How ethically correct is this practice and whether it does not give grounds for insinuations about a conflict of interests, the Sport.ua correspondent asked one of the authoritative experts, former FIFA referee Myroslav Stupar.
– I don’t know how it is currently determined who will referee this or that match, but it is not the first time that Kyiv referees conduct matches with the participation of Dynamo, – he said. – In this situation, we can say that if you look at it from a geographical point of view, there may be grounds for a conflict of interests. On the other hand, Mykola Balakin has nothing to do with Dynamo. Nevertheless, I believe that in order to avoid any insinuations on this matter, it is better to avoid such appointments. After all, there is an opportunity to appoint another judge. But, apparently, the UAF Committee of Referees thinks in its own way. Perhaps guided by the fact that “Dynamo” – “Kryvbas” is a match with the participation of the leaders, therefore one of the best referees should judge it. Balakin is considered to be just that today.
– When you were an acting arbitrator, in Soviet times such appointments were considered nonsense. Yes, it was the same in the championship of Ukraine until recently.
– Yes, yes, this could not happen a priori. But as they say, everything flows, everything changes. However, in those days when I was still playing in Ivano-Frankivsk “Spartak” in class “B” (and it was in the 60s), a referee from another region came to our home match, but the assistants were local. In those days there was still some trust, there was no hype around this topic about neutrality and so on. But some time passed and it became clear that this practice is incorrect and gives grounds for all kinds of suspicions and accusations. After all, different things happen in football in general and parenting in particular. In this regard, I remember one episode when, in one of the home matches of my “Spartacus”, the Ivano-Frankivsk assistant referee did not raise the flag regarding the determination of the offside position, which was “on the thin side” – and the guests scored the ball. So, after the final whistle, the third secretary of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Committee of the party went into the siddivska and “pushed” our assistant.
It was very unpleasant, because a person in the city had his own job, a certain authority in society. And when you fall out of favor with the party bosses, it’s not good. Moreover, such cases were not isolated and concerned not only Ivano-Frankivsk, but also any city or region of the country. So let me repeat: after some time Moscow understood this and the USSR Football Federation decided that there should be neutrality and equal distance of all members of the refereeing team to each of the teams. It was definitely the right decision. After all, every referee or assistant referee who played a match with the participation of a team from his city felt uncomfortable. And in this case, I do not believe that everything is equal for Mykola Balakin – “Dynamo” or “Kryvbas”. He lives in Kyiv, although he represents the Kyiv region. And no matter how professionally he fulfills his duties, it may still happen that he may not like one of the participants in the match. Discussions about his work may begin, and this is already very unpleasant. In any case, from a psychological point of view, the referee can feel himself, so to speak, in a state of limbo.
Source: sport.ua