It boils in the retina. "This will not happen in Poland"

Strange refereeing decisions or failure to respond at the right moment have already caused anger at the European Championship. Polish coach Nikola Grbic made the sign of the cross after one of the actions. What happened in the European Championship semi-final should not have happened
Wojciech Maroszek is a Polish referee working the tournament qualifiers in Rio de Janeiro. It reveals where news comes from that we have never seen before in volleyball matches
One of the actions during the Polish match could not be verified, so despite the error on the part of the Whites and Reds, they did not lose a point.
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The second group of the match between Poland and Bulgaria in the Olympic qualifiers in Xi’an, China. The Whites and Reds lead at 20:16, but during a move, Marcin Janusz handles the ball before it falls into the car. Bulgarian national team coach, Plamen Konstantinov, requests video verification to prove the opponent’s mistake. It takes so long to check the situation that the Polish player, who wants to reduce the waiting time for the decision, admits to making a mistake, but after a while the point goes into the account of… white and red anyway. Chief referee Stefano Cesare conveyed through the microphone what everyone heard both in the hall and in the broadcast (this is also something new that we will write about later in the text) – the situation could not be assessed due to the lack of a suitable shot from the challenge camera.

Continued article below the video

The other situation was Tuesday’s match between Belgium and the Netherlands, which unexpectedly ended in three sets for Emanuele Zanini’s players. The Belgians’ Italian coach noticeably points to his watch during one of the lengthy video checks, and after a while his players get a point. It is true that a shot was found from inside the field, but from this perspective from behind it is difficult to assess whether the Dutchman Wouter ter Maat hit the tape during the attack from the second line, or whether the ball collided with the Belgians’ defender. Blocked earlier. impact? The discussion ended with the referee giving a yellow card to the most active Dutch captain, Namir Abdel Aziz.

Should assessing the pitch situation really take that long? — As judges, we very quickly receive information about what the challenge demonstrated. The problem is how long we wait for the appropriate image to appear on the screen, and not the dozen or so seconds during which the challenge referee checks the situation – explains international referee Wojciech Maruszczyk in an interview with Przegląd Sportowy Onet. He is the referee of the qualifying tournament in Rio de Janeiro, where the first group competes. In the decisive matches of the European Championships that ended about ten days ago, there were no respected referees, due, among other things, to: from the struggle for influence in the European Union.

There are some contradictions. This is not what we are used to in Poland. The problem is not the judges

The challenge system used in competitions sponsored by the European Union (CEV) and the International Federation (FIVB) is different from the system used during Polish league matches. Hence some contradictions, which can already be seen in the European Championships. It was impossible to check, for example, whether the ball touched the player after serving before it fell onto the court. Taking all these differences into account, the selectors also had to, to some extent, check the duties of the coaching staff.

Therefore, assistant coaches are tasked with monitoring the match for any mistakes made, and at the right moment stopping the action with a special signal that means accepting the challenge. A good example of this is the famous action at the end of the second set of the match between Poland and Italy in the women’s Olympic volleyball qualifiers. If Krystian Bachlinski, assistant coach of the Polish national team, Stefano Lavarini, had not pressed the signal, after earlier seeing a mistake on the part of the Italian team, which shot into the net, the Whites and Reds might not have won the second. They set and tied the game that ultimately determined their advancement to the Olympics.

– We have persuaded the European and global structures for a long time to abandon the clause on intermittent exchanges, just so that it would be possible to ascertain the right moment for the challenge after the end of the procedure. However, there is an argument here that finding that specific moment takes time. In fact, it only takes a few seconds, or at most a dozen or so, before the correct part is found – explains Judge Wojciech Maruszczyk.

As it turns out, it is not only finding the right action that consumes a lot of time, but also the technologies involved in transferring the data to the big screen, where the match participants, fans in the hall and broadcast viewers will see the replays. — We receive information about the decision made very quickly, within 15-20 seconds. However, you have to wait up to two minutes for the image to appear on the big screen which is a problem. I don’t know exactly what the reason is, but it may be due to problems with the TV broadcast, to associate the image from the challenge camera with it – explains Maruszczyk.

The ruling can be heard in the hall and on the broadcast. This is something new in volleyball matches. He must state the reason for showing the red card

A certain novelty during ongoing qualifications are the so-called referee announcements. Until now, the main referee has only had one microphone attached, which is necessary for communication, among other things. With his assistant, he now has two microphones. a reason? The idea is for the two people to meet in the hall and hear whoever is watching the broadcast explain their decision. There are certain situations in which the arbitrator should use such a remedy. He actually featured during the Nations League Finals.

Before showing the red card, the referee must announce the penalty kick and only then award it. If an incorrect comment for the situation verified by the challenge appears on the screen, the correction must also be given out loud. Likewise, when there is a problem showing the replay on the big screen in the hall, the referee must say what the system showed and what the decision was. Likewise, we report loudly if the team requests verification of the status, which is subject to verification according to the regulations – enumerates Maruszczyk. The judge may also clarify doubts out loud on his own initiative.

The French were seething with anger. “It won’t happen in Poland.”

These doubts were not without doubts during the European Championship, which ended about three weeks ago. The referees who officiated the matches in the medal stage in Rome rarely appear at the goal posts during decisive matches under the auspices of the European Union (the qualifying tournaments for the Olympics are organized by the FIVB). They were often unable to respond in a timely manner to errors that occurred during the operation. When they showed their reactions in the semi-final between the Poles and Slovenia, the coach of the Whites and Reds, Nikola Grbic, expressed his surprise. The attitude of the referees has cast a shadow over the most important matches of the European Championship, and one decision not only angered the French, but may have affected the outcome of the match ball.

It concerns the situation at the end of the third match of the semi-final against Italy. The Tricolor were down 0:2 in the entire match and 23:24 into the third set when Earvin N’Gapeth appeared in the service box. The French receiver sent a serve that was considered by the main referee and ended the match in favor of Italy. The French national team coach, Andrea Gianni, had already used two challenges in this group, so he could not call for a third challenge, but the referee could do so on her initiative. He can use this option when making decisive balls. It is incomprehensible why she did not do so. Not only coach Gianni expressed his anger, but also the players who continued to argue with the referees after the match.

– Maybe something like this will not happen in Poland. This is the advantage of the strong Polish league and the fact that we have been using the challenge system for many years, which has become part of the refereeing culture – emphasizes Maruszczyk.

He was not among the referees in the decisive matches of the European Championships, although he officiated the most important matches in recent years and was also a referee during the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The slightly unknown refereeing in European Championship matches may be a result of the fact that elections in the CEV will be held next year, and the European Union wants to prove to certain countries, including Poland, that despite the impressive sporting results of both teams, it will not have a significant impact on the structures.