Athletic fans may be offended by the video refereeing of last Sunday's match in San Mamés, but they certainly are not surprised. It is what has the old normality. The virus, the pandemic, does not affect the braids; always in the shade of the best tree. They draw closer to their shadow than the meritorious bullfighters to the wild antlers.
In soccer, the new normal is that if you were previously pissed off by the blindness of the referees before certain colors, now you are outraged to know that the supreme judge is seeing the possible penalty on a giant screen, from a dozen different angles and on camera super slow. There is no longer any mistake. It's about intentionality with the whistle.
There is more fear in the refereeing collective to harm the greats and to be the target of their media power than the spread of the plague. In VAR football, the viral terror consists of seeing yourself on the covers of the media galaxy of Madrid and Barcelona, which both gives one and the other. Damning a great can hinder a career with the whistle.
Nor San Fermín
This does not fix or San Fermin, now that he is out of a job. The neck of the referees leans before the great clubs as before the feudal lords did the peasants in the Middle Ages. The thing about this last league match played in San Mamés was a classic: the robbery of the powerful.
Thus, thus Madrid wins. Fortunately, the stands of the new rojiblanco stadium were empty this last Sunday, if La Catedral is not closed to us. Bile was swallowed in bars in many other places inside and outside Bizkaia.