A decision that Sporting criticized this Wednesday in a statement. “Sporting Clube de Portugal became aware of the ruling of the FPF Disciplinary Council on the so-called ‘television case’ and expresses deep astonishment at this decision, which comes after the well-known meetings between APAF, the Arbitration Council, FPF and LPFP, and represents a gigantic setback in the defense of referees and in the evolution of Portuguese football”, it can be read.
“The sanction applied is blatantly disproportionate to the severity of the episode. This is the most serious case known of an attempt to resurrect old practices, completely contrary to what Sporting considers to be the path for the future of Portuguese football. Sporting considers that the FPF had a unique opportunity to make a difference and prevent episodes like this from happening again, but, regrettably, it ignored it”, adds the Leonine club.
It should be remembered that the FPF CD chose to sanction the blue and whites for ‘qualified non-observance of other duties’, applying the fine almost two months after having initiated disciplinary proceedings for the incident that occurred on November 2, at Estádio do Dragão. At issue was an alleged pressure attempt, described in the referee’s report, during the break of the match of the 10th round of the I League, which ended with the dragons’ victory (2-1).
The aforementioned ruling that supports the deliberation reveals that FC Porto justified that the images of the play in question were intended to be reproduced for analysis by its technicians. And it was just a mere lapse that the referees’ locker room was also selected. “The Defendant refers […] that, in the game that is the subject of the case, the Defendant’s team was asked to make the disallowed goal available in the first part of the game, for analysis by several internal teams, to be made available in the rooms where the technical team, the game analysis team, and the sports management would be located. He adds that, by mistake, when selecting the locations to inject the content, the referees’ room was inadvertently selected”, it can be read.
In the same document, it is described what Fábio Veríssimo said, when asked if his performance in the second part was affected by the images. “What [as imagens] They were placed with the clear intention of trying to condition the performance of the refereeing team, I have no doubt. I can’t know if there was a cause and effect relationship, but the images affected me, of course. That’s why I ordered the television to be turned off,” the document states.
