April 6 – Bullets have been sent in the post to three key figures at the Italian Referees’ Association, according to its president, amid fan protests over use of the video assistant referee system.
Marcello Nicchi said envelopes had been sent to him, the body’s vice president Narciso Pisacreta and to referees selector Nicola Rizzoli. Police are now investigating.
VAR, which will be introduced officially at the World Cup, has been used as an experiment in Serie A this season with mixed reaction.
Nicchi criticised a complaint lodged by a consumer association over a Serie A referee’s decisions in a Lazio-Torino match that will result in the referee appearing in court.
”Can you imagine (Cristiano) Ronaldo or (Lionel) Messi, or any other player, ending up in court for having made a mistake or presumed error?” Nicchi asked.
Last month, an estimated 1,000 Lazio fans showed up outside the Italian football federation’s offices to protest a number of mistakes that went against them because of VAR.
”We would have had an extra seven points this season without VAR,” declared Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi.
But Nicchi condemned as going far too far recent comments in which a TV journalist claimed referees had “declared a war against the people”.
“There is a journalist who said in a broadcast: ‘They have declared war on a people and in war you do not play the whistle, you are shooting. You have to shoot the referees and not allow them to referee,'” he said. “This is the consequence.”
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