Former Italian referee Claudio Gavillucci has revealed he was ‘dismissed by text message’ and claims his colleagues ‘aren’t guaranteed by a transparent system’. Gavilucci, who has overseen 50 matches in Serie A and an additional 74 in the second tier of Italian football, hits out at the Italian Referees’ Association (AIA) in his new book called: ‘The Man in Black. The truth of an uncomfortable referee’.
“I wrote my book because at 38 I was dismissed by AIA in a text message,” he told Radio Kiss Kiss. “I decided to get to the bottom of the case, to understand if the technical reasons behind this decision existed. I discovered many important things, among which there were grounds for discrimination. I wrote it for the sake of my job and for the love I have for football. I found the unwillingness to open up and necessity to hide something. I put my hand over the flame for my colleagues, who unfortunately aren’t guaranteed by a transparent system and it doesn’t work as it should. The honest man is the one who lives in a context of honesty.”
