The new local basketball season will commence tomorrow. This year, similarly to the last couple of seasons, the competitions have started quite later than what was the norm before the infamous September 2003 storm which had flooded the sports pavilion.

The main reason seems to be that the local association has decided to limit its budget for the leagues due to ever increasing pressures put on general sponsorships around the island where an ever increasing number of associations/organisations want to eat from the same (practically unchanged, value-wise) cake.

From the outset I wish everybody, from referees to players, coaches and administrators the very best of luck for the coming months.

A special word of encouragement definitely goes to my colleague referees where I hope that each one of us gives his very best and be prepared, technically and physically for every match and more importantly a level of consistency, at a good level, is reached.

Being a referee is not so much of a rosy task. Unfortunately the numbers are dwindling whilst the number of games has remained almost the same. The referees’ appointment officer has an arduous and grueling task to schedule referees and table officials for each and every game.

As stated previously, the new season is just days ahead and just like players, referees need to start preparing (ideally in a professional way) themselves in all aspects of their game, namely physically, technically and psychologically. The development of a successful referee does not begin when the same referee goes to his first training meeting or seminar.

One way is for the referee to prepare completely and know the rules and mechanics of his sport. If the referee can be where he is supposed to be to see the play going on, the same referee will be more confident. When the referee is prepared, he will definitely know when, for example in basketball, a coach or a player does not have a clue what he is talking about and when the same coach or player does have a clue.

My opinion on the way a referee should prepare himself is to study and work as many games as possible especially in the first years of the career. The more plays the referee sees and experiences, the better prepared the referee will be for his next appointment.

Despite all the preparation, every referee will do mistakes and there will always be a chance that a coach or a player could be occasionally right when commenting on some decision taken by the referee. During the game, the referee should put any such call behind him and rid himself of doubts so that the same referee would be ready for the next decision.

The referee should also be prepared for any hostilities by supporters or protests by players and coaches. This is easier said than done and often new referees (and even not so new) do not come to grips with such situations and end quitting their job because the pressure seems to be too much.

One lesson I learnt was that the referee should remember how he himself acted when he played and/or watched sports as a supporter. Like most players and supporters, he did not know the referee personally and, with very few and rare exceptions, he surely yelled or protested.

However, this yelling or protesting was generally directed at the uniform and not the person (this has been analysed a number of times in previous articles). Having grasped this idea, the referee can then build a thicker skin and concentrate more on the game. The emotional level is the most difficult aspect of the game that the referee can control. However, if the referee commits himself to block out the jeers and criticisms and concentrate on the play that is going on, he will be a better referee. It really sounds simple but surely needs a lot of practice.

I sincerely hope that everybody acts in mature way and does not let emotions put him out of control. This will be my 15th year refereeing the local top division and I have always strove to be fair and unbiased and can proudly state that this was always the case.

One hopes that the games will be entertaining and that players play with sportsmanship in their minds.

As a referee, it is not my joy to interrupt play but my job entails that I oversee that the game is played in a fair manner and the rules are being followed. If a player opts to contact and thus gain an illegal advantage over his opponent (or worse still commits hard contact or verbal abuse, even towards a referee or other official, that results in harsher penalties), I have no other option but to stop the game and let the rules state the resultant penalty.

In other words, I have a job to do but will only act if the other ‘actors’ in the game step out of their allowed ‘boundary’ out of their will and nobody else’s.

New referee related technology

in European basketball

There are few areas of the world of sports where high technology has not found a home in the last decade.

Now FIBA Europe has brought more high tech to the world of officiating with the introduction of the Digital Score Sheet. This is a software package which collates game video to the official score sheet, greatly reducing the possibility of errors during the game.

The product was developed by a team of software specialists from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria under the guidance of FIBA Europe Referee coordinator Miguel Betancor with the intent of giving officials the opportunity to accurately record the score and actions of the participants and allow the analysis of the referee performance afterwards.

The tool simultaneously digitises a feed of the game and assigns each action recorded in the score sheet to the video. This provides a valuable and unquestionable record to support the scorekeepers and also allows referees to view clips of specific points of interest or contention during the game in order to ensure accuracy.