A referee is not a cop
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Newly installed PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa had earlier said he would also be tackling this problem.
For the meantime though, Narvasa said he would take on problematic officiating in the pro league.
He has vowed to put order in the court.
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Narvasa, needless to say, must now turn to the referees.
Ironically, he’s himself fully aware referees had also contributed to the problem.
“The discretionary power of the referees is just too broad,” Narvasa said.
The referees have also brought in havoc with conflicting interpretations of rules.
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Narvasa has been lamenting against sickening inconsistency.
He said there’s confusion and “that’s the only thing consistent in all the games I’ve seen.”
He’s obviously bothered by the undue control referees have on players and the game itself.
It has come to a point when referees tend to choke the games, if not the league itself.
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Not that Narvasa needed outside help. But while at it, we would like to offer one tested old tip, a teaching successfully applied when officiating went haywire and threatened the Micaa, forerunner of the PBA, in the late 60s.
League officials called in Lauro “The Fox” Mumar to officiate the big games.
Before resettling for good in Manila, Mumar had formed and coached the India national basketball team, while also going on guest officiating stints in some European countries.
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It’s known to everybody old enough to have watched Mumar blow the whistle how the legendary skipper of the 1954 Philippine basketball team that captured the bronze medal in Brazil turned things around on the floor for the Micaa in 1968.
How? He took in a younger and very cooperative partner in Manuel Inocentes, a tested fire department officer in his native Mandaluyong. The duo, officiating sharply like a Batman-and-Robin combine, came just in time to save one big championship of the Manila Industrial Commercial Athletic Association from falling apart.
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Listen, please: Later, after Mumar was made to coach Emerson Coseteng’s Mariwasa team to the Manila commercial championship, he took time out to lend the secret behind his successful officiating.
The secret revolved around one clear principle: “Rules should be used to help games, in the same manner musicians lend rhythm and flow to dancers on the floor.”
Going more direct and specific, Mumar said a referee must not, in any manner, function like a tough, over-anxious cop on the basketball floor.
Referees don’t need to forcibly fill a daily quota in penalties and suspensions.
