another 8 games cancelled for Fri night, same last week. How many more.

Maybe go to the market for a change rather than plum jobs for mates, Gibson, Miller, Haines.

Definitely amateur hour on top of the basketball connect issues. Wifi connection issues as an excuse, what are we, non tech savvy pensioners?
Would be good to have a statement from CEO to firstly apologise, and then to explain how they will be fixing this.

It is terrible. I can't think of a junior sport comp that fumbles from one disaster to the next like BSA. Even niche sports are run more professionally in this state.

How many games get cancelled before people start asking for a pro-rata adjustment on their playing fees?

Website is a dogs breakfast
Comp structure and timing changes year in year out
Games cancelled due to leaking stadia or heat
Games cancelled due to no refs (original excuse was schoolies, what is it now?)
Connect app feels like it's half finished - GameDay wasn't perfect but it did what we needed it to do
Can't find other results online which is terrible for family members that are not at games
HP program is a lesson in athlete overloading and injury facilitation along with a microcosm of the crappy politics that happens on a wider scale
Girls comps are a joke - 10 teams in Div is a rarity rather than the norm.

Kids have stopped travelling up from the country due to the uncertainty in fixtures and poor communication from the governing body. The girls comps are a complete mess with other sports taking advantage of how badly BSA operates.

It's really a shame because SA has so much talent in every age group

CEO either has to make some kinda fix+statement or he's gotta go, it's such a poorly ran organisation from top to down. Not to mention the absurd club fees

This is sad

Saturday morning games now also cancelled


How has it got to this ?

Not good for our sport

This is a massive issue. It also covers a lot of volunteers positions in clubs and organisations aswell. People have moved on since Covid and a lot won't come back. The standard of officiating has decreased since Covid. Money would go a big way to keeping refs. SANFL and Amateur League footy will continue to take personnel, both refs and players from basketball in future as the female game grows. Umpires are paid quite well in footy compared to basketball.
Refs can get jobs in hospitality that pay good money rather than ref junior games on Fridays and Saturdays and have to put up with parents and players.

Some of the blame must also be put on the clubs. Needed a reset after Covid, but clubs were taking players and creating teams they had no coaches for, creating games there is no refs for. BSA and clubs needed to be communicating openly about how many games and teams they could cater for.

This ^ +1

From skimming sixtiesrockstar's post, it sounds like existential risk for the sport at junior level if rivals and hospitality can lure enough workers away, and having it compounded by parents screaming from sidelines.

What do refs get paid? Are participants willing to pay more to bolster ref ranks, in a world where everything else is also increasingly expensive? I don't envy people dealing with the repercussions of any of this.

A big challenge for the sport - BSA AND the clubs.
Junior district teams are growing at double digits over the last two years and with a renewed focus the girls teams are also growing strongly (>12% over two years) and in all age groups.
And a lot of the clubs are focussing on developing their domestic comps which also require referees and this adds extra pressure on numbers.
Easy to criticise and clearly the sport needs to find a solution on getting (and retaining) more refs - maybe better remuneration, training and scheduling but with 300 games plus per week I don't envy the BSA staff tasked with this.

The AFL is in a massive recruitment drive at grassroots level for umpires, female players and coaches. They will put resources into it and pay accordingly. Have a look at Port Power. Olivia (nee Thompson) recruited from basketball as their ruck and I don't think she has ever played the game. This is what basketball is up against.

It's a major issue that needs a response from the clubs and participants more than BSA as a sole entity. There are a million games in BSA but only 50 refs (clearly an exaggeration) when every coach, parent and player abuse every call why would you show up for $1.50 a game (again exaggerating) when you can earn $18 and hour at Mickey D’s. Until this and every community realise that they are apart of the answer it will never move forward. You have refs in SA doing 700 games a year. That’s ridiculous. The only way you will retain and recruit is to pay more and stop the abuse. No kid wants to earn pocket money getting abused every second call.

Once again BSA cause the crisis, up to the Clubs to be the solution.

