Meeting with the Referees at the 2015 Worlds of Rink Hockey
While the Worlds of Rink Hockey are in full swing at La Roche-Sur-Yon, France, the referees of the event share their discomfort while carrying out their passion-duties...
Par alfathor
Interview
Hello Referees, how were you welcomed for the worlds?
We are taken charge of by the Comlor and it’s perfect. The organization committee takes charge of the trip, the hosting and the whole logistics on the spot. We have good working conditions.
Which nationalities are represented amongst the referees?
There are no less than 10 nationalities represented at those Worlds for 14 referees: Germany, Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland.
We heard that you had problems with the international bodies. What about it?
One month before the competition, the FIRS asked the referees to bring their own outfits and added that there would be no endowment. The group of referees of the competition got organized and contacted a sponsor, RollerShop, who offered to fully equip them for free for the worlds: game jerseys, representation jerseys and sweatpants.
We notified the deal to the international bodies who validated the proposal.
Three days later, we were informed that the validation had been cancelled, and that there would be a potential deal with other sponsors (fyi, the FIRS hasn’t provided us with a single official outfit in 3 years).
On Saturday morning, the day of the opening of the competition, we were given two t-shirts of mediocre quality. So that a member of the technical committee went to Decathlon and bought a set of 3 jerseys for each referee. The International Federation told us, at the beginning of the competition, to be as professional as possible during the worlds, given the economic stakes and the television rights.
How is the follow-up of the referees organized?
Two days before the competition, we were announced that the FIRS head of referees wouldn’t be there because of family problems. Designations are thus made from Italy.
During those Worlds, we can have supervisors who give us feedbacks on our performances. We don’t have any referee meetings with the international bodies since they are absent.
Last but not least, on the financial side, we get 100 USD for the whole competition. Each referee has 7 games during the week on average… Which corresponds to roughly 90€/week, or 11.25€/day!
On the one side, the FIRS asks us to upgrade the quality of our performances, on the other side, we can only note the flagrant lack of means made available to us.
This is why we ask for:
• The implementation of additional means to carry out our tasks
• Visual representation, as it should, on the international scale, with a recognizable official outfit
• Real recognition (financial and human) from the international bodies
Links
Our page on the 2015 Worlds of Rink Hockey
Website of the 2015 Worlds of Rink Hockey
Translation: Chloe Seyres
Photos: organization
