The only exception: why won't referees be able to address fans from Real Madrid's stadium?
Real Madrid's relationship with La Liga is experiencing tension
La Liga referees have started to appear and speak on television broadcasts this season, part of a new policy designed to give greater transparency to their decisions and explain key refereeing situations to fans.
Catalan newspaper "Sport" reported on Thursday that Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu will be the only exception among La Liga stadiums. Referees won't be able to conduct these television links from there, thanks to the conditions the Royal club imposes on broadcasts from its ground.
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During the first round of La Liga, fans heard the first interventions by referees on television. The protocol will expand from the tenth round, when referees can conduct interviews before and after matches whenever broadcasters request it, along with the chance to ask them about the most notable decisions and incidents witnessed during the game.
The Spanish refereeing body confirms that referees "will speak in the stadiums where the necessary conditions for this are available", stressing that there is no discrimination between clubs or stadiums.
So the absence of referees from this protocol at the Santiago Bernabeu isn't down to a decision by the referees' committee, nor a ban aimed specifically at Real Madrid. It stems from the restrictions imposed on broadcasters' links from the club's stadium, according to "Sport".
A tense relationship
The problem traces back to a relationship that has been strained for some time between Real Madrid, the Spanish League and the Spanish Football Federation. That tension has also shaped the conditions for television broadcasting from the Santiago Bernabeu.
Restrictions on broadcasters' links are the Royal club's doing. They allow such links only a few minutes before kick-off, which makes applying the new refereeing protocol, in the same way it works at other stadiums, impossible.
Fans of other clubs will get to hear referees explain important and controversial decisions. Real Madrid's fans, meanwhile, will be denied this new window of transparency inside the Santiago Bernabeu, according to the Catalan newspaper.
