Last week I carried out a profile of one of the major refereeing elements in the local waterpolo scene, Mario Dalli.
Today I am going to carry out a similar profile on another top referee, Peter Balzan, a person, who like Mario, I had many times the opportunity to chat with. Peter is a dedicated person as regards refereeing even if this year he had to face certain sorry situations from persons who should know otherwise.
In fact Peter had to regretfully not accept a good European appointment in November because of what he told me a stop leave order by his company.
Waterpolo referees also have to finish forking out money to improve themselves, like for example to attend international clinics and seminars and this shows the utter dedication of these and other similar people who do honour to our refereeing fraternity.
Name: Peter Balzan
Place of Residence: Fgura Date of Birth: 12 February 1962
Age: 42
Height: 5’ 9’’
Weight: 90kg
Marital status: Married
Children: two, Karl and Luca
Languages spoken: Maltese, English, Italian
Professional occupation: Sales representative
Hobbies: Cycling and Carnival (this is his week!)
Favourite food: a nice piece of fillet steak
Favourite sports to watch other than waterpolo: All sports as long as it is interesting to watch. But football is the second favorite.
Referee since: 1989
First game ever refereed: Do not remember.
National league referee since: 1991
First Division game ever refereed: Sirens vs Sliema
FINA/LEN referee since: LEN 1996 Fina 1997
Career highlights: 7th and 8th place game in the World Waterpolo Championships in Fukuoka Japan
Spain Russia for the 3rd and 4th place in The Junior world championships in Naples Italy
Final Serbia Montenegro vs. Croatia in the Junior European Waterpolo Championships Malta.
Final Commonwealth Games in Manchester England between Australia vs. Canada.- Woman Cup of Cups Final in Athens Greece between Gifa Palermo and Voulialmeni of Greece.
What is your background in waterpolo?
Started as a player with Valletta United in 1970. Played till 1984. After that, I decided to sign with Barracudas until 1987. In 1988 I played for Sirens and in 1989 returned back to Barracudas as a player coach.
In 1991 moved to Marsascala and then a year after to Ta` Xbiex . In 1993 I decided to finish my career as a player with the team that I had originally started, Valletta United.
Why did you decide to become a referee?
Once I was whistling a friendly match in Valletta and there was Charles Micallef ( ‘IL-MORNING’ )
When I finished the game , he said to me “Why don’t you start whistling, I think you are capable of becoming a good referee some day if you take it seriously” and I kept thinking of these words until I saw my friend referee Miro Caruana who started whistling a year earlier and I decided to start my career as a referee.
How difficult is it to juggle a refereeing career with a professional working career?
At the moment it is very difficult. When I have appointments abroad my employers where I work always give me permission to attend (of course from my optional leave). But this year it was the first time I had problems as I had an appointment in Patras Greece for Len Trophy in October, and unfortunately I had to cancel my appointment due to stop leave from work. I hope that this will return to normal. For us receiving an appointment now is seemingly like a miracle because we are not entitled to receive appointments as long as our local clubs do not participate in European Club Competitions.
I think that we are receiving these appointments because we are doing well abroad thanks to the help we received from Mr. Bertie Muscat (Ex LEN TWPC Secretary )and from Mr Robert Ebejer, the ASA President.
What for you is the toughest part of refereeing?
The centre position as sometimes you cannot see exactly who is pulling; is it the attacker or the defender?. Last November I was in Bari for the Fina school for referees and it was decided that next year in the Waterpolo congress, the Technical committee will try to change this rule of the centre position to make the game faster.
What is the most enjoyable part?
To see that, after a game, everything went well and there where no problems.
What do you hate about refereeing? People that shout indecent words during the game and criticize all the time without knowing the rules of the game..
Influential people in your sports career:
My father, Bertie Muscat, Robert Ebejer, and Emmanuel (Budgy) Dowling. I want to mention also all the coaches and instructors who instructed me.
What type of person (character-wise) makes a good referee? To be calm but at the same time be swift in your decisions because you have to decide in a split second.
Career/ best moment in waterpolo:
The junior European Waterpolo final this year at The National Pool in Malta between Serbia Montenegro and Croatia which finished in extra time . It was an exciting final and to make things worse it started raining heavily and I thought that I was playing in the water with the players.
What advice would you offer to young people who want to reach the top level as a referee? The first thing I say to a new referee is to be himself and never try to be the protagonist of the game as there are already two teams in the water.
The second: the whistle is not an instrument. Do not carry out a concert.
The third: never except gifts as these may compromise your game and decisions.