The book "Finally Free" by Tony Chapron, former FIFA referee and now consultant for Canal +, which draws an edifying image of the French refereeing, was officially released this week. He is the one that spectators, TV viewers, players, coaches, managers have loved to hate. He, more than the others probably. It's Tony Chapron. The referee whose career ended on 14 January 2018, after the match Nantes – PSG, tells what he has lived for more than 14 years at the highest level. Pressures, threats, intimidations, small arrangements between friends: the former referee from Grenoble does not elude anything behind the scenes of refereeing and French football. The statement made by Tony Chapron is edifying, overwhelming. Firstly, for the leaders of the French Federation and its president, Noël Le Graët, and his predecessors, who did not care much about the referees. Then for those who run the French refereeing and have all the power to make or break a career without having to report to their hierarchy. Almost 10 years after the release of Bruno Derrien's book “A bas l’arbitre”, who already revealed the dark scenes of the French refereeing, Tony Chapron's book shows that nothing has changed after a decade of opacity and clientelism. The testimony of this former referee with a strong personality is human, genuine and sincere. To those who believe that Tony Chapron has spit in the soup, I would say that he has stepped up many times during his career to change the referee function and paid dearly for that.
The pathetic letter of the DTA to French referees
The federal referees in the four national divisions have received a funny letter very recently. It comes from the French Football Federation and more specifically from the voice of Eric Borghini, President of the Referees Committee, and Pascal Garibian, Technical Director of Refereeing. The letter refers - without naming it - to the book of Tony Chapron. At first, the two leaders of the French refereeing violently attack Tony Chapron: "We know that failures and their associated sufferings can feed the bitterness". Failures? The current Technical Director of Refereeing is well placed to talk about it. But I will not return to his career, which has been anonymous for a long time. Finally, this letter addressed to the French referees says a lot about the methods used by the DTA and the CFA that muzzled the speech of the referees.
Source: Arbitrage57
