“Well how can anyone explain to me that 1 referee who seven months ago, was officiating second division games and behind on his mortgage payments, now has 5 businesses, a $100k franchise, and drives a brand new $70k BMW?”
That sentence came from a….referee, now former referee Javier Ruiz, referring to… another referee still active, Pablo Lunati
“In this country a referee and the union in general have too much power. Tournaments have been decided before it even began. Like the one that Boca won in the Apertura 2008. Even relegations (Rosario Central in 2009) and promotions (San Martin de Tucuman in 2008, Chacarita in 2009) were all sorted by the referees and the clubs”
He also said, but it was not all
“I was the referee of this match where two teams are playing, and the home team has nothing to play for, but the away team needs to draw or win not to be relegated. To make things more dramatic if they visitors won, the ones being relegated would have been their most traditional rivals. We all knew that there was a man on the stands with an attaché full of money to “reward” the home side if they did win that game.
I didn’t know anything about it, until the game began. Nobody offered me any money, so I did my job correctly. With 5 minutes to go the game was still 0-0, and the home side were losing the money on that attaché. Then there is a corner to the team playing for nothing, and I heard the number 10 player telling the keeper. To finish this a draw we want $40k. The keeper said ok. In a game were there have been no situations at all. Suddenly the number 10 loses the ball softly in midfield and generates a counter for the opposition. Strangely unchallenged a forward runs with the ball, and gets brought down inside the box. I have to give the penalty, it was a penalty. I knew it was done in purpose, but it was a penalty. Anyway, keeper wrong footed, visiting team scores and wins 1-0. They saved themselves from relegation, and although the home side missed the payday from the man with the attaché, they still got some money. And these two teams were not even in the primera division, they were two teams from the Nacional B”
He did not mention the teams, but following all those details it is clear to see that the game in question was Almagro vs Instituto de Cordoba, played on the 14th of June 2008.
“Rosario Central was relegated in 2010 by bad referee decisions, particularly on that last crucial game against Godoy Cruz that ended in a draw. $60K the referee got for that game”
“Don’t get me wrong, not everyone is in, there are 4 or 5 but very influential ones. I never did it for money, I did it for work or side jobs. I ran a catering business, and in exchange for a few catering functions I have benefited a few clubs. I also convinced a young player to try his luck on a particular club who wanted him. I got 20% of his future sell, and helped that team as well”
The player he was talking about? Felix Decima. The club was once again San Martin de Tucuman.
“River got screwed over and over because of unfulfilled promises. They were offering money for games, and then not paying. So the union got fed up and started whistling against them. Look at them now?”
“We officiate every week, we know the teams, we know the players, we know their strengths and weaknesses. So our job is easy. We don’t score the goals, but we know that to favour the chances of a team managed by Caruso Lombardi, we just have to give them corners or free kicks close to the penalty area. Attention, I am not saying that the Managers are involved here. Just that we know their ways. Maybe he is not even aware of any of this at all”
“Put it this way. If a referee doesn’t want it a team doesn’t even cross the centre circle”
“And if you look, any time that somebody raises suspicions or talks about the subject, one of the young referees who had nothing to do with it, gets the sack and made publicly as the guilty part, just not fair”
“Look at Fabian Madorran. For years people talking about his mistakes, was he corrupt wasn’t he? In the end he was getting too much attention, and they used dirty tactics to get rid of the problem. We were told that he was gay. This is a choice. It should not affect in any way what a person is like, or his capacity to be anything they want to be in life. But the ones behind the rumour knew that in the footballing world that is taboo and in fact a death sentence to anyone. In this case it literally was. Madorran ended up killing himself. Officially was suicide, but was it?”
“I spoke to Grondona and his answer was, be careful, watch what you say, look after your family”
He interpreted that as a threat. We believe it was a genuine warning about the consequences that his words may have with the people running the syndicate. Not really a direct threat from Grondona.
Up to here what Javier Ruiz, former referee, said and repeated between 2008 and 2011.
If you watch the clips that we have put on our clips page, you can see the highlights of two of those games he mentions. You can watch them and make your own judgement. We reserve our own until the last part of this investigation.
The clips are from Almagro vs Instituto and Godoy Cruz vs Rosario Central. And are the tenth and eleventh clips of the clips page.
So far what we have done is giving you and introduction, and what an ex referee has to say about match fixing in Argentina.
Tomorrow, we will see what another referee said, and some other surprises.
