The controversy surrounding arbitration in Colombia adds another chapter in a semester that has called into question the level of the collegiate in the country. When the controversy seemed to have calmed down following Dimayor chose to remove Nicolás Gallo, following the controversy that left his performance in the match between Deportivo Pereira and Atlético Nacional in the “all once morest all”, doubts arose once more last weekend week during the match between Junior Athletic e Santa Fe Independent.
In said meeting, the collegiate John Alexander Ospina he made a decision that unleashed the anger of the entire cardinal cadre. At 60 minutes into the game, “León” was subjected to a dangerous action in Junior’s area: the player Jose Enamorado He received a contact on the foot and was brought down in the area by the defense of the ‘shark’ box. Ospina was called by the VAR to review a possible offside and, before the play, a possible penalty for Santa Fe.
But following analyzing the play for several minutes, the center-back chose not to penalize offside, but not a penalty either. Instead, he ordered a “dropped ball.” This raised strong questions regarding his performance, because if he did not penalize out of place it was feasible to collect the penalty for Santa Fe, since the contact that made Enamorado fall was evident before the cameras.
These events motivated the minority shareholders of Santa Fe to send a letter to the president of Dimayor, Fernando Jaramilloin which they express their complaint regarding what happened last weekend in Barranquilla:
“It is urgent that they publish the VAR audios, to find out why the referee did not whistle that clear penalty in favor of Santa Fe. In our opinion, that of several arbitration analysts and experienced radio and television announcers, it is a very serious and inexplicable error . By giving the ball to the ground it is clear that there was no offside and only he (Ospina) did not see a foul ”.
The letter lists a series of arbitration rulings by Ospina and underlines It is not the first time that the referee hurts other clubs with his bad decision-making. One of those matches was the controversial definition for the promotion of the 2021 Betplay Tournament between Unión Magdalena and Llaneros, in which there were suspicions of fixing:
“For several years, we fans have had to put up with the bad refereeing that Colombian soccer referees render in many soccer matches. For a team like Independiente Santa Fe, its players, and fans, it is disgusting and impotent to see how referees make obvious mistakes and change the fate of a soccer game with wrong decisions that only they cannot see.”
Finally, the letter questions Dimayor for her inability to solve a problem that has become recurring in Colombian soccer. They even insinuate that referees are chosen to favor certain teams:
“Although DIMAYOR does not respond to complaints regarding poor arbitration participation in a match, it seems that this type of situation does not matter to them, and it does make us wonder why? It is not known, which makes us continue to question ourselves: is there favoritism towards certain teams? Is there a clan of corruption that manages this sport in its favor monetarily?
At the moment, Dimayor has not ruled on the document issued by the members of the cardinal cadre.
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