By Thomas Connor
Despite his diminutive stature, Doncaster squash referee John Massarella – known affectionately as the ‘Don of Doncaster’ by many of those involved with the professional squash circuit – is unquestionably one of the games’ largest characters.
Amongst the top referees in the world on a consistent basis for the best part of two decades – in many eyes the best referee of that era – ‘Mazza’s’ dulcet tones and no-nonsense manner have been an ever-present on the professional scene since the turn of the millennia.
Nestled as he has been in the very heart of the crowd during matches, Massarella has adjudicated on an ever-changing guard of stars from the likes of Jonathon Power and Peter Nicol, to Ramy Ashour ad Nicol David through to today’s champions like Ali Farag and Nour El Sherbini.
He has first hand witnessed the advent of video referee and the introduction of slow motion cameras and adapted to multiple changes to the game’s scoring format, not least from hand-in hand-out to PAR15 (point-a-rally) to PAR11 and the lowering of the tin to 17 inches.
Not only that, but Massarella has adapted and evolved through more than half a dozen changes to the game’s refereeing system at the top level – starting with pen, paper and marker through the trials and tribulations of the tri-ref system to the current model of central referee and video referee.
A heady journey for a man who only stumbled into the game in the first place.
“As a young lad I played soccer – I started when I was about seven or eight years old – and I played it until I was in my late 30s, about 38,” said Massarella, who with a laugh adds that his playing nickname on the pitch was ‘Chopper’.
“I was obsessed with football as a boy and played at a decent level for twenty plus years, playing 40 matches a season, but by the time I was in my late 30s I was getting too slow to play anymore.
“I loved the dressing room banter and the camaraderie that was to be found in football – and despite the fact that I had driven past Doncaster Squash Club probably three times a day for my entire life, I had no idea the sport even existed.
“But when I finished playing football I was talking to someone about what I could do next and they suggested I went for a game of squash – and that was my introduction to the game.
“I joined Doncaster Squash Club but it became apparent very quickly that I was a rubbish player – in fact to this day I haven’t improved at all on court – I’m all endeavour and no skill!
“In all the internal tournaments I was getting knocked out in the first round, and this was a regular feat over a two or three year period, but I hung around because I wanted to be involved and I started refereeing the matches – that’s how it all started, more by accident than design.”
Those first forays into the world of squash refereeing came in the late 1980s when squash was booming in popularity and Massarella was content simply to play a part in the booming inner-club competition scene.
By contributing to the evening’s play, he was immersing himself in the club’s social life, but it wasn’t long before his involvement began to grow – both within his home club and the wider English squash community.
A role running Doncaster’s first team led to exposure to the Yorkshire county league scene, where Massarella would sit in to referee fourth or fifth string matches when asked or needed, leading to him meeting and refereeing many of the game’s rising young stars of the time – the likes of James Willstrop and Nick Matthew.
The step up to refereeing the highly competitive Yorkshire League followed and the path to the World Tour soon opened up – as much to Massarella’s surprise as anyone else.
“I fell in love with the game straight away – the bug was there instantly,” he said.
“There were internal competitions going on all the time and there was always a cry for referees, so I found myself stepping in to cover matches and I saw in the refereeing a challenge.
“I’ve been self-employed my whole life, I love the challenge of it and I wake up every day wanting to have to have that challenge – that brings the adrenaline rush. I identified that straight away when refereeing the game and that’s what got me going.
“Then I started refereeing local league games in the Sheffield League then into the Yorkshire League, and then I got involved with England squash at the low level of juniors and weekends and counties.
“I was lucky with the timing in many ways. In those early days there was Super League Monday night, National League Tuesday night, and Yorkshire league Wednesday night, which were massively popular and many of the players who were competing in those leagues were the very best players in the world.
“I suppose, without knowing it, I was progressing, but that was not what I was aiming at.
“I was just enjoying the journey, just enjoying meeting new people everywhere I went. And it developed from there, without me planning it, without me knowing it.”
Such exposure to top level players through the competitive league scene led to Massarella taking the English national refereeing certification in 1994 – which he remembers as ‘an awful experience, I think I failed it first time’.
But it was in 1999 that the Don’s refereeing career really took off.
“Between 1994 and 1999, I wasn’t looking to achieve anything, I was just going with the flow and enjoying it – there was no desire to referee on the professional tour or anything like that,” he said.
“Then I was invited to the British Open in Aberdeen in 1999. I was appointed to the event by England Squash for the first four days to cover the Masters tournament. I think there were a couple of higher ranked English referees at the time who put in a few words to the organisers and I was taken off the Masters after two days and put on the qualification matches for the Open.
“I got assessed, and they decided to put me on a first round match, then a second round match. I was due to fly home the next day and they asked me if I could stay – I thought they were going to ask me to ref an age group match or something, but they put me on the British Open quarter-final between Del Harris and Ahmed Barada, which was a huge step up in level.
“But I relished the experience, then I refereed at the Women’s World Team Championships and I got appointed onto the World Tour in 2001.”
A formidable character in the central chair, Massarella has engaged in many a tête-à-tête with the game’s most vocal protagonists, often enjoying the better of the exchanges thanks largely to an unflappable disposition and a healthy dose of Yorkshire whit.
His forays into running bakeries, a stint as a food shop owner, and his current day-job as owner and proprietor of a tobacconist in his beloved home town, alongside managing a number of properties with with single room tenants, have provided the perfect training round for confrontational de-escalation.
With merely split-seconds to make a decision, one that will invariably be judged by players and fans – both in stadia and through the screens – alike, the pressure of the centre seat can break many.
For Massarella it has been the making of the man.
“I’m used to dealing with people every day and dealing with uncomfortable circumstances and heat of the moment reactions,” he added.
“In those scenarios the job is to get to the right outcome. The job of the referee is also to get the right outcome and to get the best out of both players in the match in the process.
“But I love being out there – being in the pit where it’s all happening. When you’re front on, that’s where the adrenaline is. You do get intimidated at times – that never stops. It’s about how you handle that. Are you able to handle it? Are you able to manage situations, and are you able to get the right result.
“I love the pressure and I love the job.
“Even now, when I am assessing other younger referees, I am always looking to see if there are attributes or skills that I can take and add to my repertoire. I firmly believe that you have to continually adapt and keep trying to improve because as soon as you start to think that you’ve got it, that you know it all, that’s when you stand still and get left behind.
“You can’t, sort of dip in and out in the learning process. You are never the finished product, never, ever the finished product. So even today I’m still hungry to improve and to develop.
“When you find yourself in venues like Grand Central Terminal and some of the stunning locations we go to, you keep pinching yourself when you’re there.
“For me, it’s great to have had all these challenges in the journey of refereeing from when I started. It has offered me different challenges and I find it all very rewarding.
And given his business interest at home and that, until recently, referees at the very top of the sport did the job entirely of their own volition as effectively highly pressurised volunteers (it was only in recent years that referees received any form of financial compensation for their efforts) it is testament to Massarella’s never-ending love of the game and love of his chosen path that he has maintained at the top for so long.
“I’ve always had huge respect for squash players and what they have to do to try and achieve what they do on the court,” he said.
“It is hard work and so many different players have offered so many different things. I’ve admired so many players over the years and still love to watch them compete at that very top level.
“Probably the pinnacle is to referee a World Championship final and I’ve been fortunate enough to referee a few of those. It’s been a privilege, I suppose, for me, really, and I keep pinching myself that I’ve been able to achieve these things in refereeing,
“Because at the end of the day, I have the best seat in the house and I never grow tired of it.”
