Referees’ Association chief Gianluca Rocchi looks back over specific Serie A controversial incidents, including Francisco Conceicao’s red card in Juventus-Cagliari.
The AIA leader sat down with Sky Sport Italia this evening for a lengthy interview, discussing the interpretation of different situations by referees and the VAR officials.
He confessed “mistakes were made” in Serie A Week 7 and that he was “not satisfied” with the performance of his officials in that round.
There were two incidents that caused a lot of controversy in a single game, as Juventus and Cagliari drew 1-1 in Turin.
Sebastiano Luperto was judged to have handled the ball when it was headed onto his arm following a corner, leading to a penalty converted by Dusan Vlahovic.
“You can talk about intention, but it is difficult for a referee to judge if you wanted to handle or not, so we instead think about negligence and imprudence,” said Rocchi.
“I am fairly content with the direction where we took the rules, where making the silhouette larger is already an important parameter to judge. Anything above the head can be punished.
“If a teammate heads the ball and it hits another teammate, that is not a penalty. If it bounces off you and the arm is sticking out, then that is a penalty. It’s different if it strikes the foot first and then the hand.”
Juventus-Cagliari incidents stood out
When it came to Luperto’s handball, Rocchi watched the footage and gave this interpretation.
“We also have to evaluate the balance of the player, but ultimately the final decision rests with the referee. The referee makes the decisions, whereas the VAR is there as a support.”
Later in the same match, Francisco Conceicao received his second yellow card for simulation, reducing Juventus to 10 men.
“There is always going to be a level of subjectivity in the decisions of a referee and I am convinced we’ll never be all able to agree on everything,” noted Rocchi.
“The yellow card for Conceicao was excessive, though.”
There were a few other situations that caused controversy too in recent weeks, such as red cards for Woyo Coulibaly’s foul on Dan Ndoye in Bologna-Parma and Milan defender Davide Bartesaghi against Lecce.
“When it comes to a straight red card, we must take the safety of the players into account. In my view, the Bartesaghi foul was more yellow than red, but I always prefer a referee to make a decision with courage rather than the other way around.
“As for Coulibaly, at this level of the sport, the players have more control over their bodies than we might think,” insisted Rocchi.
“I think it is 80 per cent a red card.”