Clubs are a massive part of the problem. Having ten teams in one division by one club is just gouging money form people. Less teams less refs

And increase the pay BSA when a kid gets more for doing a social under 8 game than they do a Div 1 District Friday night game something is wrong.

If the management of the Competition accepted teams thats on them isn't it?

Hard to find many referees for district games with the payrate being $14 per game (correct me if I'm wrong) where Saturday morning school games pay the referees $40 per game.

If the management of clubs push to have ten teams in a division to increase fees I would think they would be part of the problem.

Armageddon do BSA sit and abuse referees each game? Ummm that's a firm no

Do BSA staff that are paid to stop it from happening ever do that? Firm no.

People yell at referees because it works.

People yell at referees who are kids or teenagers because they are assholes. How about have some sportsmanship and some commonsense and just support your team. Abusing referees has influence at this level, but it's the reason we are in this situation moron.

I might saddle up next to you when your kid plays and abuse his every play. Turnover, missed shot, lack of effort, lack of awareness! If I did you would scream blue murder!! Don’t do it to refs at the BSA level. You are the problem

It is not the reason. That's a BSA PR line. The comments from the sideline at lower than ever before. Clubs are doing their job on that front. But no sport at any level will ever stamp it out completely in Australia. Look at how the media manages to attack referees on every broadcast. Blame them for ever little possible mistake. Even when the commentators are completely wrong.

The reasons why we are here are numerous. The abuse is a tiny part of it yes, but not even close to the reason.

You have never had a child who has been a referee

Abuse is one of the reasons kids have dropped out. Easier ways to earn $15 than be abused by parents 'because it works'.

Perhaps games have been cancelled due to refs heading up to the Riverland carnival.

Frog 74, are you serious ?
Country should supply their own umps !!

I have a question for parents of u18 boys div9.
Why do you waste your time playing for Panthers or Rockets or Flames etc in this division ?

What's the attraction to playing such a low level and paying big fees to travel all across the place when you can play close to home in domestic & get better games?

I do agree the BASA should only have 5 divisions max and then the number of refs needed would be lower and the domestic associations would be stronger

Do Centrals & Woodville even have domestic comps ?

As a few have mentioned there are many reasons in lack of officials. A lot of it comes down to instability at BSA. There seems to be a lot of turnover of staff within BSA the last few years. BSA is basket case of sporting organisation in South Australia. Management of this organisation is laughable, they are given feedback but they just take no notice - one example of this is basketball connect. I have not heard any positive feedback about this application, it was tried in another organisation and failed miserably but still chose to use it. Clubs have voiced their thoughts on it, but you choose to take no notice.
Where has all our extra registration fees gone with having to register with basketball connect? BSA advised they would refund to those who paid twice, we were told they would be refunded the following week - still waiting? If it was to go towards the BIG umpiring issues, I would be very grateful. The parents of every player in district competition need to make a stand and ask, what are our registration fees going towards? How can you ask parents to pay for registrations twice and then not follow up? Borderline fraud if you ask me!

Extreme measure, ban spectators. Stream the games so they can be watched in the car park. Only way to nearly guarantee there's no abuse.

needs to be some sort fee reduction for families in lower divisions - no higher division games cancelled yet lower Div families have to suffer yet may pay full fees at clubs - how about cancelling some Div 1 games rather than repeatedly cancelling lower Div ? Parents may cancel work and make transport / child care arrangements etc

Given BSA has been over charging div 2 and below for 10 years or so and now continue to do so for div3 and below that isn't going to happen.

Club fee reduction is again the clubs fixing BSAs mess up.

Why do teams playing 60min time slots pay the same game fee as those playing 75min?

I have no problem if the games are rescheduled later in the year. Also I understand the cancelled games are being shared around so will there be Div 1 cancellations seeing they are being shared around

Let's be honest here

Div 4 and below district is just very expensive social, might as well go play local comps

why abandon the games ? why not try to reschedule later in the year when in a better position ? IMO that would be more palatable

Because they know things will only get worse not better.

