Former Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz recently gave an interview to the media, talking about his past refereeing career, he said: “I enjoyed being a referee, although during my career, I was often told not to smile too much, not to talk too much with the players… I wish I could go back in time, smile more, and talk more.”
Speaking about Barcelona’s “Negreira case”, Lahoz said: “The case is still under investigation, and it’s dragging on, I’m personally very impatient. I hope the case can be resolved as soon as possible so we can talk freely about it. When the police and UEFA asked me to give a statement, I was there. Currently, my statement to UEFA has not been made public, but my statement to the police has been reported by the media, as has the statements of other colleagues who were questioned. I didn’t have much contact with Enrique Negreira, we only met occasionally at some seminars, and we barely spoke.”
“I hope we can resolve this as soon as possible. I’m the one who wants the truth to come out the most. Our country has over 17,000 football referees, and they are all suffering for this every match. Society doesn’t believe in us, and that’s normal. If they don’t care about what the vice-president of the refereeing committee is involved in, how can they trust us? One thing is clear, this has caused huge damage to the whole football world. Because every weekend, on the fields in the countryside, in children’s matches, in amateur football matches, the Negreira case is happening, and this is an irreparable loss.”
Lahoz revealed that after the Negreira case was exposed, the Spanish Refereeing Technical Committee (CTA) acted quickly, asking all referees to fill out a questionnaire to investigate their relationship with Enric Romero (Negreira’s son). Mateu Lahoz said he answered honestly as always. Subsequently, in a WhatsApp group chat for referees, which included the CTA secretary, colleagues suggested taking further action, as if it were an internal refereeing problem. However, Lahoz believes that considering the league is still ongoing, and that CTA president Luis Medina Cantalejo has already made a statement on behalf of everyone, the best strategy should be to file a collective lawsuit.
Lahoz also mentioned the distance problem between referees and the media, emphasizing that referees need to go through the Spanish Football Federation’s press department to give interviews, which puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to clarifying or refuting false reports. He gave an example, saying that although there were rumors that he had asked Piqué about his family during a match, or had discussed Wellington’s restaurant business with him, none of these had actually happened. Referees focus on the game on the field and don’t get involved in players’ personal affairs, but in an environment surrounded by the media, players can easily speak out, while referees need to go through a cumbersome process to respond, which results in the referees being passive in public opinion.
In addition, Lahoz emphasized the importance of the humanization and transparency of the refereeing image, pointing out that referees are often at the bottom of the Spanish football hierarchy because of their vulnerability and lack of transparency. Compared to players, referees are often more isolated and helpless when facing the public.
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