This year it seems like Collina has been a Juve curse...
I don't think it's just Lega Calcio. I've seen other sports where the bigger team, or the better player, gets maybe a few more breaks. In U.S. pro basketball, Michael Jordan got a quite a few marginal fouls called his way because referees are human and are not completely unbiased.
Referees are often put in the position of making spot verdicts for very questionable actions -- many of which aren't even crystal clear with the benefit of slow-motion TV from different angles. When a referee is forced to make a margin call for a very, very close situation where the blame might fall 60/40 (instead of, say, a clearer example at 80/20), what do they have to call it one way or the other?
Their perception isn't 100% (it can't be), and as with the judicial system in he-said-she-said cases that are too close to call, sometimes the reputation and other background of the parties can influence the outcome or decision. So I don't doubt that the big clubs might benefit some from this... they may get more of the benefit of the doubt.
But to call the integrity of referees into question is generally pretty pathetic. Humans have an innate and uncanny ability to attribute to conspiracy what incompetence will more than sufficiently explain. This has been true throughout the history of mankind.
Fuel to the fire is that Italian TV has an unusually high obsession with programs that do little but second-guess referee calls.
Personally, it's really a waste of time. And whereas in the U.S. they have sports that allow slow-motion replays from multiple camera angles to overrule referee calls, I would hate to see calcio go that way. The referee is human and part of the game. That goes whether you kick the ball at his head or whether he has to make a judgement call on a sketchy situation.
If people just relax and accept a little of that as part of the game -- as human players, coaches, and refs all make mistakes -- it will be better than trying to treat it as an exact science with laser measurements, etc. Sometimes the calls will go your way. Sometimes they won't. The good teams overcome the occasional bad call -- or create situations where a bad call won't make a major difference in the game's outcome. The bad teams simply point fingers and complain about conspiracies to deflect criticism for their inability to win.
I don't think it's just Lega Calcio. I've seen other sports where the bigger team, or the better player, gets maybe a few more breaks. In U.S. pro basketball, Michael Jordan got a quite a few marginal fouls called his way because referees are human and are not completely unbiased.
Referees are often put in the position of making spot verdicts for very questionable actions -- many of which aren't even crystal clear with the benefit of slow-motion TV from different angles. When a referee is forced to make a margin call for a very, very close situation where the blame might fall 60/40 (instead of, say, a clearer example at 80/20), what do they have to call it one way or the other?
Their perception isn't 100% (it can't be), and as with the judicial system in he-said-she-said cases that are too close to call, sometimes the reputation and other background of the parties can influence the outcome or decision. So I don't doubt that the big clubs might benefit some from this... they may get more of the benefit of the doubt.
But to call the integrity of referees into question is generally pretty pathetic. Humans have an innate and uncanny ability to attribute to conspiracy what incompetence will more than sufficiently explain. This has been true throughout the history of mankind.
Fuel to the fire is that Italian TV has an unusually high obsession with programs that do little but second-guess referee calls.
Personally, it's really a waste of time. And whereas in the U.S. they have sports that allow slow-motion replays from multiple camera angles to overrule referee calls, I would hate to see calcio go that way. The referee is human and part of the game. That goes whether you kick the ball at his head or whether he has to make a judgement call on a sketchy situation.
If people just relax and accept a little of that as part of the game -- as human players, coaches, and refs all make mistakes -- it will be better than trying to treat it as an exact science with laser measurements, etc. Sometimes the calls will go your way. Sometimes they won't. The good teams overcome the occasional bad call -- or create situations where a bad call won't make a major difference in the game's outcome. The bad teams simply point fingers and complain about conspiracies to deflect criticism for their inability to win.
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