Chilean refereeing is experiencing a serious crisis, because the national referees are not in favour of the actions taken by the president of the Referees Committee, Javier Castrilli, and plan to go on strike. The Argentine was informed of the move that the referees intend to make and made a shocking decision, removing 10 Chilean referees, including some of them currently on the FIFA List. The dismissed FIFA referees are Julio Bascunan, Cristian Garay, Nicolas Gamboa and Piero Maza. They are joined by Felipe Jara, Claudio Urrutia, Felipe Jerez, Hector Jona, Franco Arrue and Constanza Salinas.
Following that decision, the referees' union demanded the resignation of Castrilli and his close circle. The differences erupted after the dismissal of referees Patricio Blanca, Omar Oporto and Raul Orellana. In Blanca's case, the now former referee was fired just after filing a complaint with the union for irregularities in the committee. The referees discussed the decision and for now the union seems to be going towards a strike.
In a video accessed by RedGol, the referees set up a dialogue in favour of the strike based on the classic scene from the film Braveheart, in which Mel Gibson plays William Wallace at the head of the Scottish army in the war of independence against the English forces. In the video, Chilean referees unite to demand Castrilli's departure. Otherwise, they will make the decision to go on strike. The adapted dialogue begins with a “here we are going to see if we are all really willing to improve Chilean refereeing”. “Of course, yes. You, international referees, must lead by example. Are you willing to support it?”, responds referee Wallace. "If Castrillo doesn't leave, the strike start".
Source: RedGol
