06:54 AM
It is no secret to anyone that, on each date of Colombian soccer, the referees and linesmen who administer justice both in the League, in the Betplay Tournament and in the Women’s League have been singled out and criticized for bad refereeing decisions.
Neither the use of VAR nor the technologies have served to make refereeing in the country have higher quality, and, on the contrary, the misuse of this tool has made controversies and complaints from the teams a constant in each working day.
We must remember two recent cases in both the Betplay and Women’s Leagues, the duels between Junior and Millonarios in which the players of the Barranquilla team stood for a few minutes on the field without touching or attacking the ball in synonymous with protest, and after a claim for an arbitration decision.
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The same thing happened in the Women’s League, but there, the Llaneros team did make the decision and the players left the field of play, due to a controversial goal in the duel against América de Cali. In both cases, the two clubs were fined by the Dimayor Disciplinary Commission.
Several clubs, including Independiente Medellín, have sent notes of protest and their presidents have been sanctioned for statements linked to complaints about bad refereeing, these were the cases of Tulio Gómez of América and Daniel Ossa of Poderoso.
Now the scandal occurs after the publication that former referee and referee analyst José Borda made on his networks, where he mentions that 15 referees, including central judges, line judges, VAR and AVARS, were expelled for allegedly being linked to issues of betting and fixing in Colombian soccer matches.
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The issue of betting is not new, nor is it exclusive to the judges, since it must be remembered that it has also been mentioned that there are investigations against players, especially the promotion tournament, for alleged match-fixing.
The controversies have been so strong that Ramón Jesurún, president of the Colombian Football Federation, has given statements in that sense, due to the scandals that have occurred in the current season and in other recent ones, where complaints and claims were constant. .
In February, the issue of scandals due to bad decisions in several parties had heated emotions, and for this reason, Jesurún came out to give statements in this regard. On that occasion he came out in defense of Ímer Machado, head of the Arbitration Commission. “Machado is our employee and a man who I know works very well, he is serious. I ask, what responsibility can he have for a possible arbitration error or error of interpretation?
Read here: Another scandal in Colombian soccer due to new complaints about betting
But only four months passed and a new scandal exploded, this time, after Borda’s publication, in which he stated that 15 referees, including central judges, line judges, VAR and AVARS, were expelled for allegedly being linked to issues of betting and fixing in Colombian soccer matches.
The names of the central judges appear on the alleged list of those sanctioned: Éder Vergara, Jorge Duarte and Wander Mosquera; as well as the assistants José Piedrahíta and Yinfar Bulla; the VAR Ricardo García and the AVARS Cristian de la Cruz, Jhon Gómez, Herminsul Calderón, Juan Camilo Baca and Giovani Padilla.
Although there is nothing official, this is the list that Borda provided and that is being handled of the alleged members excluded for this issue. It must also be remembered that referees are not direct employees of the Federation, but rather provide a service.
Some of those mentioned in Borda’s list have been discarded, apparently, due to physical issues, they have not passed the tests to which they are subjected before each start of the season, others it is mentioned that it is due to age and only some do. They are pointed out for referee errors directly.
The truth is that, so far, there is no official statement on the controversial issue and Colombian soccer continues to receive accusations regarding betting issues from both players and judges.
