″It is much more difficult to referee in Portugal″
INTERVIEW, PART II – From Viana do Castelo to Cascais, the best hockey on the planet is played, but there are those who experience difficulties. Ricardo Ares recognizes that refereeing is not capable of being at the level of high intensity that marks the main matches of the Portuguese championship, regretting the lack of investment in technology.
Realistic enough not to use this interview to throw himself into arbitrations, the Basque coach opts for a calming speech with some warnings.
How can it be explained that the performance of Portuguese referees is inferior to the quality of the games?
-Sometimes strange situations happen in the championship. In that respect I’ll stop here, but the truth is that it’s much more difficult to whistle in Portugal.
To what extent?
-Hockey lives on the quality of its athletes and teams, and on the rink the style of play triples the number of situations that happen in 50 minutes. In Spain, for example, ball possession is longer, more controlled, there is less one-on-one, less passing quality for a quick transition. This style of play, full of quality but at a different pace, is unusual in Portugal. Over here, everything is much faster, increasing bids of all kinds in a game. I only experienced this here as a coach. In the early days, the game seemed to pass me by, as I wasn’t used to so many situations. If we add to that strange analyzes that we all know…
How does it go around? Double mistakes, one Portuguese and one Spanish, or Italian?
-There is talk of the need to do a specific job supported by everyone and that does not happen. It is a historical problem. I’m 47 years old, but I’ve been listening to the same conversation for over twenty years. They all look at their own navel. Then, small clubs do not have the same resources and disagree with the introduction of markers, for a cream of 10 thousand euros. Technical commissions are formed that struggle to change something, but they are unable to resolve much. We are a small modality and I give handball as an example, which knows two years in advance where the final stages will be played, it is guaranteed, and we, a month away from the start of the Champions League, have not even drawn.
Is the existence of VAR, as in the Elite Cup, imperative in the play-offs?
-Of course yes! More than in football, in hockey it is difficult to analyze a shot. For the speed and the moment. A lot would change with VAR. It costs 100 thousand euros, for FC Porto, Benfica and Sporting it would be possible, but for Murches with absolute certainty that they would fight not to have that heavy burden, as it is already difficult to keep the team in the I Division. And that’s hockey…
“Your fight is our pride”
For several years, Ricardo Ares and his technical teams have followed the motto “Your fight is our pride”, visible in the coach’s office and displayed on a white t-shirt, with the image of a warrior, whenever a victory is won title, as was the case with the championship, the Portuguese Cup, the unprecedented Continental and the Elite Cup.
The explanation is moving: “When I trained Voltregá, the sectionalist had a son with medullary cancer and I lived his last five years, during which he underwent two life-or-death operations. Arnau felt good with us, with the team, and when he left us the Voltegrá jersey he started to show off that motto [La teva lluita é el nostre orgull]🇧🇷 His father ended up dying of a similar illness, and wherever he trains, I take the motto with me. It is a value that makes us fight”.