“Fans should not expect clarity on the refereeing issue” – Kommersant FM

The head of the RFU refereeing corps, Milorad Mazic, did not see any errors in the work of the referees at the matches of the 22nd round. We are talking about the meetings “Spartak” – “Ural”, “Fakel” – “Orenburg” and “Lokomotiv” – “Krasnodar”, which raised many questions from experts and fans. Meanwhile, referees have already received incentive appointments for the country’s Cup games. Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov looked into why the leaders of the judiciary do not see the mistakes of their subordinates.

Referee scandals have long become the norm in Russian football. Optimists assumed that the appointment of the Serb Mazic to the post of head of the judicial department would at least change something for the better, but no. The new broom has waved so that now arbitrators can make any decisions and not bear any responsibility for them.

Back in 2023, Mazic said that he would no longer officially announce punishments for judges. The RFU is protecting its players, of course, because inviting another foreigner to this post was the creativity of football officials. Therefore, it is not surprising that when speaking about refereeing, many experts do not choose their expressions. Here is what the former owner of Spartak, businessman Andrei Chervichenko, said about this: “We have already seen the Italian who, in principle, established this semi-mafia system of refereeing in Russian football, and still continues to protect it, as they tell me. I’m talking about Roszetti.”

There are certainly no fewer questions about refereeing after the appointment of Mazhich. Former football players of almost all generations are already openly laughing at everything that happens. For example, ex-Zenit player Andrei Arshavin in one of the television programs on Match Premier, discussing the decisions of the referees in the matches of the 22nd round, had difficulty restraining profanity.

The problem of interpretation of the same rules still remains unresolved, and it seems that, despite the public outcry, officials do not want to change anything and, in any case, support the decisions of the arbitrators, even erroneous ones. This is what leads to scandals, expert in the field of refereeing Leonid Kaloshin is sure: “Some decision is made, and people know: for example, here it’s a red card. Several rounds pass, an identical moment, and suddenly some other verdict. And it is supported.

In order for people and clubs to understand what is right and what is wrong, you cannot always support any decision of the judges. It is necessary to reach some shore.”

But, in addition to the obvious mistakes of Russian referees in individual matches, football fans paid attention to another interesting point. The fact is that the new management often appoints referees for matches of the same clubs. For example, Sergey Karasev, as Telegram channels write, is attached to Rostov, and Evgeny Bulanov is attached to Fakel. The heads of the refereeing corps, of course, are not going to explain their decisions, and this, as always, leads to certain thoughts and conclusions that are unlikely to please football officials.

So why not convey to the fans the logic of your actions? Moreover, no one needs secrecy in this process, continues Leonid Kaloshin: “The club has the right to some secrets, because it competes with another team. The judges do not compete with anyone. Who will feel bad if you tell it like it is? On the contrary, this will make you more trustworthy as arbitrators.”

But everyone knows the saying about troubled water and fish well. Therefore, fans should not expect clarity on this issue. By the way, the clubs that have always fought against strange refereeing now practically do not react to everything that is happening, but they are the ones who pay for the work of the referees and have the right to know exactly why they made this or that decision.

There is talk behind the scenes that the controversial work of Mr. Mazhich may lead to clubs again starting to “work closely” with referees. I hope everyone understands what this means. And in a world where everything is closed and opaque, such “work” is a very likely development of events. So you can safely prepare for refereeing scandals and inadequate decisions of the men in black at the end of the season now.

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