Former referee Paolo Casarin has criticised the President of the Italian Referees’ Association after his defence of Gianluca Rocchi.

Rocchi has attracted criticism for his handling of Juventus’ 3-2 victory over Roma, a game in which he awarded three penalties and showed two red cards.

Former referee Paolo Casarin has criticised the President of the Italian Referees’ Association after his defence of Gianluca Rocchi.

Rocchi has attracted criticism for his handling of Juventus’ 3-2 victory over Roma, a game in which he awarded three penalties and showed two red cards.

Marcello Nicchi of the AIA yesterday said the decisions ‘were not categorised as errors’, and claimed that in other countries people wouldn’t even have discussed them.

Casarin, who is also a former referees’ designator and has already called into question Rocchi’s handling of the Week 6 match, has now criticised Nicchi’s stance.

“Maybe after the game you defend the official, when the heat is on him,” Casarin has told Rete Sport.

“But in front of the replay, in the cold light of day you have to be rational, and not defend the indefensible.”

The controversy has led to calls for video refereeing to be introduced in Serie A, with FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio submitting an official request to FIFA, and Casarin believes the time is right to introduce such measures.

“My view is that tradition doesn’t count, as with other sports. The speed of play in tennis, volleyball and also football can no longer be controlled by men, because it’s beyond their ability.

“We need to move toward experimenting with technology, to take a difficult task away from the referees.

“Sometimes they’ll be lucky and guess the decision, if not they get it wrong.

“We can leave some things down to the skills of the referee, such as the amount of fouls et cetera.

“For things such as whether the ball has crossed the line or whether or not it’s a penalty we can go to the technology.

“Football has changed, you have to keep up.”

Byrob

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