As this happens to be the first column in 2006, I would like to extend wishes for the New Year to all the readers.

Six days have already passed in this year and following (for most of us) the yuletide festivities, it is back to business in whatever sector our daily activities take us to, including refereeing games.

Just two days ago, literally by chance as I usually do not watch TV at that early evening hour, I had the chance to see a local programme which was dedicated to referees, football in this case. Obviously my TV remote control breathed a sigh of relief for that hour or so as I watched with interest.

In fact, some of the comments I heard on the same programme led me to present today’s column which is fully adapted from an article written by Mr. Ron Brown in 2002 and which was published in the ’Referee’ magazine.

If one had to ask any mayor what his or her first order of business is when the council organizes some important public meeting or function, the answer is quite simple: They will hire more police to supervise the activity.

The same holds for the organisation of major sports, be it football, basketball, etc.

The referee is the ‘policeman’ (in a way) of all the action that goes on out on the pitch/court.

Anybody, be it a coach, player or administrator who enters into a game situation thinking otherwise has created a hostile environment for his or her team.

Mr. Brown in fact stated that if players and coaches made as few mistakes during games as the basketball, or whatever sport, referees did, the whole activity would be much more enjoyable to watch.

Unfortunately, the scapegoat theory is ever-present in a lot of stadia and gyms. After all, it is sometimes quite ingrained in human nature to try to shove blame onto someone else. Many do it but luckily a good number of people realise what they are doing and quickly go back on their own words. Unfortunately there are others who do not admit they are doing wrong and keep on insisting in their hypothesis.

The danger of this type of thinking is that players, coaches, administrators or actually teams as a whole never face the harsh reality of their own errors, which certainly have more to do with a defeat on any given day than any call or two made by a referee.

As Mr. Brown states (I fully concur with this way of thought not because I am a referee myself but because when I used to play, I used to try to understand certain situations in this way) that in order for players and coaches to fully understand and appreciate the role of referees, they have to place themselves in the position of the referee himself.

Luckily in most European countries that take basketball really seriously, it has become common practice for coaches to get their first license, and maybe further licenses, only after having to go through a number of hours or games working actually as a referee.

In my opinion this is a great method as respect will be more forthcoming as many coaches realise that it is not an easy task to actually go on the court to control a match.

In his article, Mr. Brown listed a number of points which coaches can adopt so that they put across to his players and staff the importance of understanding the role of the referee.

The first point is that one should appreciate what it means to know and administer all the rules.

Few, if any, players or coaches know the rule book inside and out like a referee should do. As a consequence, when problems do arise, most participants talk and complain about areas of the game that they do not even sometimes understand.

Mr. Brown then mentions that one should move forward to appreciate the uniformity of the refereeing profession.

Most players and coaches also fail to appreciate how hard those referees who actually take their task seriously, and do their job for the love of the game and to ever-improve their level and not just referee to earn little game money, work to maintain a high level of uniformity in their profession.

The training, both physical and mental, that goes into becoming a referee, especially at top local level, is at times hard and tedious.

Referees take at least an annual exam. I cannot speak for other sports as I am not in a position to describe what happens there but I can speak openly for the local basketball sector where referees should do bi-annual theory and physical tests. There are then three further physical and theory tests to be accomplished on the international scene every year and here these are a must and not a case of should do.

Referees, at most real competitive levels, also face strict evaluations, another area lacking in the coaching profession.

The next point put forward by Mr. Brown is that coaches should teach their players that serious referees love the game too

From my experience I have seen that a good number of referees were once average or even good players too whilst some have coached as well. Additionally most referees display a passion for the game that translates into long hours away from the family and/or friends without the accompanying headlines or TV highlights that coaches and players can look forward to the next day after a game.

Mr. Brown concludes his article by mentioning the ever-important fact that, after all, referees are people too. He puts forward the advice to coaches to treat their game’s referees like they would want to be treated.

Upon concluding I hope that 2006 will be a good year for our local refereeing community and that each respective referee strives hard to improve on his performances as nobody is perfect and one could always learn, whatever his age, experience or level.

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