CREMA – If the national coach calls a useless timeout 54″ from the end of the first friendly match that will lead the Azzurri to the Pre-Olympic in Puerto Rico – 79-68 victory over Georgia in front of 4,000 at PalaTrento – just to be hugged by the whole team and pay homage to your retirement, then it means that you have done something good, very good. That’s what happened Sunday night at Roberto ‘Bobo’ Begnisa referee from Crema who after 24 years of a very honorable career hung up his whistle and received the standing ovation from the public as well as the sincere embrace of coach Pozzecco and the Azzurri, from captain Melli on down.
Let’s start with the epilogue. Did you imagine a farewell of this nature and what emotions did you feel in that last turn of the clock?
«It was a crazy evening, full of unique emotions that will remain in my heart forever. Being my last match, I imagined and knew that there was something organized and the tribute from the general secretary of the Federation and the president of Aiap really moved me, but what Pozzecco and the boys planned was highly emotional. A totally unexpected gesture and therefore even more spontaneous and moving which I believe was not just for me but was a sort of tribute to the category of referees and officials, traveling companions of players and coaches in this wonderful world that is basketball” .
The referee from Crema has an infinite career refereed 19 Scudetto finals, 4 Italian Cup finals, best referee in Serie A in 2013was president of the Italian Association of Basketball Referees and smiling face – not only for advertising purposes – of the ‘Io Arbitro’ campaign promoted by the same association.
Where did your passion for refereeing begin and when did it become a job?
«I was born with basketball genes from a father who was a coach and a mother who was a basketball player even if the phenomenon of the family is my sister Elena, field official who made the Euroleague Final Four in series. I try, without particular success, to play basketball and then, as a very passionate person, I try to do the Regional Course for coaches and referees. The goal, obviously, was to follow in dad’s footsteps but to obtain the license you had to referee forty matches and in those matches someone thought I was good. So I continued with the whistle around my neck and year after year, I always promoted up to Serie A, which I arrived in 1999.”
The first whistle in Serie A?
«I don’t remember, I remember that it was a match in Montecatini. It must have been a throw-in, to get in on tiptoe.”
Easiest and most difficult coach and player to referee?
«To name names would mean leaving someone out, especially in the first category, so I don’t really want to name one name over another. I can simply say that unlike what you think, on the pitch I encountered many more episodes of sportsmanship, solidarity and availability than of acrimony. It’s clear that as the years go by you become familiar and therefore it may be easier to form relationships of mutual respect that help the relationship on the pitch but really, in my scrapbook there is little space for bad episodes.”
Twenty-four years in sport is a long time span. How has basketball changed and how has officiating changed over the course of your career?
«As a basketball lover I can say that I have been a privileged spectator of a crazy evolution. The game has changed hand in hand with the physical escalation of the athletes who play it and who I always consider the best in sport in general. It is clear that physical evolution leads to an exponential rise in the difficulty of arbitrage. Think about what these two-metre-plus brutes do, who weigh over one hundred kilos but who run the thirty meters of the pitch in an amen, have an incredible distance and power and perhaps fairy hands. I was very lucky to experience the three-way referee direction and to see the introduction of technological aids which, let’s remember, are not used to help the referee, they are used to help the game, which is the guiding star of every protagonist of the match.”
The match you wish you had never refereed and the one you are most proud of?
«No, even in this case I don’t have one game more than another. It is obvious that it would be obvious and banal to say that the Scudetto finals, match seven or the Italian Cup finals are particular matches. But in reality I also clearly remember every match that put a permanence at stake or condemned relegation because in those, perhaps even more than in the Scudetto finals, a particular tension was felt. Serie A, obviously, has a particular magic but in reality I don’t forget the years before arriving in the top league, I don’t forget that I was one of those who I define as heroes of the minors, on Friday evenings, at 9.30pm, perhaps in a gym without heating. It’s all part of a wonderful journey that I’ve enjoyed every single whistle.”
In addition to being a referee, he is a lover of the game. How do you see Italy in view of the Pre-Olympic?
«I saw her really well because I saw her as a team. I seemed to see in the group the desire and availability needed to do well in this sport. You can see it from the desire to move their feet in defense, from how everyone has immersed themselves in their role. The group is consolidated and it shows, I think they wore the dress needed for these occasions. The path is not easy, far from it, but we know that the kids have important technical and human resources.”
What will he do now?
«First of all, sacrosanct and well-deserved holidays. Having said that, I have been on the LegA2 technical committee for a couple of years and participate in referee training. A role that I like and that I think could suit me well. Now let’s let the season end for everyone and then if a proposal of this type arrives I think it could be the right direction for me, having already experienced it.”
2024-06-25 03:29:27
#Begnis #whistle #Province
