On Monday in Ezeiza, Chiqui Tapia gathered leaders from 28 clubs in the Professional League, including many presidents, he entertained them with a barbecue with him sitting at the head and made them smile in the photos, to tell them in a good way the same thing that His right-hand man, treasurer Pablo Toviggino, shouts with exclamation points and threatening capital letters in X:
“THE WHO ASKS THE MOST-DIES FIRST.”
Toviggino, until a few days ago a high-class employee in the Chamber of Deputies hired by Sergio Massa, is less political than his boss Tapia (although there are doubts about who is whose boss), and when it comes to "squeezing" leaders and coaches he avoids the subtleties:
death threats
(sportsmanlike, we choose to believe).
Carlos Tévez knows this, whom he insulted a few days ago with an alleged difficulty in the exam at the technical school, Little Witch Sebastián Verón and the president of River, Jorge Brito, whom he “bullied” for the audacity to criticize the organization of the championships with almost 30 teams in the First Division.
The treasurer of the AFA shows a particular fixation with death, which he resorts to in X as a persuasive resource for critical voices.
A man of extremes, between reposts of Pope Francis' account that invite concord, and of the "Perón, the legacy" account that reproduces historical phrases of the General (some of which did not invite concord, it is worth saying), he dispatches with chicanes that
seek to silence and discipline any dissent.
“Everything freely! They quickly grab a microphone, insult, discredit and verbally attack, justifying their mistakes. Do they feel they have impunity to do so? When it is on your own side, silence exposes you! All of those, without asking,
are still going to Die First.
I promise you!"
,
he pressed last October.
On Monday Chiqui Tapia changed the forms but not the substance.
On the contrary, he made it worse.
In the face of justified questions about the refereeing, with the match between Independiente and Barracas Central as the latest example of widespread suspicions, the terrible behavior of referee Dóvalo when insulting a footballer, and the crossings between Tevez and Toviggino himself, the president of the AFA had no better idea than to demand silence, closed doors, and the cancellation of any public discussion.
It is not the same as killing, of course, but
in expressive terms it is quite similar.
“If you want to talk about the referees, here, Beligoy comes to all the meetings. They call me, pick up the phone and talk to me. “You have any questions, we all follow them…”
was Tapia's message.
That is,
pure and simple Omertá
(the mafia code that prohibits talking about activities outside the members of the group) disguised as good intentions and a spirit of camaraderie.
Secrecy to increase suspicions.
The opposite of what Argentine football and refereeing need, which suffer from a primary problem:
lack of credibility.
To recover it, transparency is required, decisions open to the fans' gaze, public discussions.
Everything that Tapia and Toviggino try to dribble.