Yes country should supply refs but they are in the same position as BSA with refs. In that they either play in carnivals as well or don't go at all.

I also have 2 kids in the system both with 2nd jobs that pay way more for the same amount of time on court. They do it as a way to keep fit but they also ref for other comps during the week.

Like mine I am sure there are some other kids committing to 3 or 4 nights a week due to lack of refs. At some point these kids will burn out, get injured etc. It's these kids that commit that need to be looked after from abuse by parents, players & coaches before they also walk away.

Most refs that I know aren't really that much older than who they are reffing and in some instances they are younger and they definitely don't deserve the abuse that they get.

Today I saw 10 North Adelaide parents, the coach, and 3 children on the court during an Under 14 Division 4 game screaming or waving their arms at the referees.
The senior referee on the game, who got a call this morning to say they were short and came out to help, made a point to stop the game and make sure that everybody who was doing this knows that this behaviour was not acceptable.

But, if that senior referee wasn't on the game, want there helping out, and didnt do that, then what would have happened?
The poor green shirt, who would have been maybe 13 or 14 years old, would have just kept copping it.

Your kid got hit in the face with the ball because he isn't good enough to catch it, but you say good try johnny. Then you get a poor kid trying to ref, learn the game, and earn a couple bucks, and you scream like a cow having it's udders twisted!

Saturday Mornings should be kids basketball, Division 2 and 3 only, as development for newer refs, greens shirts and low level 1 referees.
Division 1 on Friday nights with the best up coming refs, your level 1B and 1A, with some rookie senior basketball refs.
This would create an environment of learning, where young refs have a development pathway, and the good games get the best refs, with less games needing referees.

Anything after that there is Future Rockets or ACBA for you to go and live your dreams through your children.

That does sound like a few Rockets parents. Another area creating an issue is these parents who are living their dream through the kids. They are blind or won't accept reality, believing that little Johnny could be one of the best when in reality they won’t play past 16’s. Expect the best of development from the coaches and club when it’s just mid level club basketball. They don’t volunteer for anything, Team Manager, etc yet these are the first parents to talk crap behind peoples backs and bag refs and coaches, as they coach their kid from the other side of the court.

Qs - so how does table positions sort out if an abandoned game ? if final placings are based on win / loss % according to by-laws. Teams get 2 prem points for an abandoned game ? yet does the result count as a win / loss / draw ? Also if you were due to play a team where you needed the result to get the split with them - how can you get 2 premiership points but no other stat in any table columns ? Just have some questions here - don't comment if you just criticising thanks

Agree with Denny Crane about limiting the divs in District, although I would go to div5 or 6. Need to keep the structure at a decent level and still give opportunity. Invest money on refs for div1&2, 21's, 18’s and 16’s and using Sat mornings as training for younger refs. Clubs could possibly be accountable on the refs for Sat mornings, seeing as clubs are able to supply refs for their social conps.

talking about a grade with an uneven amount of byes above - hence the W/L % for placings

You can tech foul offensive behaviour from players, coaches, managers, score bench, but can you actually tech foul the 'supporters' these days?

If team A was scoring 10 points a quarter from foul shots because of persistent poor behaviour from team B supporters, then maybe things might change.

Or are the other ways to correct this to
- get Security involved to clear them out,
- have formal match reports which result in docking points from teams with persistent supporter issues
- disqualify teams based on their feral supporters?

I was at a game where tech fouls were awarded against team A and the spectators were cleared for team A even though it was the team B’s parents causing the fuss while sitting in the middle of the team A parents. It got ugly between the parents, and the game was abandoned.

hoopie

I'd tech supporters if I was still involved, especially in lower divisions and lower ages (to U16s). Would it be kosher now? Maybe not, but I’d do it in the spirit of sportsmanship and development of kids as people.

They’re kids, both players and umpires in a lot of cases. Developing a culture of fair play and respect for others AND the game is more important than anything else. Even if some of the players do have a chance of developing into basketball careers as adults, do we want a sport that’s characterised by unsportsmanlike behaviour and intimidation of officials to get a call o go your way?

