2024-07-10 13:47:12
The former Argentine referee, who returned to the spotlight for the use of VAR in the Copa América, had a somewhat happy time as head of the Chilean refereeing team.
Javier Castrilli, the former Argentine referee known as the Iron Judge, returned to the limelight after reporting on the numerous errors of the VAR and the refereeing during the Copa América, in which Chile was one of the main victims of this situation.
“Conmebol: it is hard to explain how this could happen four minutes into the match when there is VAR and the ball is not in play. What explanation can they give? Incredible,” were Castrilli’s words after the elbow received by Rodrigo Echeverría in the match against Canada, which went unpunished.
But who is Javier Castrilli? The 67-year-old former referee rose to prominence in the 1990s in Argentine football, where he was called the Sheriff or the Iron Judge.for strict compliance with the regulations for all events, regardless of whether it involves Boca Juniors, River Plate or a lesser-known team.
This even led him to expel four River Plate players in a match, in addition to their coach, in addition to giving Diego Maradona a red card when he was captain of Boca Juniors.
After leading his last party in 1998, two years later he wanted to make the leap into politics, running for various positions in different political parties and groups until 2016.
In September 2021 he was presented with great fanfare as head of the Chilean football Referees Commission, with the intention of generating a revolution in the national refereeing system.
However, Javier Castrilli’s arrival at the ANFP ended in a resounding failure when he was fired seven months later, amid the controversy generated by the promotion match between Huachipato and Deportes Copiapó.
On that occasion, the referee of the match, Francisco Gilabert, denounced pressure from Santiago to award a non-existent penalty and thus guarantee Huachipato’s permanence in Primera A.
Since he did not want to be removed from his duties in the investigation of the so-called Audios case carried out by the ANFP, he was finally dismissed, which led to the re-hiring of all the referees sacked by the Argentine.
But this did not end there, because Castrilli sued the organization headed by Pablo Milad for unjustified dismissal and moral damages, receiving compensation of $147 million.