Let’s start with an image: a father and a son who hug each other on a July evening in a basketball court, and it’s not just any basketball court. It’s the most famous playground in Italy and one of the most famous in Europe. We’re in Bologna at the Giardini Margherita, where for 42 years a tournament has been taking place that has become the oldest and most prestigious outdoor basketball competition in Italy. Here you find ordinary fans, young people, and even those who don’t want to give up because despite their age the passion is still too great. There are A-league players and players, and of course the referees because without them the game can’t even begin. Okay, back to the initial image: two adult men, both wearing the federal uniform of basketball referees, are moved to embrace each other, the audience applauds, and pays the right tribute to the man who turned his great passion into a ’mission‘ carried out on the court, refereeing at the highest levels and also as a coach for the new generation of referees. In that photo of us hugging, experiencing a really intense moment, I am Claudio Indrizzi, an arbitrator with an incredible career with over 20 years of direct matches in Serie A, A2 and youth leagues, Matteo Indrizzi, Claudio and Matteo have been refereeing together a match of the ‘Walter Bussolari’ Torneo Giardini Margherita, and for Claudio it was the last match of his long career. A hug and emotion that father and son experienced with intensity, but that reached all those, many, who sat in the stands around the Bolognese playground.

“I realized that a part of my life is over because my father has closed a chapter in his own, a long and rewarding one.””, he tells us Matteo Indrizzi who followed in his father's footsteps, but not out of imitation. His passion for the role of referee came about somewhat by chance, but from that moment on it has never left him. ’Until I was 12, I honestly didn't have this great passion for basketball. Then I started playing, it became my passion, but let's say I didn't have those numbers that make the difference; I just liked the game. One day, during a youth tournament, there were no referees and my father suggested I try it out. I wasn't convinced, but from the moment I started and I haven't stopped since. I'm in love with what I do and I love doing it”.

What has having a high-level referee father meant for someone like you who has taken the same path? “It was undoubtedly stimulating, but he always let me make mistakes on my own so that I could grow both humanly and technically. Then, in the relationship between father and son, having a shared passion also enriches a relationship that is already very intense‘

The role of the referee, due to a clear cultural myopia, is too often framed in the wrong way, even though they are a crucial figure in the balance of the game. How can this incorrect view be changed? “It’s a flawed sports culture and it’s being combated by raising as much awareness as possible about the role we play. We are a team like any other. We train, study, have our own work ethic. We are a group where together we grow as people and as referees, by confronting each other and trying to improve ourselves constantly. Our role is complex because on the field it’s always possible to make a mistake; we are human beings, but we have to reset immediately, crystallize that moment to revisit it at a later time. Emotionally it’s challenging. A player, if they make a mistake, can stop, sit on the bench for a few minutes, recharge and start again. We can’t do that.’.

Why should a boy choose to become an umpire? “It’s a question I often hear when we do recruitment activities. You can grow by living within the sport you love, seeing it in a different way, but experiencing the same emotions—the ones you experience when you walk onto the sports court, like the champions who will soon be competing there. Those are incredible emotions.”.

The referee is an athlete like the others who compete on the court. He is one of them who plays a fundamental, but different role. A good referee must not be authoritarian; authoritative, yes; professional, prepared, competent, empathetic, able to make decisions in a fraction of a second. Like the athletes, he must have at his disposal all the necessary tools to perform his role to the best of his ability, and Macron has been by their side for years providing them with high-performance technical equipment designed to meet their needs. The rest, on the field, is up to them; Claudio and Matteo with their love, their passion, their seriousness and credibility, and the resounding applause of a July evening at the Giardini Margherita playground, along with a hug that says it all, are proof of that.