Isaac
Years ago
Scott Butler is NBL Referee of the Year
Queensland official Scott Butler has been named as the Referee of the Year for the 2008/09 National Basketball League season.
Butler took home the award for the fourth time in his career, having previously captured the honour for three straight years from 2005-2007, making this his fourth win in the last five seasons. He is only the third referee in NBL history to win the award four times, following in the footsteps of the legendary Bill Mildenhall and Eddie Crouch.
Butler was delighted to be named the NBL's best whistleblower once again, saying it was "great to be acknowledged."
Despite the flood of accolades he has enjoyed in recent years, he said he believes that he can still get better.
"There's always room for improvement, no matter how good of a job people think you do, I always think that you can do things better," he said.
Butler said communication with the coaches was the key to being a good referee.
"If you get acknowledged by the coaches, it may be for your interpersonal skills rather than your refereeing. The coaches know full-well that you're never going to get it 100% correct. If you can explain why you made the call in a way they understand, they still may not like the call, but they respect the fact that you've explained your decision."
The NBL Referee of the Year is the official who finished highest on the NBL Finals Panel based on voting by all NBL team coaches and NBL referee coaches, along with averaged scores from referee coach reports as submitted during the season.
