Behind d Whistle - Feb 3 2007This is a featured page

Reflections


I would like to take the opportunity offered by this weekly column to put forward some personal reflections on winning the national ‘Official of the Year 2006’ award last Saturday.

It gives much pride to see that your efforts and accomplishments are noticed, recognised and respected by the media. In this regard I would like to thank all those members within the Malta Sportswriters Association (who organise these awards) who showed such respect and recognition.

Last year, 2006, was quite a busy one for me on the basketball field.

The local scene was full of regular league games, play-off finals and other ancillary competitions in what was my 12th season refereeing at the top local level.

On the international scene, I refereed a total of 23 official FIBA international matches. The highlight of the year was without a doubt the adventure in Australia for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Being nominated, from amongst a group of 28 referees, to control (at that stage and level of competition) two semi-finals and a final is definitely till now the pinnacle of my refereeing adventure and something that I will treasure all my life.

There were also other nice experiences along the year amongst which another highlight was being the first-ever Maltese referee in a European Nations Cup game in Holland.

I do not want to beat round the bushes or try to hide my feelings. I have to be honest that once you are nominated (this is done externally and one has no real control on whether he is nominated or not) for such an award, then there will always be a desire to get a high placing or, better still, win the award.

Having said that, I have to be honest further and state that although the honour is essentially a personal award, I regard it also in a different regard and thus I also dedicate my fresh award to two distinct sectors.

Firstly, I treat this win as also being a success for the whole basketball community in Malta. Our game also had the honour to take the runners-up spot (here I would like to show my total respect towards the president of the association who was the first one to phone me up on Sunday morning to congratulate me on the winning of the award) this year. The local basketball situation is not at its peak (neither is it in a trough for all that it matters) and hopefully this media-related success could kick-start another upsurge of energy so that we return to a successful era as we have had occasionally in the past.

Secondly, I would like to dedicate the award to each and every single referee in Malta and Gozo, not only the basketball officials but to all the other sport officials who really have a true, genuine love for refereeing and their game.

There is no short cut to the job, yet hard work, dedication and a tough skin will surely help in the process. Refereeing is not a rosy task or job to do. To reach a particular level, one needs to dedicate a lot of time and sacrifices to prepare himself mentally and physically and also to prepare himself to be away from his loved ones quite frequently (if travelling abroad for intentional assignments, this demands (surely in basketball’s case) a lot of solitary travel and long waits in airports).

A true referee follows a weekly physical training schedule and has to keep himself constantly abreast with all the latest developments and schemes/tactics of play in his game. It is not a matter of just showing up for a game and putting the whistle in the mouth.

The type of satisfaction that one then gets from refereeing is quite difficult to explain to outsiders. This satisfaction, especially after some good performance on the field of play, is frequently internal in nature.

Criticism is almost a constant feature after every game as the losing team will always have a tendency (something ingrained in human nature) to blame the referee for its loss.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank certain people for their help during 2006. Such help made it easier for me to concentrate on my assignments and be in the best shape possible to referee.

I have to thank the basketball administration, the referees’ director Mr. Leonard Falzon and some other persons in the basketball community for their assistance and support. A special thanks has to go both to the Ministry and the Department of Education, parliamentary representative Mr. David Agius and also to the principal of the institution where I work, Mr. Horace Caruana, for their continuous support and understanding as well as to their modern approach as how to assess things.

The Malta Council for Sports also deserves a very special mention, especially Mr. Joe Cassar, as they always showed total respect, support and recognition for what I was appointed for and was doing in basketball as an official.

On concluding, I would like to dedicate this officiating-related honour to some important persons.

My parents surely deserve a very special mention as they were always behind me since the start of my sporting career when I was still a child. They always backed me and were supportive of my decisions and instilled in me and raised me up with a true love for sport and laid the foundations to my attitude and character.

A dedication also goes to that handful of persons who were always of support especially when the going was tough. A referee will always have to face some difficult moments and this is when the real and true friends come to light and can be trusted and be of assistance.

Lastly, but certainly not least, I have to dedicate this award to my family at home as they provide priceless support. My wife, Michelle, and my young son, Matthias, have made, and still do, a lot of sacrifices due to my refereeing schedule that consists not only of games but also of physical and mental training. Preparation-wise they have to withstand the fact that I may be present at home but maybe still unavailable as I would be immersed in a basketball DVD/video analysing plays or else training. Game-wise on the local scene, they have to sacrifice a lot of time surely during every weekend as I would be refereeing. Then they also have to make probably the biggest sacrifice of all when I would be abroad for a number of consecutive days for refereeing.

Before finishing off, allow me to show gratitude (I expect this holds also to each and every sportsman and sportswoman with faith) to the Lord for thanks to His immense grace, we have the possibility to experience all the great moments in sport.


vassallobernard
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