The ongoing scrutiny of referees by Real Madrid TV before Real Madrid matches has long been a contentious issue in the Spanish league.
Though none of the teams have formally reported the issue to the Spanish Football Federation, many have voiced their complaints. But that is no longer the case.
Sevilla have confirmed in a statement that they have reported Real Madrid to the Federation before their encounter on Sunday. That is because Los Blancos use their official channel to highlight the “mistakes” made by the referees in its forthcoming matches.
The Andalusian club issued a statement denouncing Los Blancos for what they described as “persecution and harassment” of referee Isidro Diaz de Mera and video assistant referee Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes.
Both of them will officiate the match at the Santiago Bernabeu.
What did Sevilla say?
“Sevilla FC has proceeded to denounce this Saturday by means of a letter, before the Competition Committee of the RFEF, the campaign of persecution and harassment against referee Diaz de Mera, appointed as the main referee of tomorrow’s match between Real Madrid and Sevilla FC, as well as against Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes, referee appointed for the VAR, through Real Madrid TV, Real Madrid’s official television channel.
“Sevilla FC would like to formally denounce the present events to the federation, in order to assess whether these events can be considered as an infringement of the General Regulations of the RFEF or any other regulations that are applicable to it.
“The club also wishes to reiterate its strongest condemnation of these behaviours and orchestrated campaigns to undermine the image of the refereeing establishment, doing serious damage to Spanish football and calling into question the integrity of the competition”, they said.
Sevilla are taking action against Real Madrid
La Liga to join investigation?
In the next few days, the Federation’s Competition Committee will choose whether or not to launch an inquiry into the situation after receiving the report. As far as Real Madrid are concerned, they think they are well within their rights to film these refereeing sessions.
According to Marca, the club’s management is not concerned. They are under the impression that the Spanish FA Competition Committee has zero possibility of penalizing them.
But Diario AS say that if they do decide to investigate Real Madrid, La Liga will also involve themselves. It is evident where the institution’s president stands on the issue; Javier Tebas has already criticized Los Blancos for similar videos.
“The channel is a public concession. I am sure that it was granted assuming that they would respect the values of sport. The conditions of the rights must be reviewed. La Liga is beginning to take action against the videos.”
“Can you imagine a video of the referees created by Barca and the rest of the clubs following suit? We would destroy football. It is evident that we cannot continue down this road”, he said at the beginning of February.
“Nobody sticks their neck out about the videos because of what Real Madrid are in this country. They command respect. The referees have enough with the Negreira case. I have been president for ten years and having Florentino in front of you every day, it is not comfortable.”
Photo credit: IMAGO / Sportimage.
