I am greatly indebted to referee.com in preparing this week’s article which deals with the improvement/gain each individual referee may experience by observing and correlating with referees from other sports apart from his own respective sport discipline.

It is absolutely easy to understand that whether one referees football, basketball, waterpolo or some other team sport, we are basically facing many of the same things together. As referees, we face a lot of the same happenings both on and off the playing field/court.

Some may be wary to accept such a fact because they only think about the difference in each sport itself and the correlated differences in rules and how the game is played. While this is perfectly true, experienced referees can easily understand that there are many things that bring us together even though we may be refereeing a totally different type of sport. This is mainly because the relations with players/ coaches and supporters as well as the psychological factors we experience are quite similar if not identical.

An interesting study by Mr. Jeffrey Stern concluded that referees who referee and concentrate on just a single sport have a tendency to be narrow-minded. For example, if football is their game, they only follow football, only read about football and try to learn only from football referees.

Stern added that while it is true that a confirmed football-only referee, for example, will never need to know the rules pertaining to free throws in basketball or the brutality foul in waterpolo or even service rules in volleyball, he has long believed that referees in one sport can find common ground with referees who work other sports by taking a peek at what the referees in other sports are learning.

This does not necessarily require one to attend clinics/meetings/courses organized by other sport referee associations. It can involve just the mere observation of other referees in action in other sports and assessing their actions and decision-making attributes. It can also involve getting to know what other referee organisations are doing in educating their on referees.

Let me cite a simple personal example. Also this week I happened to come once again across another interesting article, this time on www.uefa.com, which dealt with a fascinating speech that the world renowned Pierluigi Collina delivered earlier this year in Switzerland during a UEFA referees’ meeting.

In fact, as duly reported in the above-mentioned site, Collina (who many term as the world’s best referee and who very recently retired after a glittering career that took in a host of major finals and fixtures and is now a member of the UEFA Referees’ Committee) passed on very essential advice to the young referees attending the UEFA’s seventh Talents and Mentors seminar. This meeting was part of a programme whereby European refereeing prospects receive crucial guidance for the future from experienced ex-international match officials.

Preparation, passion and credibility were some of the key words put forward by Collina as he told his audience about the crucial aspects of the job that they must adhere to and master on their way to the refereeing summit. “Referees today have an extremely difficult job because football is faster, stronger and more intensive,” the 47-year-old Collina said. “Speed is now the main factor in football – players and referees have no time to think on the field. In addition, professional football nowadays is not only a sport, but also a business, so a referee is also taking decisions that could have an economic effect.”

Collina added, “when I started refereeing, there were six to eight cameras around the field – now there are 23 or 24 for a top match. So you have to be up to the task and preparation is the key word”. Collina explained further, “you have to know the rules of the game, as a referee has to guarantee that the laws are respected on the field. Consistency is a very important value – if you are consistent, you are credible and respected by players.”

The Italian ex-referee insisted that proper physical conditioning is another vital element in a referee’s armoury in the modern-day game. “Football now is very fast, intensive and aggressive, with high demands,” he said. “It is normal that players get tired at the end of the match, and this can lead to mistakes. Referees can be called on to take a decision when they are also tired at the end of a game – but you have to be 100 per cent lucid until the very last moment, so you have to be fit.”

Knowing the Laws of the Game, Collina continued, is not enough for the 21st-century referee. He said: “They have to know the game itself, and how a match will be played. You cannot follow continuously a ball in terms of speed, so knowing where play can flow will enable you to make the correct decision in the correct position.” Collina also stressed the value of pre-match tactical planning to help a referee achieve maximum performance. “Every match is different, and there are even different matches within the same match,” he said. “Anticipation is better than reaction, and your goal is to reduce the gap between the players’ action and your reaction.

“If you are refereeing a second-leg match, for example, think of what happened in the first leg. Know the tactics applied by the teams – is a team playing offside tactics, because your position could change a lot. Know the individual characteristics of the players. If you know what is going to happen in advance, you have the match in your hands and you make the proper decisions.”

Coming from such an experienced and respected referee, these words can only be taken very seriously and pondered deeply upon. Despite being football-focused, Collina’s speech may also be adapted to every sport and thus every referee can stand to gain in some way by analysing the real important factors of such a speech.