‘Small clubs’ begin to lose faith with refs

ONE of the unique privileges of Italian football referees is that they get to have audiences with the Pope.

Not all of them of course. At the last count there were 23,670 active referees in Italy (1,234 of them women).

The audience with Benedict XVI ten days ago was limited to 200, mostly officials from the minor leagues, plus the referees' association, with just one representative from Serie A, a man with the appropriate name of Massimo de Santis (who incidentally will be the Italian official at the World Cup later this year).

To mark the occasion, the Pope was given a black referee's shirt with his name (Ratzinger) on the collar, as is the custom in Italy, and in making the presentation the head of the association, Tullio Lanese, declared: "Your Holiness, you are the referee of the Catholic Church."

The doctrinal implications of this statement are debatable, but certainly the fallibility of referees has been a big talking point for Italians over the last couple of days.

They managed to shrug off the rugby quite easily, but not so the calamitous performances by officials in several of the weekend's big football matches.

The worst came in Juventus's 1-0 win against Udinese, where the goal was allowed to stand despite being clearly offside.

There are offsides and offsides of course, but in this case the goalscorer, Alessandro Del Piero, was offside and his fellow striker, David Trezequet, was also offside.

And both of them were standing close to the penalty spot in full view of the referee and his assistant.

The referee, Antonio Dattilo, had earlier controversially sent off Udinese midfielder, Sulley Muntari, and just to complete a memorable afternoon failed a spot a blatant push in the penalty area by Juventus defender Paolo Cannavaro ten minutes from the end for which he could easily have been dismissed.

This is only the latest in a series of foul ups by officials, mostly favouring the big teams Juventus especially, but not only them. Football fans in every country always suspect referees of favouring the top sides.

The trouble is that in Italy (as in Portugal) the suspicion has hardened so much that it is now openly voiced by the most respected pundits.

One factor is that a lot of young referees from lower leagues, among them Mr Dattilo, have been promoted over the past couple of seasons, and they can be intimidated by the powerful individuals who own and manage the top sides.

Giampaolo Pozzo, who owns Udinese, said after the weekend's incidents "These are serious errors, which falsify the championship.

"Those who follow football know that we can never compete with Juventus on level terms.

"I wouldn't be against having foreign referees."

Sadly, this has all overshadowed the positive story of the week which is the tremendous revival of Roma, and the tactical ingenuity of their manager Luciano Spalletti.

Roma have now won seven league games in-a-row, and although they are 20 points adrift of Juventus because of their poor early season performances, are definitely the form team of the moment, in the running for Champions League qualification, and scoring lots of goals.

Amazingly this is despite losing two forwards, Vincenzo Montella and Shabani Nonda, through injury, and selling Antonio Cassano to Real Madrid.

Roma are also under a FIFA ban from acquiring new players.

It is possible that Cassano's departure actually lifted team spirit at the Stadio Olimpico.

It has certainly been the catalyst for a tactical change.

Deprived of alternatives, Spalletti has turned his former playmaker Francesco Totti into a lone striker, while midfield players such as Simone Perrotta and Alessandro Mancini have been encouraged to get forward to support Totti as often as possible.

Totti's natural tendency to play in a withdrawn role means that opposing defenders are drawn out of position and then surprised by the quick Roma midfielders appearing in striking positions.

The one worry for Spalletti (and for Italy manager Marcello Lippi) must be an injury to Totti.

The player himself is obviously enjoying life as a striker.

As for that famous friendship with Cassano it is definitely a thing of the past.

Asked on Sunday about whether he was impressed by his old buddy's opening games at Real Madrid, Totti replied: "I wouldn't know. I only watch Barcelona."

The next few days may play a big part in deciding who actually goes on to win the Serie A title in Italy this season.

Inter visit Fiorentina tomorrow while Juventus have the relatively easy task of a home game against Parma. Then it's The Big One on Sunday, when Inter take on Juve at the San Siro.

The gap between the two sides is currently standing at eight points.

Like Roma, Inter lack forwards, although they have scored 31 goals at home so far, more than any other team.

Inter owner Massimo Moratti, asked last week about his endless transfer activity, and his lack of options up front to partner Adriano, confessed to missing an Irish face: "I admit, Robbie Keane is a big regret. The other day I was watching him play for Tottenham on the television. He had a perfect game.

"He had a thousand touches and not one mistake. It drives me mad!

"It was my choice to bring him to Inter, I liked him as a player, but he didn't shine with us.

"And now look at him."