I don't think anyone has an issue with stricter reffing. We just want to see consistent reffing, throughout each game, round and season.

I think the reffing overall has been a lot better this season. Hopefully the consistency will continue to improve next season

Just read this post under "Big V Coaching Behaviour".


"Dear CEO of BIG V:

I was most concerned to receive your email re Coaching/Player behaviour. Not because of what you have said - but more from the point of referees not being SKILLED enough to interpret your message.

My concerns relate to a number of years of the direction referees are getting. My fear is your email will unleashed the beast - and we will see referees (some not all) now acting in such arrogant manners that coaches/players will struggle to keep their emotions in check.

The current coaching director for referees is an experienced man who had a history having no patience when dealing with players/coaches. T em up to shut them em up was his style. Unfortunately as the game has evolved over the years his message has not changed and still filters through to young referees who use this method far to much and not always appropriate to situations.

I can tell you the majority of coaches in Big V are privately pissed off with your message. Few will express this to you because of fear of repercussions from refs during games.

It may be true that some coaches/players are behaving poorly - but it this because of the attitude of these people or are there other circumstances that should be looked in to? I would respectfully suggest you may have overlooked the cause/effect of the issues.

Basketball is an emotional game - as is most games. You see coaches in AFL, Soccer, Rugby, etc. able to express a level of emotion during a game. But not basketball - are players/coaches in our game different?

What is happening now is a coach is told he cannot put his hands in the air and show any sign of emotion at calls that he feels a referee may have missed.

Tonight I attended the YL1 Mens game Blackburn vs Sunbury to scout both teams as my team plays them in the coming weeks.

The Blackburn coach whom I have coached against in one form or another over many years was ejected with 2 mins to go in the first quarter. This man has coached at senior levels and is well respected in the game. The way he was treated tonight was a disgrace.

The coach got his first T when one of his players drove to the basket and appeared to be fouled. The coach lifted his hands in the air - no audible comments were made (I was behind his bench). The referee gave him his first T - much to the amusement of the crowd watching.

The coach asked for an explanation from the referee who appeared to tell him to sit down. The coach called a timeout seeking an explanation from the refs. From my seat the ref concerned was billigerent, rude and disrespectful to the coach.

I commend the coach on keeping his cool during this exchange.

Any way the game went on with no one really sure what caused the first T.

The game proceeded without issue for the next 5 or so minutes. The refs were making calls which puzzled the crowd, but didn't favour one side over another.

Hand checking fouls were being tightly called a per the P of E guidelines.

Shortly before 1/4 time, Blackburn were in possession of the ball driving to the basket. The blackburn player was clearly fouled with a two handed hand check - no call was made - turnover to Sunbury.

The Blackburn coach merely stood there, looked at the ref (who just happened to be the same ref involved in the first T) and enquired in a non verbal and quite respectful manner about the hand check foul. By this I mean he motioned with two hands for hand check which I interpreted as being "hey ref did you see that?"

Well to the amusement of the crowd, the Blackburn coach received a second T and was asked to leave the game.

Now before all the critics get after me - I ask you to consider the points I wish to make.

1. there is no way the coach deserved one tech let alone two (I watched the Div 1 game until 1/4 time that followed and both coaches were able to express/demonstrate far more emotion than the Blackburn YL mens coached displayed).

2. The CEO email puts all the accountability of coach/player behaviour. What accountability does the referee carrying for their behaviour?

3. Are the new and up and coming referees getting the right guidance and coaching - is the refs coaching director spending enough time developing refs or is it a case of T em up to shut em up?

4. Sport is an emotional game - you cannot expect players, coaches, referees not to be affected by the ebs and flows of the game. The best refs have a knack of knowing how to take the emotion out of a situation by talking and listening to coaches/ players. Todays young refs threaten, ignore, and invite conflict - the T is their first option.

5. How much training do refs get in managing conflict issues - this is a skill that is sadly lacking with refs these days (and perhaps explains why some coaches/players behave poorly).

6. What accountability do refs carrying? Players/coaches are clearly accountable for their behaviour/performance - whereas some refs hand out T's without a care in the world. Previous post suggest Refs should be answerable for any T they hand out - GOOD CALL - you may find some of the cowboys may think twice if they have to explain/ justify their behaviour.

My reasons for this post are clearly because I am a coach who is very unhappy with the direction the young refs are getting these days. If I was to bitch about how I have been treated people would yell SOUR GRAPES. But to witness what happened to the Blackburn coach tonight was enough to prompt me to put this post up.

