, strong emotions, and features that seem Arab at first glance.
The important thing is that Gonzalez believes that Jose Maria would not have been able to influence the La Liga referees, even if he was their coach and a member of the technical committee, simply because the matter is not that easy. Why not? Simply because Gonzalez is the same referee who triggered a similar earthquake years ago when he stated that 90% of La Liga referees already support Real Madrid. Below is a quote from Gonzalez.
90% of La Liga referees support Real Madrid, simply because 90% of Spaniards outside the Basque Country and Catalonia support Real Madrid... Where do you think the referees come from? From Mars?
Gonzalez hails from Bilbao and is an avowed fan of the city's Athletic team. Perhaps that is why he was chosen more than once to manage the confrontations between the two rivals, and perhaps the most famous of them was the Clasico Camp Nou in November 2010, which was full of excitement and violence, as usual, the confrontations of the two rivals during that period.
This conflict between Andujar Iturralde had an echo between former club captains Gerard Pique and Iker Casillas in one of the "Kings League" matches, which Pique co-owns and manages.
The discussion began with the latter's comment on the results of Real Madrid in the Champions League, the first individual referring to the famous Chelsea match in 2009 on the way to the sextuple, and the former returned to remind him of Fabregas's correct goal cancelled against Atletico Madrid in 2014, which cost Barcelona the La Liga title at the time, so Casillas retrieved some reverse decisions against Real Madrid in some league and cup matches, and so on. And yes, the conversation was as childish as it sounds.
The main dilemma in such situations is the difficulty of proving the complicity of this or that judgment conclusively, and this is mainly due to another intuitive dilemma that does not seem to be treated; Many decisions are taken by the referee in any regular match. According to the English Referees Committee, for example, or what is known as "PGMOL", the referee makes 245 decisions per match on average. This equates to 3 times the average number of times a player touches the ball, with a decision rate roughly every 22 seconds.
Before you get shocked by the number and start questioning its truth, note that "PGMOL" is about decisions, not whistles; According to its database, there are 45 technical decisions that include goals, corners, offsides, throws, etc., and the remaining 200 are decisions related to tackles, contacts, and regular decisions. Of these 200, there are 35 whistles, and 165 decisions to continue playing. Even continuing play requires a decision preceded by a mental process and a review of the law.
What does all this have to do with the Barcelona scandal? Imagine a referee making five obvious fouls in one match, so obvious that even the Referees Committee would admit them. These five errors give him a 98% accuracy in decisions. this is the problem; 5 wrong decisions may completely change the face of a match, but the referee, and the committee that often supports him, do not represent more than 2%. In any job in the world, that's an excellent percentage of error.
The question remains, however, can we trust La Liga going forward? And more importantly, should this affect the way we perceive previous seasons? More on that next post.
Sources
The Athletic: Barcelona paid £1.2m to referee chief’s company between 2016 and 2018
The Athletic: Ancelotti concerned by ‘doubts over La Liga’ in wake of Barcelona payments investigation
The Athletic: Inside Barcelona’s day of chaos as new scandal breaks – this one looks really bad
The Athletic: Javier Tebas says La Liga cannot open investigation into Barcelona referee payment
AS: Barcelona and the referees: a scandal and five mysteries
Former La Liga referee Andujar Oliver: “It is dangerous and the referees must formally complain to Barcelona” – Football Espana
Schadenfreude – Encyclopedia Britannica
Former referee: “90% of LaLiga referees support Real Madrid” – ESPN
A former referee: “90% of LaLiga referees support Real Madrid” – Football Espana
Iker Casillas accuses Barcelona of committing “one of the biggest thefts in football” in the wake of the scandal over payments to the vice-president of the refereeing committee – Goal
Refuting arbitral myths: How many decisions does the referee get right? Sky Sports
Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal; Revisiting the Pizzagate after 10 years - BBC
Manchester United against Arsenal in 2004.. Was the video assistant referee saving the unbeaten team? Sky Sports
Fabregas reveals the truth about the famous pizza incident – All Football
The 10 worst refereeing scandals in football history - Football Daily
La Liga President Javier Tebas calls on Laporta to step down from the Barcelona presidency in the wake of the financial payments scandal to the vice-chairman of the Referees Committee – Goal
I don't know how much football have you seen! It's nothing new. Football isn't all about fouls. Imagine Refree called for a foul instead of giving an advantage while it could have been a counter? Same thing happened in Worldcup Final.
Media wasn't that much happening then, So things don't used to come up that much.
Forget everything, just think once. Imagine Madrid or United did that! Now compare the reaction and media with Barcelona's time.
Here you are showing some biased clips to support your cause and here I am who have seen most of the matches.
The person who made this video don't even know basic rules let alone watching those matches.
Okay, I'll go through this one by one. You really need to work on your phrasing.
When did I say football was all about fouls? I am fine with referees letting a foul go because the team still has an advantage. I don't think you've read the post and you're just responding randomly.
You may wanna rephrase this.
I can't imagine the reaction being different really. Barcelona are being shamed for its actions, plus there are legal moves that could actually send some people to prison, and rightfully so. I imagine the same would happen if it was Real or Manchester United. Barcelona behaved in a shady way and if there's justice in football the club should be at least paying a huge fine.
Yes, because the clips are meant to show that if things went Barcelona's way fully, these things won't be happening to them. I have watched all of those and not most, not that it matters anyway because the point isn't to absolve Barcelona of wrongdoing or even get a favourited treatment, which you would have known if you read the paragraph right before the video.
Not sure what instant of that video you're referring to here because yes, there are many clips in that video where at best it was a grey area, but I couldn't gather each clip separately.
Just read the whole thing you're responding to or otherwise don't comment.