COLLINA

[Mehmet Gurdal Cetin]

Bu yaziyi yeni okudum ve burada paylasmak istedim.Italyanlarin herhalde dunyanin en unlu hakemi COLLINA hakkinda.Financial Times'da cikmis.

Veteran of pitch battles
By Roger Blitz

Published: June 12 2008 19:14

Even some of the most successful professionals in football soccer find it hard to stay in the public eye after they retire. But two years after Pierluigi Collina quit the game he continues to turn heads and dispense his wisdom to groups of avid listeners.

It is not just because of his stash of World Cup, European Cup and Uefa Cup medals, plus numerous international appearances. The Italian’s tall physique, bald head and bulging eyes make him instantly recognisable.

People may not instantly put a name to the face, but once they realise this is the man who was credited with being the most outstanding referee in the modern game, the penny drops. Anybody who has followed football in the past 15 years will know about Pierluigi Collina.

He would much rather be on the pitch officiating at Euro 2008 than in the stands, but Fifa, football’s world governing body, insists on a mandatory retirement age of 45 irrespective of soundness of mind, body and spirit, or reputation.

However, if Fifa will not have him, many companies will. Mr Collina is in demand from chief executives wanting him to share his refereeing experiences, hoping to draw parallels between his battles to control warring parties in the most pressurised environments and their own.

“There are things that could be very similar between my activity and the business world,” he says. “A businessman takes decisions very quickly, under pressure. Important decisions that could have big consequences. All these characteristics are there.”

Taking a decision when you know millions of people are watching – “it creates stress”, the Italian suggests.

He wrote a book a few years ago describing some of these high-pressure situations. In a 1997 Italian Serie A match between Inter Milan and Juventus, he awarded a goal to Inter after his linesman indicated an attacking player was onside. But as Inter celebrated and Juventus prepared to restart, the referee discovered his assistant had made a mistake when he overheard him explain his reasoning to a Juventus player. Mr Collina reversed his decision – as brave a decision as a referee could take.

And in a tempestuous Serie B match, when the respective goalkeepers were being assailed by missiles from opposing fans, Mr Collina bent the rules by getting the teams to change ends, thereby ensuring both the safety of the goalkeepers and the continuation of the match.

It is all about building relationships, says Mr Collina – with players on the pitch or with employees in the company. “Sometimes, the decision you take is accepted not only because it is correct but because the relationship is positive.”

There is, too, a quality of leadership to refereeing that is not always understood. “I always say that the final goal for the referee is to be accepted even when he is wrong. Because it means that the players trust in you. If someone trusts in you, it means they accept you even if you are wrong. You are accepted not because of the role but because of what you do.

“And this is the same for a manager. You cannot be accepted because you are a CEO. You are accepted because you have shown everybody that your way to run a company is correct,” he says.

Business leaders wanting an insight into coping under pressure could do worse than to follow the referees rather than the ball at Euro 2008. If the Collina rulebook is to be believed, those who do not betray some nerves prior to the game probably should not be there.

“I always needed to be a little bit nervous just before a big game,” he says. “You feel yourself more powerful, more strong. But there is a limit. If you take it too far, nerves reduce your performance.”

Mr Collina spends some of his time back in the world he inhabited before refereeing, working as a financial adviser. But mostly it is spent acting as an ambassador for Mastercard, which sponsors the Uefa Champions League and European Championships, or going into companies to show them why football and business are similar. “If it happens on the pitch, it also happens round the table,” he says.

Otherwise, he has his hands full as chairman of the Italian Referees’ Association, appointing referees to Serie A and Serie B. Two years on from the match- fixing scandal in those divisions, Mr Collina says only that “we had problems, and as usual when something happens you have to change what has to be changed and look to the future, and this is what Italian football did”.

Referees have never reported to him any offers of inducements, he says.

The subject he is happier to discuss is respect, although in the pecking order of those most deserving of respect, the officials are not at the top of his list. “Football needs respect to the game first, to the opponents, to the spectators, and to the referees,” he says. “It’s a very key word.”

It is the same in business. “Respect is important. You cannot be successful without respect for the customer, or the competitors. Respecting the rules means respect.”


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