Tuesday,
May 15,
"Calciopoli"
Fuels
The
ANNOTICO Report
"Calcio" Fiorentino was an
early form of football/soccer that originated
in 16th century
While
Fans in other countries await team news (injuries, lineups, etc) on Fridays ahead of weekend games, in
The
cynicism and skepticism is based very much on the last season's match-fixing
scandal or "Calciopoli", in which giants Juventus were demoted for trying to secure favourable officials, has intensified the fixation..
Juventus, may very well have been
motivated by that series of events, seeing the great gain, and little potential
recrimination gave into the temptation. After all, if referees can be
corrupted on the "CUP" level, then of course why not on the national
level????
Calciopoli Fuels
Guardian
Unlimited
From
Reuters
By
Mark Meadows
May
16, 2007
MILAN,
May 16 (Reuters) - Italian referees have received more media attention than
many of the country's players this season after last year's match-fixing
scandal heightened scrutiny of their performances.
Criticism
of referees is nothing new in world soccer but the Italians have taken the
analysis to a new level even though there has been no hint of impropriety from
any of the officials still working.
Fans
in other countries await team news on Fridays ahead of weekend fixtures but in
Club
Web sites flash up their assigned referee as soon as it is announced and then
post detailed biographies and lists of recent controversial decisions.
The
Gazzetta dello Sport
newspaper publishes a huge matrix of numbers relating to referees, including
home and away penalties awarded and performance marks given to them by
journalists.
In
most European nations, the referee is subjected to abuse on the field but when
he leaves the stadium and the post-match recriminations are over he is largely
forgotten. He may be blamed for incompetence but rarely accused of cheating.
POINTS
DOCKED
Last season's match-fixing scandal or "calciopoli", in which giants Juventus
were demoted for trying to secure favourable
officials, has intensified the fixation.
Top
referee Massimo De Santis was banned for four years after being found guilty of
conspiring to rig Serie A games.
Other
teams had points docked but the focus was on Juventus,
who had been accused of gaining fortunate refereeing decisions long before the
scandal broke.
The
subject continues to be a favourite topic even as Juve fight for promotion from the less than glamorous Serie B back up to the top flight.
On
Saturday, referee Nicola Ayroldi awarded Juventus a late, debateable
penalty and sent off two
"The
disappointment is huge. Against Juventus, we are
always unlucky. It could not have been a penalty. How do you justify a decision
like that to the people?" he told the club Web site (www.bolognafc.it).
"It's
understandable and logical that someone loses their patience in circumstances
like this. If that was a penalty, they would have to give 10 or 20 in every
game."
EXPRESSED
DISAPPOINTMENT
Cesare
Gussoni, the head of Italian referees, criticised Ayroldi, the first
time he has openly done such a thing, and also expressed disappointment in
emerging referee Luca Marelli who had faced criticism for his handling of
another Serie B game,
"Ayroldi and Marelli were rather out of form and when a
player is not at his best, the player is not criticised
but the coach who put him on the pitch," Gussoni
told reporters.
"Therefore
I am the referee's assigner and I would have done well to have kept them both
on the bench. We can say that it has been a matter of inexact decisions that
deserve criticism."
Gussoni, who has been in charge of referees for the last six months,
said he would like
"The
whole day in Serie A and the rest in B went quite
well but it weighs heavily that two matches went badly, even if no one is
questioning their good faith," added Gussoni.
"If
any referee has made a mistake in bad faith, he will be heavily punished."
Last
month the Italian Referees' Association (AIA) suspended seven referees and two
linesmen after an investigation by magistrates threw up new allegations of
match-fixing connected to the original inquiry.
In
Such
cases are isolated but it has not stopped
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed and are Fully Archived
at:
Italia
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed at
Italia
Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com
Blogspot: http://annoticoreport.blogspot.com
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net