Referee hits out at coverage of Caso Negreira – “Even in the supermarket they tell us that we are corrupt”

It has been 11 months since news first broke of the infamous Caso Negreira, which centres on Barcelona’s alleged relationship with Enriquez Negreira, former Vice President of the Technical Committee of Referees. Since then, there has been a lot of media coverage of the matter, and a lot of scrutiny has been placed on the existing pool of referees.

Among them is Cesar Soto Grado, who will be in charge of VAR for Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup final between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Ahead of that match, the 43-year-old was asked by the media (via Sport) on the matter, and he was very critical of Negreira, as well as the general coverage of the matter, which has led to this reaction towards referees in Spain.

“We’re tired. Imagine if we say that in your media, because there is a corrupt person, you are all corrupt. That’s what is happening with the ‘Negreira case’. He is the character who has done the most damage to Spanish refereeing.

“Honestly, I’m not aware of any impact on my career as a referee. I spoke to him three times in my life (11-year career in La Liga) in 30-second conversations. 90% of the committee was led by Diaz Veiga and Sanchez Arminio.

“Even in the supermarket they tell us that we are corrupt. I hope that the court will make decisions once and for all and that those who have to pay will have to pay. The rest of the CTA can’t be taken as if we’re corrupt.”

Refereeing in Spain has long been a contentious topic, and a fair bit of the discussion on this has been led by Barcelona and Real Madrid. You can certainly understand the frustration of Soto Grado and his fellow referees, given the scrutiny that they are constantly under, even before the Negreira case is considered.