‘The Final Whistle’ reveals the other face of the ref

So, who really are those people, without whom most handball matches would end in chaos?

With ‘The Final Whistle,’ a new in-depth video series starting Monday (7 March), the European Handball Federation is putting the referees and delegates into the spotlights.

The series has been shot during the Men’s EHF EURO 2022 in Hungary and Slovakia and consists of 12 episodes, each highlighting a different aspect of refereeing.

“This extrovert project aims to showcase the EHF officials’ work on and off the field of play and, also, show the handball fans the ‘other face’ of the referees: social, approachable, human,” says George Bebetsos, referee programme coordinator at the EHF.

“Instead of spreading hate and nurturing the blame culture referees have always been the subject of, EHF Officiating jointly with EHF Media create a united front against this culture and promote change.”

The topics covered by the video series include the pre-game referee warmup, the video replay, the importance of mental training in officiating, the last-30-seconds rule, among many others.

The referees and delegates appearing in the series are: Vaclav Horacek and Jiri Novotny (CZE), Andreu Marin and Ignacio Garcia Serradilla (ESP), Robert Schulze and Tobias Tönnies (GER), Slave Nikolov and Gjorgji Nachevski (MKD), Ivan Pavicevic and Milos Raznatovic (MNE), Bojan Lah and David Sok (SLO), Shlomo Cohen (ISR), and Oyvind Togstad (NOR), as well as conditioning coach Sergi Cedrun, physiotherapist Maria Muller-Thyssen, and psychologist Jóhann Ingi Gunnarsson (psychologist).

‘The Final Whistle’ – all episodes:

• The pre-game referee warmup
• How does the video replay work in handball?
• The importance of mental health in officiating
• Communication on the field of play
• Physical fitness in refereeing
• The role of the delegate
• The ‘last 30 seconds’ rule
• Why did you start refereeing?
• In day in a referee’s shoes
• Explanation of a red card at the EHF EURO
• Full interview Jóhann Ingi Gunnarsson

Photos © 2022 Jozo Cabraja / kolektiff