Lorient President Loic Fery not convinced by referee explanations for decisions in derby defeat against Brest

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·1 April 2024

Lorient President Loic Fery not convinced by referee explanations for decisions in derby defeat against Brest

FC Lorient president Loic Fery has spoken out against what he, and the rest of the Lorient camp, perceive to be incorrect decisions in Sunday’s Breton derby defeat to Stade Brestois 29, reports L’Équipe.

@lequipe De bonne foi & sans être partisan, quelqu’un comprend les explications ci-dessous de Mr Gauthier? Au mieux c’est totalement nébuleux, au pire cette tentative de post-rationalisation cache une triste vérité: il n’y a ni cohérence ni transparence dans l’arbitrage en L1
– Sunday, 31 March 2024

Speaking on X, Fery bemoaned the refereeing performance:

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” In good faith and without being biased, does anyone understand Mr. Gautier’s explanations? At best it’s unclear, at worst this attempt at post-game rationalisation hides a sad truth: There is neither coherence nor transparency in refereeing in Ligue 1″

Fery’s comments were in response to refereeing president Gautier’s explanation for his decisions, published in Monday’s edition of L’Équipe in defence of referee Mr. Brisard’s decisions, particularly on what Lorient perceived to be a clear handball by Brest defender Brendan Chardonnet:

“The position of the Brest defender’s arm is a consequence of the movement of his body in this specific situation, that is to say a player trying to regain his balance, arms in a symmetrical position… with a very reduced distance between the deflection of the Lorient player and the ball to arm contact of the Brest player. The situation was handled according to the VAR protocol. Firstly, the referee made his decision on the pitch. After that, the video assistant immediately evaluated the situation. His analysis didn’t detect any error, he therefore informed the referee that the evaluation was over.”

Whilst Gautier added that he could understand Fery’s frustration, he also was at pains to articulate that the refereeing process is fair and impartial, despite Lorient not having benefitted from a single penalty decision in their favour this season.

With that being said, there is a growing clamour for refereeing communication to be made public, with Gautier adding that this will be the next stage of making the process more transparent:

“Absolutely. The next step will consist of allowing the referee to communicate in the stadium, and with broadcasters, to explain the decision following the use of VAR next to the field of play. Referees are ready, if the LFP wants it, the only thing left to do is to be sure that all Ligue 1 stadiums are configured for this new technology.”

GFFN | Jack McArdle

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