Why a Culture of Corruption is Handy: No Loss is Really Deserved
By: Martha | November 28th, 2006
Though the manager and players have been smart enough to keep their mouths shut, Palermo chairman Maurizio Zamparini is mad as hell about the officiating in his team’s loss to Inter, and he doesn’t care who knows it. Though he didn’t actually come right out and SAY that the officials handed the game to Inter, quotes like “The refereeing was abysmal, blatantly in favour of Inter,” and “There were episodes, like the foul on Caracciolo he didn’t give, which then led to Vieira’s goal, when I was appalled by [referee] Rosetti” leave little question as to his true feelings. And, if you’re one of those charitable types who assumes purity has been returned to the Italian game and everything is now perfect, there was this headline in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport: The refereeing in Palermo was Moggiopoli-style. Yeah, he said it — he pulled out the Moggi card. Really, anyone who’s mad for the next decade or so has only to say “Maggiopoli” or “Calciopoli” to make it crystal clear how unjust the officiating of his team has been. Sigh.
That said, the officiating was pretty bad. I actually wasn’t that bothered by the non-foul on Caracciolo (it looked like six of one, half-dozen of another to me) but early on, Amauri looked like he was really getting screwed — every time the guy tried to win a ball, the foul was called on him. Every. Time. But is that why Palermo lost? I have my doubts.
Needless to say, the President of the Referees’ Association is quite sure that Rosetti called a great game, and that Zamparini is just acting like a woman. (Ok, he didn’t use those words, exactly, but you could tell it was what he was thinking.)
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