At the end of part 6, we will close this investigation with our conclusions.
What you have read so far here does not represent our views, but those of the interviewee.
That sentence came from a….referee, now former referee Javier Ruiz, referring to… another referee still active, Pablo Lunati
“In this country a referee and the union in general have too much power. Tournaments have been decided before it even began. Like the one that Boca won in the Apertura 2008. Even relegations (Rosario Central in 2009) and promotions (San Martin de Tucuman in 2008, Chacarita in 2009) were all sorted by the referees and the clubs”
He also said, but it was not all
“I was the referee of this match where two teams are playing, and the home team has nothing to play for, but the away team needs to draw or win not to be relegated. To make things more dramatic if they visitors won, the ones being relegated would have been their most traditional rivals. We all knew that there was a man on the stands with an attaché full of money to “reward” the home side if they did win that game.
I didn’t know anything about it, until the game began. Nobody offered me any money, so I did my job correctly. With 5 minutes to go the game was still 0-0, and the home side were losing the money on that attaché. Then there is a corner to the team playing for nothing, and I heard the number 10 player telling the keeper. To finish this a draw we want $40k. The keeper said ok. In a game were there have been no situations at all. Suddenly the number 10 loses the ball softly in midfield and generates a counter for the opposition. Strangely unchallenged a forward runs with the ball, and gets brought down inside the box. I have to give the penalty, it was a penalty. I knew it was done in purpose, but it was a penalty. Anyway, keeper wrong footed, visiting team scores and wins 1-0. They saved themselves from relegation, and although the home side missed the payday from the man with the attaché, they still got some money. And these two teams were not even in the primera division, they were two teams from the Nacional B”
He did not mention the teams, but following all those details it is clear to see that the game in question was Almagro vs Instituto de Cordoba, played on the 14th of June 2008.
“Rosario Central was relegated in 2010 by bad referee decisions, particularly on that last crucial game against Godoy Cruz that ended in a draw. $60K the referee got for that game”
“Don’t get me wrong, not everyone is in, there are 4 or 5 but very influential ones. I never did it for money, I did it for work or side jobs. I ran a catering business, and in exchange for a few catering functions I have benefited a few clubs. I also convinced a young player to try his luck on a particular club who wanted him. I got 20% of his future sell, and helped that team as well”
The player he was talking about? Felix Decima. The club was once again San Martin de Tucuman.
“River got screwed over and over because of unfulfilled promises. They were offering money for games, and then not paying. So the union got fed up and started whistling against them. Look at them now?”
“We officiate every week, we know the teams, we know the players, we know their strengths and weaknesses. So our job is easy. We don’t score the goals, but we know that to favour the chances of a team managed by Caruso Lombardi, we just have to give them corners or free kicks close to the penalty area. Attention, I am not saying that the Managers are involved here. Just that we know their ways. Maybe he is not even aware of any of this at all”
“Put it this way. If a referee doesn’t want it a team doesn’t even cross the centre circle”
“And if you look, any time that somebody raises suspicions or talks about the subject, one of the young referees who had nothing to do with it, gets the sack and made publicly as the guilty part, just not fair”
“Look at Fabian Madorran. For years people talking about his mistakes, was he corrupt wasn’t he? In the end he was getting too much attention, and they used dirty tactics to get rid of the problem. We were told that he was gay. This is a choice. It should not affect in any way what a person is like, or his capacity to be anything they want to be in life. But the ones behind the rumour knew that in the footballing world that is taboo and in fact a death sentence to anyone. In this case it literally was. Madorran ended up killing himself. Officially was suicide, but was it?”
“I spoke to Grondona and his answer was, be careful, watch what you say, look after your family”
He interpreted that as a threat. We believe it was a genuine warning about the consequences that his words may have with the people running the syndicate. Not really a direct threat from Grondona.
Up to here what Javier Ruiz, former referee, said and repeated between 2008 and 2011.
If you watch the clips that we have put on our clips page, you can see the highlights of two of those games he mentions. You can watch them and make your own judgement. We reserve our own until the last part of this investigation.
The clips are from Almagro vs Instituto and Godoy Cruz vs Rosario Central. And are the tenth and eleventh clips of the clips page.
So far what we have done is giving you and introduction, and what an ex referee has to say about match fixing in Argentina.
Tomorrow, we will see what another referee said, and some other surprises.
At the end of part 6, we will close this investigation with our conclusions.
What you have read so far here does not represent our views, but those of the interviewee.