God of tall things

From cities.expressindia.com
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Sportspersons tend to cross the thin line between competition and aggression and the worst sufferers can be the officials whose hands are tied with the rope of rules and regulations, which the players tend to bend according to their whims and fancies.

The most glaring instance was in 1997 - when during Mike Tyson’s heavyweight championship against Evander Holyfield, the former bit off a piece of the latter’s ear during a title-fight. The incident resulted in fines and suspension for Tyson, but the referee remained a mere spectator.

Basketball referees suffer the same fate in this sport associated with tall and sturdy players who tend to dominate the court with aggression.

There is lot of contact in this sport which gives it a distinctly rough and tough look. The unique thing that stands out is the relatively lean and short referees.

One of the reasons that tall referees are such a rare sight on the basketball court is that they are usually good players, and after retirement are likely to be satisfied with a retired life. Mumbai ref Shekher, a player himself who stands above six feet throws more light on the issue. He says, "Mostly tall players don’t come into officiating because they have a fairly longer career and are successful but short players stick to the game for the love of it as it is their passion." He also gives an all-India picture saying, "In states like Tamil Nadu where basketball is as big as cricket, the association expects particular individuals to perform their job. The players are asked to concentrate on playing whereas the referees are asked to officiate."

Standing up to these tall giants and holding your own is a different challenge altogether. FIBA referee Ceciline Vino states, "It is more the international players who try to tame fairly new referees with excessive arguing. They sometimes go a step ahead and confront refs in an offensive manner." But he has developed a shield to this nuisance - stubbornness.

While explaining that those in doubt are most likely to be run over, he says, "All I believe in is being stubborn with them even if I am wrong I won’t fumble while giving a decision."

Peter Divaker a FIBA referee from Hyderabad who stands barely 5 ‘5 tall says, ‘’The tall players don’t make us change our decisions." Quiz him if that causes any fear in his mind and he comes out humbly admitting that there is slight fear in his mind when well-built players try to bully him.

Referee Ravi Kumar from Chennai who has been in the field for the past 20 long years, was witness to assault on officials in Punjab during an inter-Railway tournament two years ago where a referee was thrashed by the two teams’ players for a wrong call.

Ravi Kumar who stands 5’6 tall and with a distinctly slim frame is hardly visible among the players but his whistle does the trick for him. He says confidently, "I know that I am right on the court as I am aware of all the rules. That is my weapon." He later concludes that north-Indian states have a history of violence.

Vino says, "Apart from the aggression from the players, officiating in India is not developed as a career. We have work pressures which add to the problem."