Date-stamped : 09 Jul96 - 02:16 9 July 1996 Role of match referee well accepted: Madugalle By Sa`adi Thawfeeq ``The role of the ICC match referee, which originally, players as well as administrators were a little sceptic about, has now been accepted by all cricketing nations,`` said Ranjan Madugalle, who has served in that capacity for three years since 1993. ``Over time the ICC has found that the mere presence of a match referee and the mandate they have, has actually brought the game into the route that people want it to be played,`` he said. ``People at various times have found that the player was trying to be bigger than the game. That, I think has been resolved. A match referee`s role today is much easier than what it was three years ago,`` Madugalle said. That has been made possible with referees like Raman Subba Row, Clive Lloyd, John Reid and Madugalle being around. Their no nonsense approach to the task ahead has given the ICC, who are always at the receiving end, some teeth to defend their very existence. ``If the players accept that you are firm and fair, then I think it solves a lot of problems,`` said Madugalle, who at 37 is the youngest match referee around, and the most current of the 27 who have served with the ICC, having retired as a player from the game in 1988. ``I find the role of match referee interesting and very rewarding in terms of experience and gathering knowledge. You become very current. You begin to get very close to the game. You see the best players in action, how techniques and styles have changed and how strategies change during matches``. ``You can distinguish very clearly the professional sides from the non-professional ones, the brilliant ones from the not too brilliant and how people plan and implement``. What makes Madugalle different from other match referees is that he makes himself open to everyone. ``When you do that, you are liable to get more flak, but I real- ise that`s what I am there for. I don`t believe in sitting back and just applying the law. I don`t think that`s the way to handle professional people,`` said Madugalle. ``In the same breath, I keep a close rapport with the press be- cause I think it`s absolutely important that every decision or every action you take during a game must be made aware to the people. Otherwise, you always leave room for them to make their own interpretations,`` he said. ``On a more personal level I find that it has also helped me ma- ture greatly as a person because such kind of decision-making. The people you come into contact are people you come to know at a much later age in life. It has given me a sense of reward as well. My biggest satisfaction is that I`ve been able to put back into the game something that I got out of it,`` Madugalle said. There is no doubt that the initial grounding Madugalle received from his employers Ceylon Tobacco Company, where he is presently the group brand manager, has stood him in good stead. ``The experience and training at Ceylon Tobacco has given me a distinct advantage over others. It is something which I treasure in every sphere,`` said Madugalle, who is in his seventeenth year with the company. With the training, qualification and experience he has, Madugalle could easily qualify to be Sri Lanka`s cricketing ambassador. Whether the powers that be think on those lines is a matter of conjecture. ``I think how I can be useful to Sri Lanka cricket is if people use me for the betterment of the game rather than look at me as being a threat. That is their biggest fear,`` said Madugalle. ``One man alone can`t take the destinies of Sri Lanka cricket, but collectively, we can. For that matter, I may have expertise in one area, someone else in another. It is how the cricket ad- ministrators collectively harness these resources that is impor- tant. Unfortunately, at most times, it doesn`t happen. That is the saddest part,`` he said. Since leaving the international scene as a player eight years ago, Madugalle`s involvement with Sri Lanka cricket has been as a national selector, a role which he says he thoroughly enjoys. ``I don`t think I can get directly involved with the administra- tive or coaching side because it`s not my line,`` he concluded. Source :: Daily News (http://www.lanka.net) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)