During the official presentation of new Spells Antony and ‘Cucho’ Hernández, the true president of Betis, Ángel Haro, expressed his disagreement with the recent statement of Real Madrid with respect to the state of arbitration in Spanish football. Haro also confirmed that Betis will be present at tomorrow’s meeting between representatives and referees of the club, a meeting that Madrid has chosen to jump.
“Tomorrow we will be there in Madrid, and I certainly do not agree with the Real Madrid statement,” Haro said. “I think their statements exert unnecessary pressure on the community of referees, something they have already been doing through several videos. There are things that need improvements, but they must be addressed through quiet dialogue instead of the public show or populist rhetoric. “
Haro criticized both the Real Madrid approach and the response of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), which he believes has been too indulgent.
“These types of statements do not help,” he continued. “In my opinion, the RFEF has been too lukewarm. In Betis, we have rarely issued statements, and when we have done it, it was for very specific cases of clear errors. When that happened, the Federation acted decisively against us. It was a different federation at that time, but I think we must be firmer to not allow this type of statements to be made so lightly. If not, we run the risk of damaging football as a whole. “
The president of Betis also addressed the role of the media in the configuration of the narrative around arbitration decisions. “The media have a significant responsibility in how these problems are amplified. When errors against teams like Betis occur, they seem to go unnoticed or forget in one day. But when the same errors occur against main clubs such as Madrid or Barcelona, the referees are practically crucified. We all have to contribute to improve arbitration, but we must also ensure that when statements such as Madrid arise, they rebuke categorically. “