To the BIG V CEO - your intentions are admirable but your message is misguided. If you really want to impress your customers ie. THE COLLECTIVE BIG V clubs then don't pencil defensive emails about observations which have been around for years.

Heres MY TIP - sit down with all parties concerned and hear the feedback from everyone, not just the refs. The game is sacrosanct - nobody is bigger than the game. Players, coaches and officials should be able to work in harmony - clearly the path being followed at the moment is flawed.

TIME TO GET SERIOUS - THE GAME IS THE LOSER FOR POOR MANAGEMENT AT ALL LEVELS".

My reasons for copying this long winded post is purely to highlight some good points made by änon".

Whilst no longer actively involved in the game, I still like to attend random games on a weekly basis. I must say "anon" makes some real good points - in particular developing refs conflict management skills and having refs "explain" reasons for handing out tech fouls.

In my time, I believe refs used to pride themselves on being able to talk and calm a coach/player - build rapport. These days refs seem to be encouraged to ignore or back chat coaches which inflames situations. Tech fouls are used way too often and in a lot of cases for the wrong reasons. This only serves to widen the relationship gap between refs and coaches/players.

I agree with "anon's" message to the CEO Big V - defensive emails is the wrong way to fix this matter. Be proactive and get the key stakeholders in one room and brainstorm how to fix the problems.

The BANDAID solution you have put forward will not work - you have a real opportunity to make a difference to our game. Please do something soon before this situation gets out of hand.

Had a short conversation with a couple of VBRA referees just this weekend about this and what I gather is that their consistency is very much about whether there are two of them or three of them.

They admit that when there are three officials they are often much more consistent, especially in picking up those holds inside the key, while two officials can become a little too preoccupied with ball watching and miss the obvious holding.

Simple analogy, I know, but it was probably true to a point.

I like the points of emphasis this season, the hand checking on the ball carrier is straight forward and the players who keep doing it are either terrible defenders or are stupid. There are some bad calls atm when the shooter creates contact and gets bailed out with benefit of the doubt, but that will correct itself as the refs adapt.

The frustrated post above seems targeted heavily at coach/referee communication during the game, and that some refs are happy communicating before the game and some aren't which is inconsistent. I have a solution:

If the referees when introducing themselves before the game were to say "I'm happy to chat in an appropriate time and manner during the game" then you know where they're at.

If the refs before the game said "Please no chatter or animated expressions during the game, we want to focus on the job, please see me at the quarter/half time breaks if there's an issue" Coaches would respect that too, so if a T is blown after that was said, no complaints.

C'mon Anonymous - impartial official/court supervisor? Are you kidding - these people don't exist at Big V games and if they did what are they going to do to influence the decision of the ref?

Occasionally you get a refs assessor - incidently no one was at this game. They are not authorised to overrule a ref. And after reffing for 30+ years, I've never seen a coach get any official to change a decision to eject a coach/player. Have you?

Trust me, this coach was Tech'd twice and ejected for no apparent reason.

I'm a retired ref - and want to see the young refs coming though to succeed. This situation was clearly a bad look for refs and their reptuations. I repeat what I've said in previous post - the Big V CEO's email has not achieved what she has desired. Refs need to be trained on how to manage conflict.

In the above example, if it is a true account, there was a simple course of action for the coach.

Refuse to go on the grounds that the officials are not acting according to the code of conduct, get reported by the officials and then they must bring the matter up before the tribunal. You state your side of the story and stick to your guns, what else can you do?

Having been involved as a third party on a tribunal where coaches were treated almost as poorly, the outcome that time was that both referees were suspended. Originally, bogus charges were laid against the coaches by two VJBL officials that acted like cowboys, baiting the coaches, but it backfired.

This will and should come out in the tribunal, don't fear it, it is part of the process and appears to be the only way something like this gets aired out...

Certainly not advocating a state of anarchy, just suggesting that in the extreme case presented in the above post, it would appear the coach may have had no other options.

Happy for other suggestions, but if you are actually baited as a coach, where do you go and what do you do?

I would suggest it is an extreme and rare occurance, plan B would be a letter to the VBRA I guess...

^anon, I think we all agree on those points, and we all want to show a good example. The contentious issue is when it is an official that doesn't show the same level of acceptance.

Aussies, by nature, all just want to see fair treatment I think.

I for one am an advocate of stricter refereeing, as I see it we have drifted off into the jungle ball/rugby fest style of play for far too long and we are all still trying to adjust, it will take a little while but it is the only way to go.