If to referee a match it is necessary to have a special affinity, a complicated task that can only be gained over the years, a fine-tuned mental connection to know what the other is thinking just with a glance, then the truth is that Francisco Fernández and Daniela Fernández have a lot path walked. And that’s because they are father and daughter, daughter and father, who formed the first whistle pairing yesterday as referees for a junior category handball match held at the Corazón de María school in Gijón. For her, 11 years old, it was her first game of hers. He, 39, has experience in professional categories and has been linked to handball all his life. So he couldn’t have a better teacher. “It has been very exciting. I was holding back tears throughout the game”, Francisco Fernández explained happily.
The circumstance in the Gijón pavilion is atypical. Sometimes parents and children play on the same team. Being more convoluted, there have even been cases of relatives facing each other. But it is difficult to find a couple of referees with blood ties. Much more that they are father and daughter. What happened is even more special because Daniela Fernández is 11 years old. In other words, she is too young, too precocious, to assume the responsibility of judging a match, even if she is one of children. But all of that faded into the background when the initial whistle was blown.
The concentration, from there, was maximum. “I’ve seen her well. It’s not because she’s my daughter, but she has quite the eye,” says Fran. The game ends normally. They faced the Codema against the Jovellanos. The first ones won. There were no gray plays, which is said now. Already in the locker room, the two referees comment on the play. “At first she made me a little embarrassed, but my friends were in the stands,” says Daniela. It was because before putting on the referee suit, she put on the player’s jacket to play a match with her team, Codema. When she is asked why she wants to referee she shrugs. “My daddy is and I wanted to try it,” she says.
The little girl has a mirror in which to look at herself. Francisco Fernández is a first level referee. He started with the whistle at the age of 16 and was there until he was 20. He has been playing handball all his life. At 29 he returned to refereeing. He is now a member of the Silver Honor Division, the second category of national handball, the prelude to the Asobal League. In fact, yesterday afternoon he left for Madrid to whistle the Ikasa-Nava today in Boadilla. “I have seen my daughter very loose. Having intercoms helps a lot to be able to position and help the referees who are starting,” he explains. “Women’s refereeing is getting a lot better, so let’s see how far we can go,” he adds, grinning from ear to ear.
Daniela Fernández would like to be able to grow up to be a player and also a referee. She loves whistling with her father, but she also wishes she could whistle with her friend and teammate, María García. At the moment, she has already starred in a historic event in Asturian arbitration. Proving that at the Fernández house the whistle is a family affair.