Fernando Panesonow 60 years old, was a renowned referee in Colombia during the 1990s and was the protagonist of several national soccer finals.
Among those, one of the most remembered, the final of the year 1993, when Junior won the professional title in a team full of stars and captained by the historic Carlos ‘the kid’ Valderrama in an epic duel that was resolved 3-2 once morest America de Cali.
Paneso’s performance continues to be discussed by Junior’s fans, because that followingnoon he annulled a goal by the rojiblancos and awarded a penalty to América for the hand of Ivan Rene Valenciano.
However, what people remember the most are the anguished replacement minutes, in which they were first afraid that Paneso would finish the game before the title goal and, following the goal, the fear that the game would drag on until a possible Cali tie that would leave them without the star.
Now, almost 30 years later, Paseno admitted in a writing published in the book Junior from Barranquilla: Unpublishedwhat the fans always suspected: from the hosts of Cali they offered him literally a fortune to favor America.
In the pages of the book, Paseno stated that “At the door of my house in Armenia, a person approached me and He told me he was coming to offer me 30 million pesos -regarding 260 million today, according to the DANE consumer price index- to whistle in favor of América de Cali”.
My answer was a resounding no. complemented the same judge in the brief that comes to show once once more how in those years the drug mafias, who managed some games, moved millions to buy judges, rival players, coaches and thus modify the results to their liking.
The Quindian whistle, now retired and dedicated to the administration of the sports institute in his department, confirmed to the RCN station the version that appears published in the letter.
“One understands that they are complex situations, that were lived in the country at that time. This is how it really happened, suddenly not with much regularity (the purchase of referees) that was an event that one had the opportunity to experience. A complicated moment for a referee and responsible for a match of such magnitude”, he reflected.
Paneso explained that in those years, the situation of moral decline in the country was to such an extent that the people who did not allow themselves to be bought were the ones singled out in the midst of so much corruption.
“The situation was so complex and society was so permeated that practically we, the straight, honest people of the moment, were the ones who were rejected by society. He said it very nostalgically, we seemed like the bad guys ”, he remembered.
Among the anecdotes, Paneso recalled how a week before that match he directed the duel that Junior tied 3-3 with Nacional in Medellín, and how in those two games the enormous personality of the captain of the Barranquilla cast, Carlos Valderrama, led them to overcome of the difficulties.
“Paneso, whistle now and finish this shit… that if they score a goal for us, people get involved and kill you…”. “Over and over once more I repeated the same phrase, until I began to feel nervous”, accepted the whistle already withdrawn.