There is no doubting that Russian football, and Eastern European football in general, is growing at a rapid rate of knots. Well yes, the football is growing, but the same cannot be said of the refereeing. Every week in Russia there are accusations being thrown out by various managers that certain referees are against them, and this is undoubtedly holding back Russian football. But is it just poor refereeing? Or is this issue much more deep rooted than just the concept of referees not being good enough?
In my opinion, it is quite obvious that this issue of poor referees has much more to it than meets the eye. The subject of corruption is something that hangs over Russia as a whole, and not just the football. Just look at Chechnya, the war torn republic that longs to become an independent state. Ruthless leader Ramzan Kadyrov also happens to be president of the region’s club, Terek Grozny, and it may come as no surprise that on many occasions that Terek have been included in match fixing scandals. Just take 2009. Terek were hosting Zenit Saint Petersburg, with the Chechens eventually running out 3-2 winners in what appeared a thrilling game. But all didn’t seem well. Referee Almir Kayumov denied Zenit a clear penalty in the last minute, with a Terek defender handling in the box. Although the issue wasn’t investigated, it was quite obvious for all to see, and Kayumov wasn’t finished there.
Later in the year, he was once again accused of being biased in a CSKA-FC Moscow match, and later even got caught trying to take his own life and was taken to a psychiatric hospital. Now he is back refereeing and all seems to be forgotten, but maybe because this is something many Russian football fans are used to seeing, and it was no surprise Terek are involved in these incidents more often than not, and that decisions end up in their favour.
Earlier in the year, Terek had been involved in a similar incident, with this one being investigated into. The Chechens hosted Krylya Sovetov, with the visitors on good form. But strange betting patterns appeared before there, with Terek strangely highly predicted to win the game. Sure enough they won, 3-2, with Terek suspiciously ripping Krylya apart at will. The issue was investigated by the RFS, and surprisingly for many, nothing was found to be of wrong doing.
But to this day, many still question whether the RFS were just too ‘scared’ to investigate further at risk of embarrassing Russian football as a whole, and many hold Ramzan Kadyrov accountable for heavily bribing the referees with high sums of money, and with the RFS being afraid to push charges against him.
But of course match fixing and strange refereeing doesn’t just always involve Terek. Earlier this year, the Volga-Anzhi match was also investigated, following a 2-1 victory for the guests. The match was officiated by Maksim Layushkin, and the game appeared suspicious. Once again nothing was found to be of wrong doing, but incidents like these only help disgrace the face of Russian football further, and in turn this severely holds back Russian football.
Why would top level players want to come to Russia if there are serious allegations that the results of matches have already been decided before the game starts? Yes, just a few years ago there was a major match fixing scandal in Italy, but the issues in Russia are on-going rather than being short and sharp, and the feeling is that many more matches have been fixed although no one will ever know about them, except the perpetrators themselves.
The issues of corruption may never be fully solved, as for these problems in Russian football to be fixed, the issues of corruption in Russian society have to be fixed first. But one thing that can be solved is the issue of Russian referees. It is quite obvious that referees cannot just perform poorly because they have already been bribed, but they themselves are incapable of refereeing to a high enough standard.
We all remember the 2006 World Cup in Germany, when the last 16 match between Portugal and Holland was officiated by Valentin Ivanov, who promptly handed out 16 yellow cards and 4 red cards, and even after the match FIFA president Sepp Blatter famously stated that he himself would have handed Ivanov a yellow card. Ever since then Russian referees have had a stigma about them, and the way they officiate matches in the Russian Championship doesn’t help matters. Just take the Spartak-Zenit game that took place this year, a game which ended 2-2.
Young, inexperienced Vladimir Kazmenko was appointed to take charge, much to the surprise of many, and even with Spartak coach Valery Karpin voicing his concerns before the match. Sure enough the match soon spiralled out of Kazmenko’s hands, with Spartak defender Nicolas Pareja being sent off, and Kazmenko denying Zenit a clear penalty for handball in the final minute.
The one positive is that Kazmenko was clearly not biased to Spartak or Zenit, however the negative is that Karpin was proven right; he wasn’t ready for such match between two major rivals. Incidentally Zenit’s last match preceding the Spartak game was with Porto in the Champions League, which was officiated by English referee Howard Webb, and after the game many Zenit fans gave high praise for the 2010 World Cup referee, and this showed how far Russian referees have got to come to get to a high standard, and it also makes you wonder how different some results in the Russian Championship would be if the referees were of a higher standard. But of course there are always exceptions to the rule.
Alexey Nikolaev is generally regarded as the top Russian referee nowadays, and he is a regular official in the Champions League, and usually given the top games in Russia such as CSKA-Zenit, and matches which involve the top clubs such as these clubs. But unfortunately, referees like Nikolaev in Russia are in the minority, and you always find referees being criticised and accused of being biased, rather than being praised. Whether this is because referees are poor, or just managers and fans being annoyed after a bad result ,and of course it is always very easy to blame the referee, judge for yourselves.
We must remember however, that in every country, in every league, there are referees being accused of being biased and favouring the bigger teams. The issue with Russia, is that it is well known that referees can be bribed with money, and that this reflects the problems with the Russian culture as a whole, and not just the football. For this issue on football to change, everything has to change, and this looks unlikely to happen anytime soon. The sad fact is that referees who even haven’t been bribed, perform poorly more often than not, and it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed quickly so Russian football can progress even higher than it has already.
Written by Shaun Nicolaides
Follow him @zenitfan93
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