Fallout From the Juve Debacle
By: Martha | October 29th, 2007
In addition to the city-wide meltdown in Turin (not to mention what’s going on far and wide via the internets), there actually has been some concrete reaction to the horrific refereeing of Saturday’s Napoli-Juve match.
First and most importantly, referee Mauro Bergonzi has been informed by referee designator (and king of the world) Pierluigi Collina that he won’t be working again for a month, a ban that will both give Juve some time to cool off and allow Collina to spend hours and hours with Bergonzi, trying to explain to him what, exactly, constitutes a dive. (Hell, with that kind of time he could even bring in live examples — Gila’s suddenly busy, but I hear Adriano and Pippo Inzaghi have some time on their hands these days.)
Additionally, it’s suspected that Napoli’s Marcelo Zalayeta might be suspended for the shameless dive that won the second penalty, something that might actually make Juve feel worse, but also could put a little fear into the heart of divers league-wide. That said, though, the same thing happened to Adriano last season — he was suspended two games for a dive against Roma that the referee bought at the time — and there’s not exactly been a dramatic decrease in playacting this season.
And, finally, a sector of Juve supporters are expressing their rage in the most orderly way possible: They’re signing a petition. Said fans feel Bergonzi screwed up way too massively to just be suspended — they want him sacked, and are angrily typing their names to make it happen. While I admire their resolve, if the petition has any real effect the world may as well end, because when the ability of referees to hold on to their jobs starts depending on pleasing the teams with the biggest supporters base, we all need to start watching something else.
Edit: It’s a two-match ban for Zalayeta.
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Comments
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I actually feel a bit of sympathy for Juve on this one. Although their fans would do well to remember how many dodgy penalties they have had over the years. I’ll start counting now and might be finished by next Christmas…
Posted from
United Kingdom
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Zalayeta’s suspsended? Great. Having almost fallen victim to reckless hand gestures in today’s lunch line discussion of how Juve are whiny brats and Zalayeta was most definitely not diving, I think maybe I should not stand anywhere near the guys in the lunch line tomorrow.
Posted from
Italy -
The 2-match ban against Zalayeta is fair…actually, what would be fair would also be a 2-match ban on Lavezzi as his dive was really of superior quality.
I’ll stop short…way, way, way short of feeling sympathy for Juve. Maybe it’s karma? Next Christmas is about right Ginkers.
This actually forces Calaio (hopefully) to get more playing time which might be good for Napoli anyway. See it’s a win-win for everyone?
Posted from
United States -
meh - the ref’s will make it up to them next time.
Posted from
Canada
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