After a few days of some truly horrible refereeing decisions in LaLiga, let me start by asking you: did you know that a leading referee like Antonio Mateu Lahoz could easily earn more than €400,000 per season?
What’s your view? Chump change or more than your gross in 10 years? Enough remuneration to make refs more accountable than they are right now? Perhaps you believe that when we require our refs (usually between 10 and 20 years older than the elite athletes they have to keep up with) to suffer the spotlight of patrolling the world’s favourite sport and to keep the multibillion-pound industry going, they deserve that level of incentive-reward? Or even more? Fine, if that’s your point of view.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.)
Lahoz’s colleagues have badly besmirched the reputation of Spanish top-flight refereeing over the weekend — namely Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez and (VAR) Jaime Latre at the Bernabeu; Xavier Estrada Fernandez (VAR) at Valladolid; Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea at Villarreal; plus Juan Martinez Munuera and (VAR) Jose Luis Gonzalez Gonzalez at Camp Nou. Even though they won’t earn quite so stratospherically (their average earnings in a season will be €220,000-€300,000), they and all their colleagues owe us, and LaLiga’s footballers, much more common sense, much more personality and much greater understanding.
Here are some of the ridiculous refereeing aberrations over the past five days.
During Real Betis vs. Cadiz, Sergio Canales received his first red card over a nearly 500-match senior career after a “spat” with Mateu Lahoz where both men look childish … followed by Valladolid’s 1-0 win over Real Sociedad where VAR disallowed three goals — each of which the on-pitch team originally thought were fine, and where perhaps only one intervention met the original criterion of a “clear and obvious” mistake.
We also saw three brutal attacks on ball-players (Montiel and Papu Gomez for Sevilla on Vinicius and Fede Valverde, then Dani Garcia on Gavi) that were textbook straight red cards, but only the first two were even judged to be worth bookings. (By the way, don’t take my word for it. Go and seek these incidents out for yourself by streaming the replays on ESPN+ in the U.S.: minutes 30 and 94 at the Bernabeu, then minute 27 at Camp Nou).
👀 La polémica entrada del Papu Gómez a Valverde que hace enfurecer a los aficionados del Real Madrid…. pic.twitter.com/MDBU22SG4h
— Fuera de Juego (@ESPN_FDJ) October 24, 2022
All abject decision-making by the referees on each occasion, but still worse failures to act by VAR each time. None of the three players who perpetrated the thuggery now suffer suspension, or punishment, but two of the victims, Gavi and Valverde, will miss playing time for their clubs as a direct result. Does that make sense to you? Is this, after endless referee training and supervision, law-tinkering and VAR introduction, genuinely all that we, spectators, media, players and managers, can aspire to? I think not.
The piece de resistance came when Villarreal beat Almeria on Sunday night. It was a deeply emotive occasion. Villarreal’s legendary vice president, Jose Manuel Llaneza, had just died after a year suffering from leukaemia. Aside from being a sparkling, kind, sage man he was fundamental in the 25-year rise of the Yellow Submarine from a third-division side playing in a tiny, dilapidated stadium and training in public parks to a European-trophy winning, double-Champions League semifinal club.
His death, only a couple of days before the game, was the main subject prematch. There was a small ceremony to honour him before kick-off and everyone at the club had promised that playing, hopefully winning, would be dedicated to Llaneza’s memory. Trailing 1-0, the Yellow Submarine equalised via a terrific header from Alex Baena.
The young midfielder, who’d already been booked, lifted up his shirt, tucking part of it behind his neck, in order to show a T-shirt message which read: “Thanks for everything Llaneza.” De Burgos Bengoetxea yellow-carded him for the action, sent him off, and then furiously and stubbornly motioned to protesting players that he was in the right. It was a disgusting lack of common sense (a theme here).
The instructions to Spanish referees state that players shouldn’t waste time in choreographed goal celebrations which include taking their playing shirt off or covering their head with their shirt. Neither of which Baena did. Displaying such a message, if Villarreal scored, was something which De Burgos Bengoetxea should, unquestionably, have anticipated. And, if he intended to be so harsh about the displaying of any Llaneza tribute after a goal, he owed it to Villarreal to have gone to their dressing room prematch to warn them.
