Lipa: Cagers not refs will decide results

MANILA, Philippines – UAAP commissioner Joe Lipa said referees working the games would observe maximum tolerance and make sure the players, not a ref’s crucial call, will decide thºe outcome of all contests in Season 72.

Lipa said the referees that would officiate all games would observe maximum tolerance to avoid unnecessary late-game technical fouls from affecting the outcome of the match.

“We will observe maximum tolerance, we don’t want unwarranted technical fouls,” said Lipa.

Lipa, who is best remembered in the league for steering the State U Maroons to their first and only UAAP title 23 years ago, said they have tapped a combination of professional, semi-professional and amateur referees to officiate the games.

“We would call it as we see it and we will be fair and just to all eight schools without favoring anyone,” said Lipa.

League officials recalled an incident in the first round last season involving a controversial technical foul on a player in the final two minutes of play with the game hanging in the balance.

The call changed the outcome of the game.

The referee who made that controversial call was eventually banned from officiating games the rest of the season.

Lipa said they don’t want this to happen this season.

“We’re not saying we will no longer slap technical fouls, it’s still up to the referees,” said Lipa. “What we want is to prevent them from making unnecessary calls in a crucial stretch of the contest.”

Lipa said the league would tap refs from the PBA, PBL and BRAASCO, which marked the first time that a professional referee would officiate a game in the UAAP.

“The league wants to professionalize officiating and we would provide them with one,” said Lipa.

Under Chito Narvasa’s watch last year, the league hired NAABRO, an all-amateur group, to officiate the games.

Lipa also announced the league would enforce a “no ID, no sitting on the bench rule” to avoid what happened last year when La Salle coach Franz Pumaren was slapped a technical foul for not wearing his league identification card.

“It would be strictly enforced,” he said.

The league will also implement rules that give teams a chance to challenge a three-point conversion at any point of the game via instant video replay and the suspension of the possession arrow rule in the last two minutes of the match. – Joey Villlar