MADRID, May 22 (Reuters) - The Spanish Football League (LFP) has accused Primera Liga referees of undermining the title race after officials refused to fall in line with disciplinary reporting guidelines.
The dispute originated because referees were unhappy that
the league overturned a booking against Real Madrid's David
Beckham and reacted by refusing to follow Federation rules in
explaining red and yellow card decisions in sufficient detail.
'They are falsifying and undermining the competition by
their actions,' a spokesman for the LFP told Reuters on Tuesday.
'They are breaking the rules and disciplinary action should be
taken against them.'
'The race for the title in Spain is very close this season
and they are prejudicing the interests of a lot of clubs by
their action,' he added.
For the past two rounds of Primera Liga matches referees
have refused to detail in their reports why bookings were given,
stating simply that they were given 'for unsporting behaviour'
or 'infringing the rules of the game'.
As a result the Federation's disciplinary committee has not
suspended players who were booked, saying they did not have
sufficient information to take any action in case of appeal from
the clubs.
The LFP, which runs the Primera Liga, said they had made an
official complaint to the Spanish Football Federation's
disciplinary committee asking for immediate action to be taken.
According to the Federation's statutes, referees that fail
to describe the reason for bookings in sufficient detail are
liable to be banned for between two and four months and those
who do it deliberately can be suspended for up to a year.
The referees' action was prompted by the committee's
decision to overturn a yellow card awarded to Beckham for time
wasting against Athletic Bilbao following an appeal from the
club.
The decision meant that the midfielder avoided a suspension
and was therefore able to play in the crucial league clash
against Sevilla on May 6.
Up to 13 players avoided suspension for last weekend's
matches. Another 10 are due to be banned for the upcoming round
of games.
