In the past days Malta hosted the FIBA Europe General Assembly and representatives and delegates from all over the European basketball sphere were present in our island.

Last week I presented to you an interview with Mr. Richard Stokes, the FIBA Competitions Manager.

Today the attention turns on the FIBA Referees Director, Miguel Betancor (photo), with no doubt, a highly regarded personality in the world of basketball officiating.

I have to be perfectly honest and say that Miguelo Betancor was one, if not the main, of my refereeing idols when young as I always looked forward (and still do nowadays, obviously through recorded films) to see him in action as his command of a basketball game, through his superb personal attitude and communication on the court, made him unique.

He lives in the Canary Islands, the equatorial Spanish peninsula located in the Atlantic Ocean off East Africa, and is a doctor and university professor in Las Palmas. Since 1992, he is the director of a research centre on sports officiating where refereeing issues of different sports (football, basketball, handball, waterpolo) are discussed, studied and analysed with the aim of improving the quality of referees with the main concept in mind being that if the referee improves, the sport will improve. This research centre works closely with the Spanish government and the IOC apart from having very good ties with UEFA as well.

Question: Following a highly successful refereeing career, you have taken a new role within the officiating sector. What are your comments on this change?

MB: I have been the FIBA Referees Coordinator since 2004 and, if one compares with the past, this is the first time ever that there is a specific refereeing department in Europe.

We are working on a big project and our aim is to try to keep constant contact with all those involved in the officiating world, be they referees, table officials, instructors, commissioners, etc.

Along these last few years there has been the creation of a good structure for referee education and the main goal, in this context, is to train all referees, no matter if they come from big or small countries, both geographically and basketball-wise.

This training should lead us to finally project the same refereeing philosophy around the whole European continent so that consistency in the referees’ performance will be the norm as much as possible.

As an aid to our referees’ educational programme, we have developed the successful FIBA Referees website where each individual FIBA referee has access to various material including videos, refereeing news and information as well as the general forum where major issues concerning refereeing are discussed.

This is not the only resource we have launched. The Tutor Referee programme is another aid. Here, an experienced referee guides and passes over his experience to younger referees during a tournament.

Additionally we have also introduced the concept of the referee instructor during official tournaments whereby the instructor/s follow and analyse directly the games and then prepare a daily morning session with the referees, the following day, where the strengths and weaknesses of the previous day’s games will be discussed.

We have also taken care to produce modern and up-to-date referee material, using the latest technology, so as to prepare better our referees.

In the past years we also launched the potential referees’ scheme and we are proud of the fact that if one looks at last year’s European Championships, 35 per cent of the referees involved had formed part of this potential referees programme.

There is surely more to work on but I am happy to say that now, it seems that the vast majority of the people involved in officiating understand well the type of mentality and philosophy we want to project.

This level of consistency can also be seen from the number of requests we receive from other FIBA continents for our referees to officiate in their championships.

Q: How did you actually start refereeing?

MB: My introduction to basketball, as a player, was at a young age. Basically, it all started following I had participated in a mini-basket final game. On that day, our team had ended regular playing time in the lead, according to the scoreboard. However, right after the final horn, the referee and the scorekeeper changed the score and we finished on the losing side.

I then saw our young coach protesting and even ending up crying and this really shocked me. It was here that I decided that I wanted to referee to try to change the philosophy of refereeing to one where referees are to be respected at all times but they have to be honest and believe fully in themselves.

For some years I then shared my time between playing and refereeing and I also coached a bit along the years.

Yet, during my second year at university, I decided that I will dedicate all my time to refereeing and work hard to become a referee in the top national competitions.

Q: What is your best memory after all these years?:

MB: Along the years, I was involved in many top games like the final of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the final of the Euro Basket Championships and many other top games around Europe and in my native country Spain.

However, I feel the best satisfaction when I recall that along the past years, starting from Gran Canaria where I live, I have refereed many important games and the people accepted me all through the years.

With this in mind, we are building on this new mentality and have even launched the school of young referees in Gran Canaria and a good group of referees are originating from here.

Thus my best memory will always remain that I felt, and continue to feel, comfortable and having no remorse in having been an active referee and now to continue to work in the same sector.

Q: How difficult is it to teach referees?

MB: Teaching referees is quite easy, up to an extent, as one can teach the rules, the criteria and the mechanics with not much difficulty. Yet it is then difficult to make referees understand the right philosophy expected during games.

Rules and mechanics may change and one could then teach on such changes quite casually and as a result the referee could easily adapt to them. Yet this is not the same as regards attitude and personality.

Nowadays I can easily say that referees have good skills, be they mental, physical and technical. These skills could also be taught but as regards philosophy and attitude, these are personal qualities and factors which are innate and inborn within individuals and thus are quite difficult, if not impossible, to teach.

The truth is that without good personal qualities, it is difficult to develop on the other three factors mentioned before. Thus, with a good attitude and excellent personal qualities it will be possible to move towards a sure improvement.

One also has to teach that everybody, as we are humans, is liable to, and will do, mistakes but it is important for the referee to be honest, to never lose both his/her integrity and dignity as a person and to be also totally independent from the teams apart from being able to work in a team with a professional attitude.

Q: Your views on the future.

MB: Regarding the future, I can say that I am very much motivated as there is a good crop of referees coming up.

Certain national federations do work hard with their own referees and we are also getting good and optimal feedback from the same federations.

I also believe there is a good structure and team of referee observers and instructors who are working closely with us in our task of developing good and better referees.

Additionally the FIBA Referees department consistently receives good support from the parent body FIBA, its members, boards and the technical commission. This continues to add more support to our European project and it is only natural for me to feel motivated for the future.

Q: What are your concluding remarks?:

MB: There is always rooam for improvement towards unity and consistency amongst referees.

The referee has to be respected both on and off the court. In fact the referee has to learn, from early on, to live as a referee not only during games but also outside the playing hall.

In this way more people will believe in the role of the referee. I believe that we are already living a time where referees are more trusted.