Cesari Criticizes Lack of Uniformity in Serie A Refereeing

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Former referee Graziano Cesari said Italian officiating lacks uniformity, arguing that handball decisions vary according to each referee's personal sensitivity. He made the comments on Radio Bruno Roma in an interview with Roberta Pedrelli, Andrea Verdenelli and Luca Ferri, as reported by Corriere dello Sport.

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Cesari said a penalty was missed for Joao Mario's arm touch because the arm was "negligently wide" on a slow, predictable ball, drawing a parallel with Vlašić in Torino-Milan. He said the absence of uniformity on handball stems from referees applying the rules according to their own sensibility, making a common line impossible.

On the incident involving Rabiot, Cesari said it warranted a direct red card: once the player had beaten his man 55 metres from goal, a two-against-zero situation would have opened up with Cissé free and nobody able to catch Rabiot for pace. He called it an anomalous, unprecedented case in the player's own half for which the protocol lacks precedent, saying Massa decided discretionarily in a second but that he had asked Orsato and Rosetti for an official clarification.

Cesari also disputed a penalty in Manchester United-Roma, saying it should not have been given and that Maguire was allowed to do anything on the pitch. He identified the main problem as a lack of consistency, arguing that a referee who tolerates certain contacts early cannot change his standard and start sanctioning them later.

Asked what leads a referee to change his standard completely between a permissive first half and the second, Cesari pointed to the interval. During the 15 minutes in the dressing room, he said, discussion with assistants and the fourth official, combined with ambient noise and pressure, can condition the referee and lead him to review his choices. He said returning to the dressing room is obligatory and small environmental pressures are inevitable, citing club officials who enter under the pretext of bringing dry undershirts and use the opportunity to flag incidents they have rewatched on the monitor.

Cesari said he favours the refereeing designator always speaking on television, as Howard Webb does weekly in England, to explain or admit errors transparently. He called Italy's communication management in recent years deleterious, having been entrusted to different figures who contradicted each other week by week and generated enormous confusion.

On the hardest match of his career, Cesari said all matches are difficult, especially when you realise you have made a mistake and lose credibility with the players. His biggest regret, which he said he would never repeat today, was sending off several coaches and depriving teams of their technical guide on the bench.