Saccani is now Rai’s “moviolista”. “Technologies have changed everything, but decisions are always individual”
PAVIA
As part of the review “Lo Sport sul palcoscenico” tonight at 9 pm in the Broletto courtyard (Piazza della Vittoria, Pavia), Lara Vecchio and Marco Civoli (deputy director of Rai Sport) present the evening entitled: From man only to man team. The evolution of the figure of the referee: scenarios and perspectives, which will see as the protagonist the former Serie A referee and moviolista in the last 2020-21 season of the Domenica Sportiva Massimiliano Saccani.
53 years old from Mantua, Saccani in his career can boast 133 appearances in Serie A, 110 in Serie B and 26 in the Italian Cup.
first difficulties
«It was a positive experience that I would like to repeat – explains Saccani -. At the beginning I had some hesitation but then thanks also to great professionals as travel companions I had a great time. I tried, as a former referee – continues the protagonist of today’s series at Broletto – to judge, not try, some current colleagues also trying to interpret their decisions and possibly even their mistakes. And I had to do it by studying also in a modern football that compared to what I left on the pitch 10 years ago is completely different. A geological era has passed…. ».
Also in the ways to help the referees in their judgments. «The first introduction was that of the goal judges, then gradually replaced by the various technological aspects up to the Var – recalls Max Saccani -. In 30 years of football played by the fourth man to the microphones with which the backhoe was connected in direct time and the various instruments have increasingly led to a direct collaboration in the decisions to be made in a few seconds. Referee alone? Yes, because in the end it is he who makes the decisions independently regardless of whether they are right or wrong. The European championships that have just ended have given us, for example, a vision of how Uefa sees the Var, the technological means as an aid to the referee, always leaving him the last word … ».
A few examples? «I am thinking of the final won by Italy on Sunday evening – explains the former Serie A referee – In the Serie A championship, Jorginho’s intervention would have been punished 99% with a red card.
different opinions
The evaluation, however, made by the referee Kuiper on the field was different, on the voluntariness or not of the entry. A similar, if not identical, episode had cost Chiesa the expulsion in Crotone. This makes us understand how the different interpretation exists, above all, at an international level ».
sometimes crucial
Is the Var therefore a “friend” of the referee or in any case an extra support? “I think in some cases he helped some colleagues: Orsato in Spezia-Turin had decided on an expulsion of the grenade defender Bremer and then, after viewing the Var, he decided to change the color of the card from red to yellow – answers Massimiliano Saccani -. Sometimes, however, the images amplify the severity of the contrast that the referee on the field in real time, and from close range, on the other hand, sometimes has better. That’s why the help of technology is right, but without taking the referee’s last word away “.—
Enrico Venni