Sporting submitted to the league’s general assembly, held on Tuesday, a proposal to accept the recording of the arbitration team’s communications, including the video referee, as evidence in the framework of disciplinary procedures.
“In the opinion we requested, the Arbitration Board (CA) understood that the proposals, as presented in the General Assembly, did not fit the FIFA and IFAB Guidelines. Under this assumption, the matter was brought up for discussion by the members, who decided sovereignly to abide by this provision and not Approval of Sporting’s proposals”, reported Paulo Rosera, Legal Director of LaLiga Portugal, at the end of the assembly.
BOLA obtained the opinion of the Arbitration Board distributed to representatives of professional clubs in the General Assembly. It is considered that “a question of such great importance deserves deeper reflection, since the time given for uttering is evidently insufficient for a sufficient and detailed presentation on the same thing”, but it was immediately noted that “the proposed rules seem illegal, of course in the light of the law, and unacceptable In light of the IFAB and FIFA’s binding guidelines.
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“In an email dated June 4, 2022, His Excellency the Minister. This Arbitration Board informs that a proposal to amend the disciplinary regulations has been submitted by a member of Liga Portugal, proposing corrections to Article 13, al. h), as well as the introduction of a new article 15a.
With regard to Article 13, al. h), the proposed amendment aims to include in the basic set of principles for disciplinary action ensuring that the accused has access, within 24 hours, not only from recordings generated by the arbitration team’s communications systems, nor communications between the lead arbitrator and the VAR.
In the new Article 15-A – which contains everything but the content of the disciplinary rule – it was decided to record the recordings among the elements of the arbitration team, while also indicating that such recording will be used. To evaluate the members of the refereeing team for their training and the evidence in disciplinary proceedings and to make it available to the requesting club in relation to the matches in which they participated.
In other words, if in Article 13 we are still moving in the field of the disciplinary process – and final access to these recordings can only be granted in this context – in Article 15.º-A, the possibilities are endless, since it gives the possibility of asking the club, without More ado, accessing the recordings without any reason or justification justifying it.
After announcing these proposals, His Excellency the Minister. Requests “that this Arbitration Board perform its competent analysis and evaluation and inform us of the legality/or incompatibility of the above proposals, in accordance with the provisions of the applicable and applicable Rules,” noting also that “on June 7, the General Assembly decided to discuss the above proposals, which is why It is very important that your considerations reach Liga Portugal by the sixth of this month.”
In the first place, it should be noted that a question of such great importance deserves deeper consideration, since the time allotted to the statement is clearly insufficient for a sufficient and detailed account of it.
In any case, the proposed rules appear to be illegal, of course in light of the law, and unacceptable in light of the binding guidelines of IFAB and FIFA, as we shall see.
Access to audio from the referee team and between the referee team and VAR is not acceptable to IFAB and FIFA. 18 of the IFAB, dated April 7, 2020, states that “it was also agreed that further insight into the decision-making process, for example access to the conversation between match officials during the review, would not be appropriate at this point, but that more must be done.” of efforts to enhance existing communication approaches to better understand the review process and the final judgment decision.” Following this circular, FIFA also issued one dated 3 September 2020 addressed to all arbitration boards of all football associations, expressly stating that no transmissions of this kind are prohibited, and that any failure to comply with this decision will be understood. as a violation of the VAR protocol.
This position of IFAB and FIFA has not seen any change so far.
Likewise, no other association allows such unconditional access to the refereeing team’s recordings.
It is clear, then, that the mathematical community organizing this issue is unequivocal in determining the impossibility of submitting these recordings and that approval of standards of the type proposed would mean a violation of the VAR protocol, with the ensuing consequences.
On the other hand, it is important to note that there is a difference between an order issued by an entity with jurisdiction to attach a particular registration – if it exists of course – or the possibility of requesting access without any reason or reason. for himself.
It should also be noted that Article 15-a regulates matters strictly within the jurisdiction of the arbitration board. Indeed, Article 45, No. 1 of the Legal Regime of Sports Federations states that “it is up to the arbitral tribunal, without prejudice to other powers conferred by laws, to coordinate and manage the arbitration activity, establish training standards for the referees and proceed with their technical classification”, so the rule Of this kind, when regulating matters relating to the evaluation and training of referees, proposed by a sports association, it appears illegal.
On the other hand, this Article 15-A appears, only and only, as a gateway to all existing audio recordings, whether between the VAR and the referee team or between elements of the refereeing team, without any basis, not even disciplinary. Actions in progress. Without this causal relationship with any disciplinary process, this article is, in this way, also inadmissible due to the lack of competence of the General Assembly of the League to approve it within the framework of a disciplinary regulation.
In fact, there are strong doubts about whether this type of access will be compatible with the Personal Data Protection Regulation.
Other considerations, given the apparent illegality and inadmissibility of the proposed modifications, remain in the background, but cannot be overlooked, and relate to the incomprehensible 24 hour period of access to the recordings, which is not the cost of their implementation and maintenance and is not even assumed by Liga Portugal or the period during which such recordings must be kept.
These considerations, as we have said, are secondary, showing only the complete lack of logic and basis for the propositions now proposed.
In light of the above, we believe that these proposals should be rejected outright, under penalty of illegality and violation of the VAR protocol, with the ensuing consequences.”
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