Louzán, Florentino, and the Referee Reform

The arbitration reform has begun with the dismantling of the management team. Out go Medina Cantalejo, president; Clos Gómez, in charge of VAR; Rubinos Pérez, deputy; and vice presidents Lizondo Cortés, González Vázquez, and Lesma López. No objections here. This period has not changed the closed-room atmosphere that permeates that organization, within whose walls the stench of Enríquez Negreira still lingers. Those leaving built their careers under the vice presidency of the infamous figure, whom I found again on the list of tax delinquents, in honorable company with Pantoja and Bertín Osborne.

But it is not just that they built their careers during those years of the apex of Villarato. They have maintained poor practices: opacity in scoring, promotions and relegations, a tendency to demote those who retire and reassign them to VAR, favoritism… You look at the table, and it turns out that everyone has officiated the same, the good and the bad. As if Real Madrid had a system allowing Vallejo to play the same as Mbappé. All in an increasingly oniony atmosphere, as demonstrated by the absurd press conference of those who were to officiate the Cup final.

From the purge, Yolanda Parga, in charge of women’s football arbitration, has been spared, who is just as bad or worse, but it goes unnoticed because it is much less visible and treated with indulgence. She is the partner of Megía Dávila, the former referee hired by Madrid. That relationship should be a cause for incompatibility for the position, but it hasn’t been so far nor has it served to include her in this clean-up. And the unsettling rumor arises that this shake-up could leave her in a better position.

Rafael Louzán is proving to be very sensitive to Florentino’s complaints about arbitration, whose exaggerated expression is visible on RMTV. LaLiga voted for representatives on the committee for this arbitration reform, and Betis, Sevilla (they mutually mark each other in everything), Racing, Albacete, and Granada were chosen. But then Louzán added Madrid out of courtesy. Between that and the rescue of Yolanda Parga, the anti-Madrid sentiment is on high alert. The defense for including Madrid is that this way their complaints are neutralized. I don’t know… For now, what the representative there has said is that RMTV has its own legal personality. Throwing stones and hiding the hand is one of the characteristics of Florentino’s regime.

We still do not know who will replace those dismissed, although the intention is to distance as much as possible from the Negreira stench they exhaled. It won’t be easy. That is so recent that today Barça is presided over by one of those who paid him, called to testify by the judge along with Valverde and Luis Enrique. I wonder why Guardiola isn’t included.

Meanwhile, referees have formed a union (AESAF). In the past, they associated in an ANAFE that focused on creating programs for García, calling strikes on Mondays that they would call off by Thursdays. As far as I remember, one was carried out, officiated by those from Segunda B (one of them was precisely Medina Cantalejo), the public did not notice a difference (if anything, it was better because there were fewer checkmates) and the rebels returned. Now I don’t believe they will come with great economic demands (they are almost double that of the Premier), rather they will probably try to get as involved as possible in Louzán’s proposed reform: a CEO, Artificial Intelligence for assignments, transparency…

The arbitration problem is as old as football. I hope Louzán fixes it, but I doubt that the Madrid company will be useful to him. His attacks on the arbitration system are just another expression of his efforts to discredit LaLiga.