With his silhouette and his signature: the striking Piero Maza cards that marked the UC duel

Personalization of sportswear is not something new. In the uniformity of equipment, each player has sought a way to differentiate themselves from the others. Some cases are marked by the search for a unique design on the captains’ bag, or on the goalkeepers’ shirt, as Felipe Núñez did a few years ago with his tribute to Gustavo Cerati. .

Others are looking for more subtle alternatives, like the picture of the kids on the shin guards, or the embroidered name on the football boots.

In the same way, the referee Piero Maza wanted to leave his mark on the arbitration . The central judge of the match between Universidad Católica and Coquimbo Unido, which ended in a narrow 2-1 victory for the Crusaders, surprised with a peculiar object.

When warning the players with the yellow card, the image of the judge himself could be seen with his printed signature, which he brought out nine times during the clash between the Crusaders and the Pirates .

It’s not the first curious situation that Piero Maza has had on the pitch. One of the most memorable situations happened in 2016 when he was in charge of the game between Unión La Calera and Palestino at the Lucio Fariña stadium in Quilloa.

On this occasion, Maza had to suspend the match for a few minutes because they had thrown an empanada like a projectile on the ground. Given this, the referee picked up the food and handed it to the fourth referee.

More recently, in November 2022, he had to go get a phone after taking a penalty in the match between Magallanes and Deportes Recoleta .

Besides, Piero Maza was one of the judges who at the time was sacked by Javier Castrilli when the Argentine was in charge of the ANFP’s arbitration commission. . Amid the investigation into accusations Francisco Gilabert was pressured to collect a penalty midway through the promotion league between Huachipato and Deportes Copiapó, Castrilli was dismissed and Maza, along with other dismissed, returned to their duties .

The former Transandean judge continues to be up to date with what’s happening in national football and, in fact, took to his Twitter account to question one of Maza’s decisions in the latest duel between UC and Coquimbo.

The play in question was Diego Sánchez’s foul against Fernando Zampedri in the 65th minute of the match. “Incredible that this action, after also being seen by the VAR system monitor, is interpreted as ‘reprimandable’ by seriously endangering the physical integrity of the opponent… it’s a “brutal and serious game”… it was an expulsion… “explained Castrilli on the social network.

Then, in another message, he launched that “the permissiveness of the referees harms the interests because they do not protect legal certainty… from that moment Coquimbo played with one more player “, he completed.