Blog: Suspicious minds
Juventus claim they’re still paying the price for Calciopoli, but Antonio Labbate would rather put it down to inept refereeing
There is no doubt about it now – Juventus believe they’re still being punished for Calciopoli. They feared it before the campaign began, intimated it after a number of questionable decisions went against them earlier in the season and have now confirmed as much in writing after Saturday’s costly reverse at Reggina.
Reaching such a verdict is an understandable conclusion for the Italian giants. They’ve lost three times in Serie A so far this term and all three defeats have followed after a number of crucial decisions went against them. While they didn’t kick up too much of a fuss after Antonio Nocerino was denied a penalty in the Udinese loss, the reverses in Naples and now Reggio Calabria received a much more tumultuous reaction.
Four years after Luciano Moggi locked Gianluca Paparesta in his dressing room for his refereeing performance at the Granillo, Paolo Dondarini perhaps deserved to suffer the same fate after his abject 90 minutes at the weekend. The official rejected three perfectly legitimate Juventus penalty claims only to then generously award the home team a match-winning spot-kick in injury time.
With Italians intrinsically equipped with a culture of suspicion – one reinforced by the Calciopoli tsunami – and living in the land of La Moviola, it’s no surprise that Juventus may feel that they are still paying for a crime which they’ve already served time for. It’s a justifiable thought process, but perhaps not entirely accurate.
While taking charge of Juventus games may not be the easiest assignment a man in black can be offered on the club’s return to Serie A, the widespread number of calamitous performances in the Italian top-flight this term suggests that it might just be a case that Pierluigi Collina’s card carriers are simply not good enough. Instead of officiating matches, referees are verging on falsifying them and, subsequently, the championship as a whole. It’s been enough for La Gazzetta to rewrite the Serie A table.
It’s a predicament which needs resolving and quickly. Collina was pinpointed as the man to give the Italian refereeing system its dignity back, but he’s got some mountain to climb. He obviously needs time to mould his recruits, but the Italian calcio scene can’t just bring a halt to the season and wait for them.
The sheer size of the problem was underlined last night by Rino Foschi. When asked whether foreign referees could provide the answer to Italy’s latest calcio crisis, the Palermo sporting director – who had just witnessed his side denied a late penalty before Milan took the game 2-1 – noted: “No, we have the best referees in the world.” There wasn’t any sarcasm in that response. Worryingly, he was being serious.
While some will relish Juventus’ latest misfortune, other followers of the game will see the wider picture. This is not about one club, but the future of a national sport. Having endured the Calciopoli years, it’s only natural that we all would want a normal, fairer, more transparent and credible championship. We’re still waiting for that to happen.