Do we want to encourage bad behaviour in a team environment? This can carry over into workplace team behaviour. Some employers like to know their future hires can work together with their work teams and the public.

Sport can be a great character developer for kid. It can be used to teach a lot of non-academic skills. Why do so many people involved in junior sport have a professional background in teaching or child development? As a teacher and community worker, I often found/find that kids who play a team sport and are good teammate are the best kids across different areas of life. They really do learn to get along with and work others.

Perhaps the covid restrictions impacted kids more negatively than we anticipated (I think so) but our kids need to re-learn these skills for life.

This is what happens when you put the wrong people in the right roles.
BSA have a lot to answer for how they work with the clubs and manage our sport

The current state of refereeing numbers in SA is directly pointed and clearly blamed towards 4 people who are no longer there.
Mark H, Phil S, Mike G and Donna M.
The first name because he hired the last two names and the second because he didnt have the nuts to fire the last two names.
Both turned a blind eye to behaviours that in any other association or organisation end up in legal or criminal action.
And the commission and the club presidents have something to answer for as well as they know and discussed it at their level and did very little if anything at all.

The new CEO and the current referee team within BSA have a very tough job ahead of them as there isn a instance fix as it takes time to train these kids and to get them to a level where they are capable to referee a district game.
If you then add wanker parents who played district in div shit 20 years ago yelling at these young kids, no wonder kids are going ..... um no thanks.

Maybe when games are cancelled, these same parents sack up and put on a shirt and whistle and lead by example.

The promsied second court supervisor BSA promised would have two people monitoring parent behaviour. Very hard for ref to know who's parents belong to who.

@reggie

Today games were cancelled while two courts supervisors were sitting and watching two court venues. Makes no sense to have two supervisors when at least one could be blowing the whistle

@Phantom
Donna miler was only employed for a very short time.
Gibson was involved a long time but the huge issues currently have been evident during the current management team's leadership

It seems like you are blaming the past to protect the current

Gibson gifted Miller the job. Miller then cheated the world so absolutely not absolved of any responsibility. So let's not let time frames confused with responsibility for where they sit now

@Reggie, I find a lot of the court supervisors aren't serious. Barely even watch anything. Was playing at Marion last season and had a total of two fouls called up to halftime on the opposition in a very tight hard tussle full court defence game. Spoke to refs, court supervisor at halftime and there was two senior court supervisors there, not really watching. Didn't help much as the refs only called one foul on them for the next half for 3 fouls in total in a 42-40 game. One of the refs was a green shirt and that just made a mockery of training them as they need to be taught to blow the whistle in real time so they get confidence and used to making calls.

As in most things, only a small percentage that start go on to officiate at a higher level. The best referees are the ones that communicate to both players and coaches. Everyone knows that calls are missed, the real annoyance is when they are constantly missed and if the refs are too arrogant to take on board what they are told. It does have to be done with respect, they are human, and coaches and players have to move on from a mistake.
Behaviour has simply become worse over the years from spectators/parents. Good coaches no longer participate because of obnoxious parents who think their children are God's gift to the sport. That follows onto officials. Putting up signs around stadiums denouncing bad behaviour isn't going to deter these half wits. Clubs should be proactive and sanctioning those that consistently are dickheads. Warning, then ban them. If they want to move clubs, pass the information on. Bullying and harrassment standards have risen in the workplace, more needs to be done to prevent it in junior sports. Individuals can be identified by club and team officials on the night or day, clubs just need to show balls and hit them hard with penalties. Clubs have child protection officers, or should. They should be the law. Hell, bring in a couple of bouncers to each stadium and eject them that way.

Poor behaviour towards referees is a big problem however to suggest it is the only problem is very simplistic and lets BSA off the hook. It ignores the numerous other issues that are holding back basketball in this state.

someone help me here how does football maintain such a strong umpire base when Basketball in SA cannot?
Football
requires 6 umpires per game
and in the Adelaide metro area on a Saturday, just in the "Men's" comp (not jnrs or AFLW) they have 7 divs (69 teams) Plus you could include the Southern Football League (since half their clubs are metro/suburbia) so 78 teams in total or 39 active games

so on a Saturday, they require 234 umpires in the Adelaide metro area just for the Mens A grade games league below the SANFL level. 39 games X 6 refs = 234.

