The RFEF loses control of futsal
The RFEF has plunged futsal into chaos. The COVID-19 has not made it easy, but there are other situations that have spread a negative message about a sport that is already pitting the clubs against each other. Since the competition began, the number of suspended matches has accumulated, the health protocols do not measure the teams by the same yardstick and the sanctions have only one victim: those teams that have not left the National Futsal League (LNFS) to come under the umbrella of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).
It is the latest provocation by the RFEF. The 2021 Spanish Cup will be held at the Wizink Center in Madrid in March. Everything indicates that it will have no audience. It is impossible that the current health crisis will allow a sporting spectacle with spectators in an enclosed venue. Although the costs of renting a venue such as the old Sports Palace in Madrid are very low, the internal logistics do make the product more expensive. Catering, sound, security, electronic scoreboards... The LNFS already organised the tournament in 2018 and made the investment profitable with a media campaign, activities, sponsors... those were other times and other wills. That final was watched live by more than 12,000 spectators. Now the RFEF will squander an amount that will have television as a means of income because the stands will be empty. Friendly games against Brazil in 2019 at the Wizink left a hole of around 300,000 euros and the Malaga Cup in March 2020 cost the RFEF approximately 200,000 euros.
The same spectacle could have been organised in the RFEF pavilion. It should be remembered that the Super Cup final between Inter Movistar and Barcelona was also due to be held at the Wizink (Monday, 11 January at 19:45) and had to be cancelled due to the snowfall in Madrid in those days.
The clubs already know that, if the Spanish Cup is played in March, they will have to pay the accommodation costs. The news has not gone down very well because on previous occasions it was the LNFS that covered hospitality expenses and brought the teams together in the same hotel to facilitate the logistics of travel, interviews, events... a kind of bubble that would have been a good idea on this occasion.
Another of the most dramatic moments of the season was ElPozo Murcia's trip to Ferrol and not playing their match. The contact with some Jaén players who ended up testing positive for covid-19 was not enough to postpone the next match. ElPozo made the trip and on arrival found that the Galician team had tested positive for covid-19. The RFEF competition judge did not suspend the match in advance and forced Diego Giustozzi's team to cross Spain. The travel plan was to rest for a few hours, train for the game and return home unplayed.
The clubs that left the LNFS to join the RFEF's sporting adventure have seen how their media coverage has been almost non-existent. Inter Movistar, Jaén, Peñíscola, Ribera Navarra and Burela have barely had any matches televised on Gol or LaLigaSport TV. The LNFS goes to their pavilions with a notary who certifies that these teams prevent the cameras from accessing their stadiums. While pressuring the RFEF to find a solution that would give visibility to their sponsors, they have tried to broadcast their matches illegally on Youtube or Twitch. All these broadcasts were suspended at the request of LaLiga and LNFS because they violated the signed contracts. Now they have started streaming channels where they try to broadcast the matches in order to justify the disbursement of their sponsors. An alegal stronghold protected from any interruption by the law.
From Las Rozas they rushed to close a contract with Teledeporte to broadcast matches where these teams play as home team. The RFEF receives no money, but bears the costs of the production of these matches, which it puts in the hands of the company ATM Broadcast. TDP broadcast the first match between Ribera Navarra and Betis in November 2020 with the warning that doing so would be a criminal offence. Even the Andalusian team objected to the broadcast, but went ahead. RTVE have already commented that, if there were sanctions, they would fall on the federation itself. Although the data is irrelevant for the public broadcaster and for the RFEF, the audiences for futsal are much lower than those of Gol.
Albert Soler is the head of Barça's professional sports area. He was previously Secretary of State for Sport and president of The High Council for Sports (CSD). He is close to Andreu Camps, secretary general of the RFEF. Two of the great instigators of the division of futsal in Spain. At the end of 2020, everything indicated that Barcelona would leave the LNFS to side with the RFEF. A media coup for the competition due to the importance of the Catalonian club. But Bartomeu's resignation and the arrival of a management board put paid to the new conspiracy. As reported in El Español newspaper, Albert Soler and Óscar Grau (Barça's CEO) tried to sneak the decision to leave the historic club into a meeting of the board, but their evil tricks were stopped dead in their tracks. Soler was discredited and Camps was unable to make the final move.
With Barça out of the RFEF's clutches, it was ElPozo's turn. The Murcian team is a staunch defender of the LNFS as an independent manager of the sport.
The match between Valdepeñas and ElPozo was the perfect settling of scores for the federation. The team from Murcia reported a positive result in a home-grown player who had been in close contact with the first team. He was isolated and the rest of the players were tested negative. With the match minutes away from kick-off and the television broadcasting live, the competition judge suspended the match because "the minimum safety conditions were not met". Full house for Rubiales' boys. Gol is left without a match, ElPozo suffers another setback and, at the same time, Valdepeñas learns who is in charge in futsal.
Rebeca Esnaola, sports councillor of the Government of Navarra, has had to mediate so that the two futsal teams in the region stop the tension between them. One more step in the pressure that the RFEF submits its affiliates to. Ribera Navarra was the last team to leave the LNFS and Osasuna Magna is one of the historic teams in the competition. Ribera Navarra complained that Magna had been late in carrying out the COVID-19 test and crossed a dangerous line by asking the RFEF to declare them the winner of the match. The RFEF judge opened proceedings, but concluded that there was no bad faith in the delay and that the match would be played on another date. The sanction would have been too rude, but it once again gave Spanish futsal a bad image.
On Tuesday, 19 January 2021, the 100th match between Inter and ElPozo took place. The great Classic of futsal could be seen on TDP because the Madrid team was playing at home. At 21:30 the match started and at the same time the RTVE sports channel was still broadcasting live a women's basketball match. The broadcast started more than 5 minutes late. This was already common when the futsal rights belonged to Teledeporte, but with the new sale to Gol, the futsal schedules were respected.
Another of the battles that the RFEF is waging against non-aligned clubs is over the patches on the sleeves of their shirts. The LNFS itself issued a communiqué making public the sanction of 2,000 euros per match imposed by the federation on teams wearing the LNFS patch instead of the RFEF patch. Las Rozas have limited themselves to speaking through leaks to Twitter profiles claiming that the fine is due to the fact that they do not wear the federation logo. In response to this, the president of Full Energía Zaragoza in the second division made some blunt statements on Radio Marca: "If they want us to wear their patch, let them pay us".
The RFEF began to put sticks in the wheels of some teams in October 2020. ElPozo de Murcia received a historic sanction for one of its most important players. Pol Pacheco ended up serving a 13-match ban for "debts with his agent" even though the Murcian club proved that they were up to date with the payment before registration. It was to no avail and the case is still going through the ordinary courts, which will never give the player back the time he was unable to work for his team. The same sanction and for the same reason was imposed on Hélder, player of O'Parrulo Ferrol.
The coronavirus is also evidence of the RFEF's lack of resources. The reinforced protocols are not making it easier to play matches. There are teams that have played up to five matches more than others and this will be a major disadvantage in the classification for the Spanish Cup. Jaén is one of the teams closest to the RFEF, but they have had to raise their voices and complain about the schedule of matches imposed to make up for the postponed matches. LaLiga and the LNFS have an agreement whereby Spanish football provides tests, talks and measures to the clubs, although the organisation is the RFEF's responsibility. The failures accumulate until they lose control of a sport they once decided to manage.