Another season is upon us, and judging by the opening day our men in black are raring to go. Rubinos Pérez was the first to upset the apple-cart, awarding a dubious penalty to Espanyol against Deportivo and then sending off Iván De la Peña for touching a part of his body which should only be seen in private. The player said he was only adjusting his clothing on a hot day, but the over-sensitive Rubinos took it as a personal insult and produced the red. Daudén Ibáñez made himself unpopular with the Osasuna camp the following day, turning down Milosevic's penalty appeal and rather harshly sending off Josetxo, and Undiano Mallenco was given a hard time by Racing for awarding a penalty against them when Barcelona's Xavi fell under Pablo Casar's challenge.

Spanish referees were in the news as well a few days ago when Medina Cantalejo appeared to award two yellow cards to a Grazer AK player against Liverpool in their Champions League qualifier, but failed to send him off (although the official denied this later). He was probably only following the example set by an English referee though a few days earlier, who did the same thing. Well, everybody says that the Spaniards should take a leaf out of the English referees' books, so that's presumably what he did! (01.09.04)