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Guest Post: Referee Designators Straight From Moggi's Pocket

As some of you know, Pierluigi Pairetto and Paolo Bergamo were the 2 referee designators up until Calciopoli emerged on the scene in 06. As the 'scandal' became public, these two were chastised and believed to be part of the "Moggi System" which allowed Juve to monopolize the refereeing in Serie A (and to some extent even in C.L) to its benefit. They were both believed to be guilty while the media (Gazzetta dello Sport above all) helped display them as Moggi's servants.

intercettaz

On 12 December 2004, Juve played Bologna in the night game and the match was decided by a Nedved free kick from just outside the box with 4 minutes to go. The free kick was heavily discussed after the game, since some believed it to be an erroneous call, others found nothing wrong with it. The referee was Tiziano Pieri who was later found guilty for 'being part of the system' and banned from refereeing altogether at the age of 35 (referees can serve until 45, so he was banned at a very young age).

Today, 2 recorded phone calls emerged. They were both made the day after the game and one of them is between Bergamo and Pairetto, while the other is between Pieri and Pairetto. Here's the first one:

BERGAMO: Una bolgia è stata nel se condo. Undici leoni, anche nel primo tempo. Questi (quelli del Bologna, ndr) sono andati di già col nervosismo
PAIRETTO: Su quella punizione...
BERGAMO: Lui (Pieri, ndr) era molto lontano, uff.
PAIRETTO: Dice che ha tirato, è an che vero. Però lui (Ibra, ndr) allarga il braccio.
BERGAMO: il primo fallo lo fa Ibrahimovic.
PAIRETTO: Avevo detto: speriamo non segnino su questa punizione, te lo giuro.
BERGAMO: Io lo pensavo: sono quelle fischiate che poi... E' a trenta metri, che ti metti a fischiare. Aspettiamoci una valanga di polemiche.

The two designators discuss Pieri's decision to assign what ended up being the game-winning free kick. Bergamo shows his frustration as he hints that Pieri might have made a mistake while mentioning that the latter was very far from the foul itself and this made the decision very hard. Pairetto confesses that as he was watching the game he was hoping Juve wouldn't score because he knew that had that ball gone in a shitstorm would have ensued. Bergamo acknowledges this by saying: "Now we'll have to endure an avalanche of criticism and debate for this..." Keep in mind that these men were condemned as Moggi puppets and lots of people still believe they did everything in their power JUST to help Juve out.

Here's the second recorded phone call:

PIERI: Ho provato a chiamarti da ieri. Ho rivisto.
PAIRETTO: minchia questo episodio
PIERI: Ho fatto questo fischio perché ho visto questo fallo.
PAIRETTO: Tu hai mimato la tratte ìnuta
PIERI: Io ho visto... C'è Ibra... La since ra verità: per quello che è successo non lo rifischierei. ...Ho mimato quello che ho visto. Se non riesce a saltare uno di una stazza così, però tornassi indietro non lo rifischierei. Il discorso che ti ho detto io: non lo ripeterei quel fischio. Quel fischio e quella rete hanno offusca to una buona gara.
PAIRETTO: Se facevi un ammonito di qua e uno di là, non avresti fatto male.
PIERI: Luci (l'osservatore, ndr) ha detto: fino al 40' avevi ragione te.
PAIRETTO: T'ha trattato male, forse era un eccesso.
PIERI: Pareva contento, quanto m'ha dato?
PAIRETTO: 8.20 (un voto molto bas so, ndr)
PIERI: Mi dispiace per questo fischio che magari mettono in difficoltà voi
PAIRETTO: Io non ho problemi: io non brigo, mai rotture di cazzo, non mi chiama Carraro. Me ne batto, non so altri...
PIERI: Figurati se gli davo un rigore al la Juve... Mi fucilavano.

This second recording throws the "Juve were favored thanks to Moggi's system of control" accusations completely out the fucking window. Pieri claims in a disheartened manner to have seen a foul against Ibra (which led to the free kick) but confesses that with the huge criticism and discussion this decision ended up generating, if he could go back HE WOULD NOT call that foul. Pairetto tells him that he should have taken the safer route by giving a yellow to each side and avoided this criticism. Pieri asks Pairetto what rating Luci, the referee observer (the person who grades refs on their performances) gave him and he once again seems disheartened that he was given an 8.20 (a very low rating) due to this dubious call. Pieri then offers his apologies to Pairetto by saying: "I'm sorry if this call of mine has caused you (Bergamo and Pairetto) any trouble" and ends the conversation saying: "Imagine if I would have given a pk to Juve, they would have rifled/executed me!".

Again, these 3 men were all believed to have been under Moggi's control and the media-generated opinion on them was that they used all the power vested in them to favor Juventus. The above phone calls, make this notion seem laughable at best.