The dismissal of Diego Abal exposed a fierce internal leadership of Argentine arbitration that will offer in the coming days new chapters of a story that still does not have the end written. On the one hand, the national director of referees, Federico Beligoy, and on the other a group that -the also general secretary of the Argentine Association of Referees- identifies as opposed to his management.
The goal annulled to Gimnasia when in the date 18 faced Sarmiento left a tendal. From the third floor of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) they asked Beligoy for a reaction. He understood that, what can be understood as a tug on the ears, was also an institutional support. The idea was to "stop" referees – field and VAR – for some dates and mark the field.
But after the arbitration meeting at the Lionel Messi venue, the feeling that Beligoy had was one of war and that if he offered "standing referees" as a signal to Viamonte, the internal front could end up wearing him. "What are you going to do, are you going to stop us all?" was one of the last phrases he heard before leaving Ezeiza. It was also the trigger that made him mature an idea that crystallized the next day with the dismissal of Abal.
When the news broke, Beligoy received an elliptical message. Fernando Espinoza, the referee who is also usually in the eye of the storm for his annoying ways and who in his last show of arrogance pushed the footballer Gustavo Canto, of Central Córdoba, published an eloquent WhatsApp status: "Life is like a restaurant, nobody leaves without paying", said the phrase that accompanied an image to which he added his.
The suggestive message of referee Espinoza after the dismissal of Abal. Photo: image capture
"He who warns, does not betray," Espinoza redoubled the bet to close his state, visible to all those contacts he has – and have – scheduled. What did the referee mean? "For those who are willing to understand things without turns, it is clear: if they throw me out too, they pay for it. If they throw me out, I'll wear more than one," said someone who also saw the message and knows the internal referee closely.
The rift is between VAR and field referees
The VAR in the center of the scene, and of the dispute between referees. Photo Juano Tesone
The internal one that divides the referees has its epicenter in a division: those of field and those of VAR. There is no good coexistence between the two for several reasons. On the courts, the time consumed with his interventions from Ezeiza bothers him; whereas poor connections undermine work; whereas verbal back and forth sometimes involves ill-treatment; And a rispidity of lineage: there are children, nephews and relatives of historical arbitrators and the bearing of surnames in some cases is damning.
"In that context, Gimnasia's annulled goal the other day is what in politics is known as throwing a dead. I don't know who they threw it at, but notice that it had consequences," a source who sees the inmate closely explains to Clarín.
Far from ending, the conflict escalated. Some believe that there will be no more dismissals like Abal's, but others are convinced that the next on the list is Gerardo Carretero, also at the VAR table during the Gimnasia match and with a similar age to make up the dismissal for an age issue.
Diego Abal in his last match as field referee. Photo Federico López Claro
That day there was also Gabriel Favale, Quality Manager behind the screens. "He is Beligoy's right-hand man, I do not think he will suffer the same fate or that Beligoy will deliver his own troops at this time," said another source.
"Don't mess with the whistles, it's worse than messing with the cabaret mines," they say Julio Grondona repeated – in times when political correctness was not common currency in the corridors of the AFA – every time he talked about referrals. Perhaps that is why, to avoid bill passes, Grondona himself officiated as president of the College of Arbitrators.
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