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Vicente Sanchís (Barcelona, 1947) dedicated 40 years to the world of whistle as a referee and commissioner. An international referee since 1984, he directed the historic Olympic semi-final between the United States and the USSR at the 1988 Seoul Games and was the first Spaniard in the final of a World Cup (USSR-Yugoslavia in 1990). Referee Technical Advisor of the FEB between 1998 and 2017, he directed matches in the Olympic Games, World Cups, Eurobaskets, European Cups… On the 25th anniversary of the ACB, the 34 referees of that season chose him among the five best referees in the League history.
What does it mean for you to enter the Spanish Basketball Hall of Fame?
It’s a very difficult question… but very easy. It is difficult because to get here I have had to fight a lot and it is easy because it is the culmination of an entire career. A feeling you don’t expect. I am grateful for the people who have believed in my work. And I also have satisfaction for having reached the maximum in basketball.
And for Spanish refereeing, what does it mean to put referees on the same level as players, coaches, managers…?
A lot. It is a problem that we had reported many times. It’s not something new. When I started many years ago, we already said: ‘why isn’t arbitration considered, at least, something more? A referee has never been considered as much of an athlete as them and I (and the rest of my teammates) have trained every day. Gym, traveling during the week, responsibility… and it has never been valued.
Before picking up the whistle, he was a player. An Achilles tendon injury prevented him from continuing.
It was basically that. I played until I was 27 years old. I was left without a father at nine and, from then on, I had to practically make my life alone. We were four brothers, all small, and we all had to work to bring money into the house. It was the time of hunger. I had to do something. At that time there were no private clubs: either you were in school or you had to join, at least in the area where I lived, the Falange. At my school there was a teacher from the Youth Front who set up a team and he told me if he wanted to play because of my character or my way of being. And I am delighted with life. That’s how I started.
To be a referee you must have a terrible vocation and even more so at that time
How would you define yourself as a player?
He was a woodcutter. It was defense. I got to play in L’Hospitalet, in what is now the LEB Oro. When I was 17 years old. He played in a tournament against Madrid, which was directed by Lolo Sainz, in Llançà. I defended Emiliano. My coach told me: ‘Vicente, today you are going to defend Emiliano’… after five minutes he had already scored 10 points for us. After that, my coach took me by the shoulders and told me ‘you’ve done what you had to do, now sit down’. He put in the baskets he wanted, while I looked at him with eyes clouded with admiration. I played a promotion phase to the ACB and missed the last basket against Breogán…
And as a referee?
To be one you must have a terrible vocation and even more so at that time. I have seen people much better than me go through and never succeed. Others like me, who was from the crowd, with enthusiasm, dedication, we went upwards. I never thought it would come. I started at the age of 27 with the juniors, cadets… I had to take advancement courses because at the age of 32 I was calling the Real Madrid-Barcelona final.
How did you decide to be a referee?
My brother was a referee, but he had no luck. When I left basketball, he took me to the referee school. And I don’t know if he was prepared or not, but the entire staff of the Catalan school was inside. Everyone had whistled at me. They told me that they would like me to be a referee, ‘but I’ve screwed up all of you,’ I replied. His response was that those who mess with the referees the most were the best for the job. In the end, I signed up, but with the condition that if in two seasons I saw that it didn’t work, I would leave. I came out with my license, I didn’t even take a course.
When a game went out of the ordinary, I told the players not to go down that path.
Since 1975 he was linked to refereeing, from the field but also as an advisor to the referee and technical team of the FEB. I imagine that the change from his beginnings to the end of his career was great both at the level of play and officiating.
The change was very big. When I joined the FEB we were self-taught. We had almost no regulations. Refereeing technique, psychology nothing. Criteria, the one that each one wanted. The change that Ángel Sancha made, which I experienced, was enormous. Reduced the number of referees. He had the courage to take young people. I change the arbitration. We met with each other, we spoke with FIBA, international referees were brought in to give us talks, concentrations before starting the season… We had to change, because basketball was changing. And we became obsolete, dead. And he said enough. And he did everything possible for us to be on top.
You refereed players like Fernando Martín, Petrovic, Audie Norris… wouldn’t it be easy?
I would say the opposite. There is a kind of misunderstanding with the referees on the court, that we are dictators and that is not true. The referee of my time was a conversationalist. Without disrespect, without saying nonsense, without making a bad face… He anticipated what could happen. On more than one occasion, when a game was going out of the ordinary, he would tell the players not to go down that path. He told them not to make me angry, that he didn’t feel like it.
Did he earn the respect of the players?
Yes. It was part of my success.
And he also whistled for Michael Jordan in the ACB League All Star.
Yes. Víctor Mas and me. It was excellent. People looked at him like an idol, but he came to the game knowing that he came to put on a show. Not like a god or like anything. I have photos with him. He told us that we had refereed him well.
The Greece-USSR match in the 1987 European Championship final meant a lot to me.
Do you remember a coach who bothered you the most?
All. At that time there were coaches who knew their job and how far they could go. Ricardo Hevia (Breogán, Ferrol, Murcia…) was a character on the court, but when he passed by him and told him that the quota of his manhood was over, he understood it and stopped doing it. Or Manel Comas, the same. Lolo Sainz was a pussy.
I imagine that the semifinals of the 1988 Seoul Games will have a little place in your heart…
It’s like the recognition they’re going to give me now. Each phase in life has its own. When you start as a referee, just as it happens as a player, you don’t think how far you can go and every time you achieve a small goal, it is a pleasant memory. I had never thought about being in the First Division or refereeing a Madrid-Barça for the title. I went international. Without further ado, they give me the final of the Women’s European Cup. I’ve been international for a year! Well, something else. And then, that same year, I went to the European Championship in Greece (1987). The Greece-USSR final (1987) meant a lot to me. I was crazy happy. I was half lame when I finished playing and now I’m whistling these things! How has this progression been? Why have I come this far? What happened? And from there, to some Games. And, who had gone to an Olympics at that time? Practically no one.
When Stankovic told me that he was going to lead the USSR-USA, I couldn’t find my legs all night
When (Borislav) Stankovic (general secretary of FIBA between 1976 and 2002) told me that he was going to lead the USSR-United States (semi-finals of the 1988 Seoul Games), I couldn’t find my legs all night. I had a great game, so much so that even the United States delegation asked Stankovic for permission to congratulate my teammate and me.
I understand that you keep the whistles that you used in the finals.
Yes. Well, actually I broke them so that no one else would use them and I kept them. It was because a teammate asked me for the whistle in a final and I told him no, that this one was going with me… and even more so at that time, getting one was very difficult. We even used Italian police whistles. The Italian referees brought them to us. Also those of the English bobbies. And when Hernández Cabrera went to whistle to China and brought those from there, that was the most nova. They were the jewel in the crown. I also have 13 final balls.
Do you miss the whistle?
There are moments that yes (laughs). When you have finished your race, it is best to stop and start a new story. There is no need to continue.