La Liga referees have started appearing and speaking on television broadcasts this season. The move is part of a new policy aimed at giving greater transparency to their decisions and explaining key refereeing situations to fans.
Catalan newspaper"Sport" reported on Thursday that Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu will be the only exception among La Liga stadiums. Referees will not be able to conduct these television interviews there, thanks to the conditions the Spanish club imposes on broadcasts from its ground.
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During the opening round of La Liga, referees made their first interventions on television broadcasts. The protocol will expand from the tenth round, when referees can give interviews before and after matches at the broadcasters' request, along with the chance to be quizzed on the most notable decisions and incidents from the game.
The Spanish refereeing body confirms that referees "will speak in stadiums where the necessary conditions for this are available", stressing that there is no discrimination between clubs or stadiums.
So the referees' absence from this protocol at the Santiago Bernabéu owes nothing to a decision by the referees' committee, nor to a ban specific to Real Madrid. Instead, it comes down to the restrictions imposed on broadcasters' connections from the club's stadium, according to "Sport".
"A tense relationship"
The problem goes back to a relationship that has been strained for some time between Real Madrid and both the Spanish Football League and the Spanish Football Federation. That tension has also shaped the conditions for television broadcasts from the Santiago Bernabéu.
Real Madrid restrict broadcasters' connections from the stadium, allowing them only a few minutes before kick-off. That makes it impossible to apply the new refereeing protocol the way it works elsewhere.
Fans of other clubs, then, will get to hear referees explaining important and controversial calls. Real Madrid's supporters will be left without this new window of transparency inside the Santiago Bernabéu, according to the Catalan newspaper.
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