Former referee Paolo Casarin spoke to Rome based newspaper the Corriere dello Sport today about the application of technology in football, as well as the change in the rules of what constitutes a hand ball, before touching on what a referee should do when a play faces racial abuse, like what happened to Romelu Lukaku in Inter’s victory over Cagliari last week.
When asked about the penalty kicked given against Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt in his nations game against Germany earlier this week, Casarin was not impressed by the decision.
“Yes, he was composed, the opponent was behind him, there was no conscious attempt to impact play with his hand. According to the traditional rules, a classic unintentional hand ball”.
The former referee was critical of the new rule.
“If you tell the referee that a hand ball is always penalty, you change the relationship between the foul and the punishment. The punishment must be relative to the conduct of the player. If an accidental hand ball suffers the same sanction as an intentional one, football is no longer reasonable. In a word, football is no longer football.”
Casarin also responded positively to VAR but stressed the importance of the referee’s judgement.
“I am not against the Var at all. But you have to understand that there is a limit where the referee becomes de-legitimised. If it’s a question of establishing whether or not there is an offside, VAR is welcome. But when I’m three meters from someone who hits the ball with his hand I have to decide, and I have to decide whether or not it was intentional.”
Finally, the former referee also spoke of the racism incident that Romelu Lukaku was victim of and detailed what he believes referees should do in those cases.
“The referees must protect the players from any form of discrimination. If one tries to break another’s legs, the referee intervenes. And if a player suffers racial abuse, the referee must do the only possible thing: stop the game until the rules are respected. Because he is the guardian of sportsmanship and must warn the fans that offending a player in such a shameful way doesn’t let the game reach the minimal ethical conditions for it to continue”.