Referee Rocchi warning : ‘Don’t want Serie A like other leagues with 5 players around goalkeeper’

MILAN, ITALY – DECEMBER 04: Gianluca Rocchi and Daniele Orsato receive the AIC Oscar del Calcio Awards on December 04, 2023 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images )

Refereeing designator Gianluca Rocchi uses two Parma goals to explain the Serie A approach to impeding the goalkeeper. ‘I don’t want to see situations in other leagues with five players in the six-yard box.’

Every week, the most recent Serie A refereeing incidents are analysed in-depth with footage from the VAR booth as well as audio of their conversations with the officials on the pitch, during a regular programme called Open VAR.

This time, the under-fire designator Rocchi was the guest representing the AIA (Italian Referees Association) for yet more controversy in Week 27.

They included Milan complaints when Parma’s goal was allowed against them the week before, but a similar challenge on the goalkeeper was not penalised when Parma played Cagliari this weekend.

Rocchi rejects Premier League refereeing model

“I reiterate that the goal in Milan-Parma was valid, but I didn’t like the way it was communicated at all,” explained Rocchi.

“With Parma-Cagliari, however, referee Massimi explains the situation to the players before the corner. As long as players are standing still, we have nothing in the rules that forces us to intervene.

“In other leagues, we see up to five players just standing still inside the six-yard box. On the other hand, we should also protect the goalkeeper and allow him freedom of movement. There are some movements that impede the goalkeeper, in which case we can intervene.

“The referee did very well, because he spotted the contact between Valenti and Caprile, and awarded a foul in favour of Cagliari,” insisted Rocchi.

The reference to other leagues was primarily the Premier League, where Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has in particular struggled at Tottenham Hotspur dealing with the kind of set play crowding of the box that has traditionally not been allowed in Serie A.

That tactic is now creeping into Italian football too, and the referees are forced to explain what constitutes a foul on the goalkeeper.

“I don’t want to see situations that I see in other leagues, which would be critical situations for us,” continued Rocchi.

“I am speaking purely for Italian football here, and in my view, we cannot allow that a goalkeeper is not given the freedom to play. That does not take away from the fact that in the rulebook there’s nothing that says a player can’t stand there in the six-yard box. We will be very careful from now on evaluating these moves.”