So, how many umpires on a Saturday, in the metro area including that group PLUS SANFL, PLUS any junior games, PLUS B grade games, are required? At least 500?

So let's say 500 umpires are required on a Saturday in the metro area, and these guys are in the rain, and mud, getting abused, and are required to run 6km a game, plus the length of the game...

how does SA football keep all those umpires to work in those environments, but BSA cannot keep umpires for an indoor, short-distance sport?

the math of refs that are required on a Friday per stadium
Mvale 4 courts 8-10 refs (they only sometimes use 4 courts I know)
Mitch park 2 courts - 4 - 6 refs
Marion 2 courts - 4- 6 refs
Pasadena 3 courts 6-8 refs
Wayville 3 courts 6-8 refs
Mt B 2 courts - 4- 6 refs
Pt A 3 courts 6-8 refs
st clair 4 courts 8 - 10 refs
Mars 3 courts - 6 - 8 refs
Lights 3 courts - 6 - 8 refs
Starplex - 3 courts 6-8 refs

total 64 to 86 refs total? This has extra refs in case of injury or rest period etc.

S0 BSA cant maintain a ref base of 100 refs for a Friday night but SAfooty can maintain a ref base of 500 for Saturdays?

More players in a football game, so is money from players paying a factor? Is more money coming down from the AFL? Are abusive fans further from the main umpire, at least?

All good points, Isaac

AFL Umpires historically get paid well compared to Basketball and not only at the elite level. There is probably also something in Friday night basketball compared to Saturday/Sunday afternoon footy.

the more players more money thing is a great point
but if each team fields 18 players 4 subs that's 44 players per game/ 6 umps
or 7.33 players per umpire in pay

vs basketball 8 per team, 16 players/ 2 umpires
or 8 players per umpire in pay
Some games you could get a 3 man, my experience with basketball says that is rare at best.

The money trickle down economics of the AFL could be a factor. But I've been to plenty of football games, where you rock up and watch for free but all venues in SA for district basketball you pay a fee to attend (even if recently it has been hidden in the TeamPay overall fee)

Maybe I've been arriving at football games and somehow avoiding where you pay, unsure.

The Friday v Saturday thing good point, but there have been many comments about SA having Saturday games canned due to lack of umpires. Wouldn't we see the Sat games go ahead then if the day affected the amount of employees?

If its pay and abuse, BSA 100% could and should tackle that.

I also saw that all umpires for football in SA have mandatory weekly unpaid trainings, no BSA umpires have that consistent training. So their pay for game day is high but their pay per hour would be the same if not maybe less than a BSA umpire.

I don't know, food for thought, just think its time we see some changes as it feels like SA recycles the same problems, ignores their customer base and kinda shrugs it off.

Money may be a factor, but if we go down the abuse from spectators and coaches route, then umpires would be more sheltered in football. And probably only having to do 1 game and getting in the flow as compared to numerous games where they encounter a new lot of whingers.
But I've been to indoor netball games and it seems there is a lot less complaining despite what I describe as a hell of a lot more whistles. May be very wrong there, but players and spectators tend to play on unless there's a really unfair decision, there may be a bit of a glare from players, but spectators are reasonably quiet. Maybe because Netball is less physical like in rebounding contest for example, there's less room for debate.

It may be different in SA compared to VIC but my daughter is contemplating footy umpiring and she can get $30 to boundary or $50 to be field (juniors). It's only one game but considerably higher.

footy game longer time don't forget and possibly more work

Same duration with a stopped clock

The people trying to argue its not about pay or mismanagement are the same people who can't understand why employees aren't happy with pizzas for Friday lunch in place of a pay rise at their workplace.

