The new President of the Italian Referees Association AIA has explained that despite the pardon given to Inter striker Romelu Lukaku, players will still typically be booked for celebrating goals by “silencing” the crowd.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster Radio Anch’Io Lo Sport, via FCInterNews, the new AIA President Carlo Pacifici explained that the pardon for the Nerazzurri striker was a special circumstance, and that by and large the policy of yellow cards for celebrations deemed to be inciting the crowd will continue.
On Saturday, Lukaku received an executive pardon of his one-match suspension against Juventus in the Coppa Italia from FIGC (Italian FA) President Gabriele Gravina.
The reason that Gravina took the highly unusual step of intervening to lift a suspension based on two yellow cards rather than a straight red card was that he felt that the mitigating circumstances of the situation made it a special case.
Given that the 29-year-old Belgian international had made the “silencing” gesture towards a stand of Juventus fans who had been hurling racist chants at him, the FIGC President felt that it was the correct step to remove the suspension, out of sympathy with the player’s circumstances and in order to make a statement against racism in football.
However, if there is any thought that this could end up meaning that things change more broadly, and that players will not be booked for going to the crowd to “silence” them in celebrating goals, new AIA President Pacific has made clear that this is not the case.
“The pardon is a prerogative of the President of the Federation,” he explained, “he will have implemented it after looking at all the circumstances.”
“From our side, this changes nothing,” he added, referring to the perspective of referees, “we will continue to make decisions according to the rules in place.”
Asked if this means that bookings will continue to be handed out for “silencing” gestures like the one that Lukaku had used in most cases, Pacifici replied “Precisely.”