Bad adventure for two young basketball referees from Caserta who found their car damaged at the end of a Regional Division match in Marano.
The young couple went to the Neapolitan municipality to direct the race. At the end the bitter discovery. The car in which they arrived at the building was completely damaged with scars on almost the entire bodywork. The two have filed a complaint with the police against unknown persons but the bitterness remains over the act of violence which once again sees the race directors as protagonists, despite themselves.
“Behind a whistle there is a person – is the bitter outburst of the two unfortunates – A boy who today is “a stranger”, but tomorrow could be any of us: a son, a cousin, a friend. Someone who dedicates his weekends to a passion and to an indispensable service to ensure that a match is played. Someone who, like any athlete, can make mistakes. And who for this very reason must be judged – if necessary – in the appropriate places, not “punished” with slaps, threats or retaliation. At this point the question is inevitable – they ask – why should a referee continue to sacrifice time, energy and serenity to enter a 28 meter rectangle of parquet or linoleum knowing that he could become a target? Basketball, like any sport, lives on balls and baskets, but also on rules and those who are called upon to enforce them. Without referees there is no championship, there is no growth, there is no sport only “in principle”. It must become cultural and concrete: respect in the stands, responsibility on the pitch, exemplary sanctions for those who attack or intimidate, real protection for those who direct the matches and above all a collective stance that isolates those who confuse competition with violence”, they conclude.
