Читать книгу Calcio: A History of Italian Football - John Foot - Страница 39

In January 2000, a strange item of news started to break in the press and sports media. The president of Roma, Franco Sensi, had given the two most important and powerful figures in the referees’ association – the designators – a nice Christmas present. Each had received a gold Rolex. Sensi’s defence was that he had ‘only spent’ 120 million lire (about £40,000). Moreover, he had ‘always’ (at least over the last five or six years) given presents to the ‘designators’. The year before, it had been champagne – six bottles at £70 a bottle. ‘It was an act of courtesy,’ he continued, ‘Roma wants nothing from the referees. If they want to give the presents back, that is their problem. They are free to receive presents if they want. All the costs were declared and are included in Roma’s budget. Everything has taken place in the open.’

After the storm broke, it turned out that a total of 41 Rolexes had been passed to many of the top referees, who were ordered to give them back. Only two of these were solid gold – worth £8,000 each on the street – whilst the lesser models were valued at a mere £1,800 each. Other presents turned up: Inter had given 36 electro-stimulators worth £700 each, while 74 linesmen had received Phillips watches worth £180 each. Some of the Rolexes could not be recovered. One referee had already sold his on. Nobody resigned. A judicial inquiry was opened, and closed, and the tax police also became interested for a while. Meanwhile, unlike the lowly referees, the ‘designators’ kept their gold Rolexes. The justification? ‘If we had given the gifts back it would have led to more embarrassment and debate.’ ‘Watchgate’ only underlined the contempt with which most Italians regard their referees. Nobody was particularly surprised, or even outraged. The case merely confirmed their suspicions. During the 2006 calciopoli scandals, some accused Pairetto of deliberately leaking the ‘Watchgate’ story so as to damage Roma. One thing was certain, no scandal was ever as simple as it seemed.