17 years later, referee Rui Silva finds himself once again involved in a refereeing controversy that marks Portuguese football. The 46-year-old judge, who this season works as VAR in League and League 2 games, also played this role in the duel between Santa Clara and Sporting.
The performance was marked by the 14 minutes necessary for a penalty to be awarded in favor of the Lions, due to a foul by Tiago Duarte on Morten Hjulmand. Much criticism followed, including from the FPF’s national technical director of arbitration, Duarte Gomes, and Rui Silva has already asked for exemption from the next round of the League. A whole process that once again marks the judge’s career, which is also linked to the Apito Dourado case.
In 2008, Rui Silva was suspended for 20 months for failing to report an attempted grooming by Gondomar. The situation was explained as follows in the June 10, 2008 edition of the newspaper BALL:
It was proven that the referee rejected being lured by José Luís Oliveira, president of Gondomar in 2003/04, before Gondomar-SC Braga B and Gondomar-Vizela, both with gold threads of symbolic value (even so, the Judiciary Police found one of these threads in one of the searches carried out at the Trás-os-Montes judge’s house). As Rui Silva did not write in the respective game reports the attempted grooming was punished with 20 months.
Four years later, and now back in action, Rui Silva was at the center of another controversy, when he was fiercely criticized by Beira-Mar, after a Portuguese Cup game with Arouca.
«Three major penalties for scoring in favor of Beira-Mar and two expulsions, the first of which was absolutely ridiculous», SAD Aveirense reported at the time, recalling that Rui Silva «was suspended for 20 months as part of the football corruption process known as Apito Dourado».
Rui Silva has not refereed a game as main referee since the end of the 2022/23 season – the last was a Belenenses 0-0 Sanjoanense, in the last round of League 3 – and this season he has already been VAR in 14 professional championship games.
