The Ecuadorian Football Federation should not accept Carlos Manzur's resignation as the president of the National Arbitration Commission, asks Luis Muentes, the president of the Ecuadorian Association of Football Referees. Muentes says that Manzur cannot resign "without clarifying" the corruption allegations he made in EL UNIVERSO ("Corruption exists. But the only way to fight against it is to eliminate the corruptor," Manzur said). Muentes announces that today he will make public the names of "shameless judges and leaders" and "that corruption is real."
The Arbitration Commission is left without a president.
I want to see if they accept his resignation. They should not accept it because Manzur denounces corruption and he is an important part of the FEF's directory. They are obligated to clarify the issue of corruption, which we are also denouncing, with names and surnames.
What corruption is he referring to?
Bribes to referees, threats, submission to the judges. Anything that goes against principles is corruption.
Do you have names of leaders or teams that have tried to bribe them?
We have the names of those people and corrupt referees. I am denouncing them and tomorrow (today) we will give the names and surnames.
What does your guild do when a referee claims they were attempted to be bribed?
Unfortunately, they always call them from payphones. They never leave a message that could serve as evidence. They take the name of any club and we respect the clubs of our football because a shameless person takes a name and tries to tarnish a club. In the face of that, we must be prudent. But it doesn't mean that the corruption that Manzur denounced doesn't exist, because it is real.
Manzur says that corruption is widespread, involving players, leaders, and judges.
It's logical. I don't think a referee tells a leader, "how much is there to favor your team in this match?" No. The first one who offers is the leader and the referee who is shameless accepts the bribe. It's from both sides.
What do you expect the authorities to do with the accusation?
A colleague will file a complaint through the ordinary (justice) system to clear their name. A shameless person went to their house and their workplace to offer them money. The complaint we will make forces the leaders to act, whether they want to or not. We challenge the leadership to clean up the cesspool that exists in our football.
Do you expect a true cleansing?
A true cleansing, but in every sense. From leaders, referees, and also from journalists who act with a bias.
Does that mean you think there are journalists who harm referees?
They are the ones who do the most harm to Ecuadorian football because people listen to them and often believe them.
The president of Guayaquil City complained about Diego Lara.
They (leaders) are called upon to take the bull by the horns with the names we will give. They are the ones responsible for removing the corrupt leaders. If there are shameless referees, it's because there are corrupt leaders. We are starting a purification of our football.
Did the council of presidents of LigaPro meet with you to reduce their salary? Was an agreement reached?
I participated in the meeting and the sad thing is that they treated us as mafiosos. It is difficult to negotiate with people who treat you as a mafioso. We don't have a salary and we cannot accept a reduction in something we don't have. We earn per game officiated and the tournament has been reduced, which obviously means less income for referees.
From the funds they receive, did they try to reduce it?
We are reducing our income due to the pandemic. The schedule of the Serie B has been reduced. We are talking about a million (dollars) less for the guild compared to 2019.
Those who need to reach agreements with you say that you are difficult to deal with, that you cannot have a dialogue with because you underestimate the commissions and only want to talk to the top (of the FEF or LigaPro). What do you respond to that?
I am a supporter of freedom of speech. I don't have to ask anyone's permission. I respect everyone, but when someone comes with arrogance and haughtiness, I simply refuse to talk because it would no longer be a conversation but submission. Still, I believe I am not ready for someone to come and submit me as they usually do to others. I like dialogue, but when they try to submit me, that is no longer dialogue.
Can it be considered that referees are more professional now than before?
That is true in many aspects. When I was an active referee, what we earned sometimes only covered the taxi fare and sometimes it was not enough. We had to put in our own money because we were not paid. There was a lot of debt, and through struggle and more struggle, we managed to improve the incomes of referees. They are in better conditions, but now more is demanded of them; better preparation. Obviously, there is more professionalism, but principles have nothing to do with professionalism because we see that even in church, in the police force, and everywhere, there are shameless people, there is corruption.
Do you always feel pressured by any game or are there certain teams that put more pressure?
The main actors in a football match are the players, the referees will always face pressure from the fans, from the leaders, from the players, from the press. That will always exist. The other type of pressure is a different kind of pressure, conditioning. We have had complaints from people who were in refereeing years ago and now they tell us that they were threatened, that if they didn't comply with what the referee commission leader asked, their career would be in jeopardy, and it actually happened. This has been happening for a long time, but I think it is time to unmask them, to expose all of this and clean up Ecuadorian football because it is sad to see what it has sunk into. (D)