Jean-Pierre Caillot (Reims): “The referees are more and more robotic”

On Wednesday evening, the Disciplinary Committee of the League severely sanctioned Jean-Pierre Caillot, the president of the Stade de Reims, by suspending him from all official functions until December 31, which corresponds to nine matches, from the 8th to the 16th day of L1, the sanction taking effect from next Tuesday.

And this, on the basis of the report of Jérémy Stinat, the referee of Reims – Lyon (1-1, August 28), denouncing the insulting remarks made against him after the match by the president of Champagne. The latter, whose remarks in question were of course linked to the fact that he was “overwhelmed by his decisions”, then declared to the press: There is a problem with French arbitration. They make mistake after mistake, it’s always the wrong decisions on the wrong side,” thus pointing to a “lack of consistency”.

Clot will not appeal

The lack of consistency had been quite obvious during this meeting: Mr. Stinat, who had not whistled for a penalty for a foul by Rémy Riou on Folarin Balogun which nevertheless seemed quite clear (32nd), had then expelled, certainly logically, Dion Lopy for a dangerous tackle on Alexandre Lacazette (63rd). But after having “forgotten” to exclude Maxence Caqueret, who undoubtedly deserved a second yellow card for his intervention on Junya Ito (55th), after the one whose OL midfielder had just suffered for a sole on … Lopy (48th).

” My hearing lasted a good half hour, where I was listened to, but obviously not very well heard, given the sanction (smile) … “, Jean-Pierre Caillot told us this Thursday, specifying that he will not appeal. In particular, it will prevent him from participating in the next Board of Directors of the League, at the end of September, knowing that he is president of the Ligue 1 college (elected in September 2020, until 2024), and from an official dinner with Pascal Garibian. , the Technical Director of Refereeing and Eric Borghini, President of the Federal Referees Commission. ” But that won’t stop me from working on the files. »

In the meantime, he regretted before the Commission ” the form “ of his reaction, in relation to the example that must be given to Leagues and Districts. » But it has “maintained” his opinions “on the substance of the problem”: “The refereeing is not consistent from one referee to another, nor from one stadium to another. Whether for penalties or red cards, the same causes do not create the same effects and there is a total lack of psychology. I told them that I really regretted the evolution of our relations with the referees, who are unfortunately more and more robotic. I received a lot of messages from public opinion, players and presidents telling me that I was brave to proclaim out loud what they had been thinking for years. »

“This sanction simply confirms in my eyes that we are only retaining the form and that we are not attacking the genesis of the real problem, that there are taboo subjects and that I do not really see how things will evolve. With the arrival of HVAC (Luxembourg fund which has invested 1.5 billion euros in French football), we are rethinking the football product. It was an opportunity for everyone to question themselves. In all the working groups set up at the League, the only one that is not moving forward is the arbitration file…”