Famous football referee Sergey Khusainov especially for the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info he spoke about the “kitchen” of football refereeing in the Russian championship. Journalist Alexey Matveev talked to him
ACCORDING TO THE “FRIEND-FOIER” PRINCIPLE
“Not comme il faut, as people say, if you evaluate the level of refereeing in the Russian championship,” says international referee, Muscovite Sergei Khusainov. – The selection of referees for matches is a very important point. The level of endurance, psychological readiness, basic knowledge of the rules of the game – these are a kind of “passing points” for a qualified referee. And not everyone is up to the mark, but they “work” at the matches, imagine. This is the “level”, generally speaking.
Yes, in Russia they select judges on the principle of “friend or foe”, a long-established practice. The existing system of relations implies that you live in it, I repeat, according to the principle of “friend or foe.” That is, a person is selected for refereeing not so much by professional qualities, but by the ability to “adapt”, the desire to please certain people, often of a football-related nature. If you have such qualities, the path to big refereeing is open…
This manner implies that you can easily step beyond the concepts of honor and dignity, and are ready to complete the “task” – with dishonest decisions to “bury” this or that team during a particular match. Honesty and integrity are essentially an empty phrase for people of this type. Are the realities too harsh for Russian football? But the situation is as I described it.
– That is, referees, as I understand it, are selected to officiate matches on the principle of “friend or foe”? You have to be obviously not a very honest, principled person to take a whistle and referee football matches. Otherwise – “barrier”?
– That’s right. There are types among football referees who are ready to whistle dishonestly in favor of one of the teams, a common practice in our country. Such, so to speak, “referees” carry out tasks of dubious types, “sparklingly dressed” mafiosi. They scurry here and there around big football, not only big football, however. Around specific teams, for example, the first and second leagues. Yes, yes, there is no need to be surprised – harsh realities.
– Nothing can be done here, no counteraction to football-related “bugs”?
– What are you going to do here?! Will you go to the police and write a report? Well, you can end up in a gutter with your throat cut… Morals are still the same, nothing has changed since the cruel times of the 90s. At one time, some “scumbags” tried to “educate” me with blows of hefty bats; you see, they didn’t like my refereeing style.
As soon as he lost his legs, he managed to run into the entrance of the house. Wild customs, yes, these are the realities to this day. On the day of the attack, I thanked the Almighty: thank you, Lord, for leaving me alive…
But let me return to the issues of “pure” refereeing, which is hard to find in the Russian championship during the day. When, for example, the leaders of domestic refereeing begin to resolve non-sports issues, it can’t get any worse. Even ordinary, ordinary football fans can easily distinguish normal refereeing from a surrogate. And they will quite rightly be indignant: what have you given us here?! Instead of a normal fair game, there is some kind of impassable “swamp”!
Yes, independent football referees are not beneficial to anyone in the sports environment! They are like a bone in the throat of all sorts of politicians who look after their favorite teams and other crooks from football. First of all, scoundrel businessmen do not need honest people with whistles. They are ready to invest dirty money in the success of their team. And achieve it at any cost. Fame, prestige, and the like. Through dirty money, I repeat.
The main motto to this day in domestic refereeing is “friend or foe.” At all levels of domestic football. What do I mean first of all? Almost no one needs a referee with independent thinking and equally reasonable, independent actions on the football field. Unless numerous spectators and fans need it in order not to “spit” at stupid, sometimes biased arbitration. In the vast majority of football matches, they are judged according to the “friend or foe” principle I mentioned. Without a twinge of conscience. What kind of conscience is there?! It doesn’t smell close.
WILL FOREIGNERS SAVE THE RUSSIAN CHAMPIONSHIP?
In general, a noteworthy trick was invented by Russian football officials! We invited foreign referees to join us, not only to referee matches, but also to join the governing structures. Well, they have relieved themselves of a considerable amount of responsibility, so let the foreigners wallow in our crap and clean it up.
Well done to our bureaucrats! It’s as if they have thrown a weighty burden of responsibility onto “poor” foreigners who are almost unfamiliar with our harsh realities. It’s convenient to blame foreign colleagues for relatively weak refereeing, isn’t it? And this, the somewhat helpless work of foreigners at Russian Premier League matches, also happened.
By the way, today the leaders of Russian refereeing did not select the current referees; imagine, they did not even prepare them for the difficult battles ahead. The result will almost certainly be disastrous closer to the end of the season; even now, in the interim, it is, to put it mildly, not impressive. After all, the selection principle, which I have already mentioned in some detail, is initially flawed and does not contribute to progress in refereeing. Such are the things…
SPIT IN FOOTBALL. THE CASE OF “WELDS”
Well, here is the recent match between Spartak and Rubin in Moscow. The referee correctly responded to the episode in which the ball first hits the back of one of the Rubin players, then touches the hand of his partner, but is this really a penalty? Of course not! Initially, the referee correctly assessed the moment as a game moment that was not nearly worthy of a penalty. The game continued. But then, as I call them, “welders” from the notorious Var intervened. Negotiations and discussions immediately began, and other sports-related issues intervened. Almost out of the blue they came up with a “conflict of interest”. A simple game moment that does not require detailed investigations. And all this resulted in the awarding of a “penalty” against the Kazan team, which, objectively speaking, was not even close. My God, FIFA referee, why were you awarded such a high title?!
Meeting “Orenburg” – “Zenith”, referee Sergei Ivanov. In the 58th minute, Zenit player Nino, trying to take the ball from his opponent, hits him in the leg, moment in the St. Petersburg penalty area. Penalty? No. The referee seemed to “not notice” the obvious violation. What is this – bias, lack of qualifications? It was necessary to sort it out, the officials were in no hurry to do this, but they simply “buried” the scandalous moment, and there are many such examples.
One of the central matches between Zenit and Spartak was refereed by Vitaly Meshkov. It is important for the referee to be equally neutral and not spoil the impression of a brilliant game with his unauthorized, hasty decisions. Do not interfere with the game with sometimes “strange” “tricks”, which is very important. In a word, to rise to the occasion.
Alas, Meshkov failed to maintain neutrality. His, to put it mildly, illogical, often ill-considered decisions only unnerved the players themselves and their many fans. A scandal, and nothing more!
To be continued…
