The race last night Lecce-Parma of the Italian Cup, created a lot of controversy due to refereeing errors. President Sticchi Damiani recently published a post in this regard.
Lecce, Sticchi Damiani's post
This is the post by President Saverio Sticchi Damiani on Facebook. “Many urge me to "shake my fists" and "raise my voice" against refereeing errors, hoping for the classic shouted interview where we rail against the system and allude to a conspiracy. That's not what I will do, but I also intend to explain the reasons out of respect for the many friends and fans who expect a similar reaction. For a few years it has been possible to meet with referee leaders and discuss controversial episodes. This is the only legitimate channel and therefore the only one used, often directly through me, by Us Lecce."
Sticchi Damiani: "we have built considerable credibility"
The long post continues like this. “In recent years we have built considerable credibility because instead of accusing or denigrating the actions of the referees we have always and only talked about the rules. Rules which sometimes, even towards us, have been poorly applied or interpreted incorrectly, but we have always spoken (even in heated tones) about rules, never about men or referees. Some conduct or "practices" have even been changed or modified following the arguments offered by US Lecce, whose voice has always been considered credible, serious and competent. Without shouting and without offending anyone we still achieved some results. I have been effective president since 2017, this is my seventh season at the top of the company, in these six years, together with my partners and all the managers who followed, we have achieved three promotions (one from C to B and two from B to A), a salvation in Serie A, a play-off semi-final in B lost due to a penalty duly awarded and missed by us, and also a promotion to A with the spring and the title of Italian champions the following year. It is difficult to find clubs of our size that have achieved so many sporting results (not to mention economic ones) in recent years."
The conclusion: this season, some refereeing errors have already been recognised
The conclusion of the post. “In the current season, on the basis of official discussions with the refereeing leaders, the expulsions of Baschirotto with Monza and Kabah with Juventus were publicly recognized as erroneous, while all the other controversial episodes were instead judged correct, including those yesterday in the Cup Italy (Sic!). The explanations given to me sometimes convinced me and sometimes not (yesterday, for example) and I hope, in this second case, to have aroused some doubts in those who were full of certainties. Having said this, I wanted to reassure you that there is a company that is always vigilant, that monitors every detail and that knows how to defend itself in every context, in the right way, without looking for alibis and without losing clarity in the analysis of its own mistakes. We move forward, aware that, more than any other factor, daily work, total dedication on the part of everyone to the "cause of salvation" and the unity of the environment will be fundamental, especially in times of difficulty. 💛❤"
