Ángel Sancha, the great precursor of modern arbitration

There are names that shine with their own light in the history of Spanish basketball, although not all of them are the ones that appear in the headlines every day. Ángel Sancha, born in 1924, is one of those cases. This man from Madrid by birth and Andalusian at heart was one of the key figures in the evolution of the sport of basketball in our country, one of the people who brought it fully into modernity from his sphere of influence: arbitration. When he died, on May 12, 2016, there was no establishment, institution or relevant person in our basketball that did not have a memory for him. That speaks of the enormous importance of his figure. “It is always said that he was the precursor of modern arbitration in our country to refer to my father’s management at the head of the then National Committee of Referees of the FEB and I think that there is a lot of truth in it.”says his son, Eduardo Sancha.

Related from very early on with the world of basket, He was considered one of the best referees in Europe in his time. Already in his time on the slopes he was clear that the profession had to advance, that he could not be satisfied with the place he was in and that it was necessary to stimulate talent by giving it confidence and creating solid structures on which it could grow. He put all those ideas into practice years later, since 1978, when he was appointed president of the National Committee of Referees. From that moment on he only had one objective: to improve referee training. “It favored the generational change of high-competition Spanish refereeing, rejuvenating the average age of the referees and promoting the participation in them of referees from many other areas and regions of our country, beyond the Castilian and Catalan schools, which the cups even that moment almost entirely”explains Eduardo.

Under his command, the work of modernizing the establishment and training the youngest members bore fruit very soon, promoting the appearance of one of the best generations of referees in our country: Sanchís, Escobar, Mas, Neyro or Herrera. A few years later, the Monjas, Mitjana, Mateo Ramos, ‘Miguelo’ Betancor and Arencibia followed in their footsteps, leading Spanish refereeing to be considered the best on the continent. His son Eduardo also followed in his footsteps: “My refereeing vocation was more a product of my more than evident limitations as a player, which favored me to look towards an activity within our sport to which probably, if my father had not been the renowned international referee that he was at that time, I would not have contributed. attention and in which, with the perspective that time gives, I believe I have had a worthy career and honored his memory”.

As a referee, Sancha has great anecdotes. One of the most remembered was in 1967, recognized by himself, being the protagonist in the only League lost by Pedro Ferrándiz as coach of Real Madrid. It was his turn to lead the Estudiantes-Real Madrid match on the last day. Practically at the end, Emilio Segura scored a layup over Clyfford Luyk that gave the schoolboys the victory and, on the rebound, the League title for Joventut. Sancha considered the action as a lack of attack and made the corresponding signal, crossing his arms alternately with his palms facing down. His son tells the rest: “Faced with the protests of the coach and the extraordinarily excited local players, who were putting pressure on him, he gradually changed his signal to cancel the basket for a less conventional signal (also crossing his arms, but with his palms open laterally towards the outside). ) while shouting ‘Get away, get away!’, as he headed to the scorer’s table. Finally, before them, when everyone was more or less calm and expectant, he made the signal for a valid basket… ‘but the attacking player is missing,’ he added.”.

The 60s were a different time. Sancha, first presiding over the National Committee and then the Technical Referee Committee and the FEB Referees Area, He helped like no one else so that Spain would never slipstream again. In his last public act as head of the FEB in 2004 he said goodbye adapting a tango by Carlos Gardel: “Goodbye friends, refereeing partners, happy days of those times, it is now my turn to begin my retreat, I must get away from these happy comrades.” Surely those companions, those from then and those who have come after, will never forget what Ángel Sancha did for all of them.