If spectators are paying, they'd be reluctant to remove them from games.

Are football clubs generally paying for use of the oval and rooms? Are basketball clubs?

How do clubs/market positions for referees? Is it likely to be of any small help if I promote that on this site?

More Level 0 courses run over the weekend at capacity.

The interest is there. BSA can't keep them that's the issue.

I wonder how true this is also of other industries pitching the same labour pool - hospitality, shelf stacking, etc.

Spectators have historically always paid for games, when I was a jnr in the 00s it was $2 (not much but depending on how many family members watched the kid play. could be an extra $100 per game + game fees) This now is hidden in the TeamPay cost as you pay fee+spectator+appfee in the cost of the payment.

Great question Isaac re promotion, that's a BSA question, only they can answer that.

In SA I am 99% sure BSA pays for the hire of the courts for game night/day, I know that Mvale for example is hired on a yearly amount (which is hired at a VERY low price) so the cost of running that stadium is actually minimal.

For example Reynella East College just built a 4 court brand new shiny stadium... BSA didn't contact them until very late in the process.. they could only hire the courts on a Saturday mornings for games.

Football I have less knowledge on that operations side of things but you would think that an oval needs a near full time groundskeeper, for mowing, watering, line marking, maintaining the oval itself, converting to cricket(?). Plus the Club rooms need cleaning, restocking, ect. Plus football changerooms are much larger and have more amenities.

Any news how things are looking for this weekends round of games ? Appreciate cancellation notice early please.

Grote 12,

FYI, Senior district games now also played at Reynella East College on some weeknights.

A message from Basketball South Australia CEO

To the South Australian basketball community

I am writing to you to update you on our referee availability issue, in particular for District Basketball.

On behalf of Basketball South Australia, I will take this opportunity to apologise to any child, young person or adult who has been impacted by a game cancellation. As a parent who enjoyed watching their children play our beautiful sport, the thought of taking away a person's physical, mental and social connection is not where we want to be.

Just as important, we need to thank all referees, the parents and carers of referees, referee coaches, SSO’s and our referee department for their dedication to their craft and contribution to our sport.

Like the rest of the country, basketball in South Australia continues to grow in popularity and participation. Following the growth in participation, there is a catch-up period where infrastructure (courts) and resources (eg. referees) need to meet the new capacity.

We can’t hide nor will we, but the fact is, there is no quick or easy solution to increasing our referee capacity. We acknowledge that we need to improve all areas of referee recruitment, development and retention so we are not in the same position in 12 months time.

Please understand the decision to cancel a game is the last resort. Our referee department work above and beyond to avoid or minimise cancellations but unfortunately there is likely to be further impacts to games in the short term while we work towards a solution.

By the numbers

We are currently experiencing shortages that are affecting multiple competitions, primarily Friday Night Junior District. We are, at a minimum, 10 referees short for most weeks.

Two court facilities create difficulties in scheduling referees, referee coaching and development opportunities resulting in referees officiating back to back games up to 4 per night.

Last week, we scheduled 259 games to be played from divisions 1 to 7. There were 24 cancellations across the round (i.e. 9.26% cancelled) We take the viewpoint that 9.26% isn’t acceptable but it does mean that 235 games were actually played.

I will take this opportunity to thank our referee department for ensuring 91% of the games were referee allocated.

The areas we are experiencing lowest referee participation are at Marion, Springbank, and Morphett Vale stadiums.

What we are doing

We understand the urgency for review and improvement. What we are currently doing is:

Re-introducing a District Referee Panel system where referees are allocated to specific competitions to better service the quantity and level of games being played
Improving our database management systems to allow for more efficient communication, visibility of availability, and effective resourcing
Increasing resourcing in scheduling and rostering referees a number of weeks in advance to assist with forward planning
Increasing referee courses across all levels of accreditation, providing greater access to referee courses than ever before
Recruiting a new Referee Services and Framework Manager. The position will be advertised in the next 24 hours.
Engaging clubs to deliver referee courses in the identified low referee participation stadiums.

What we won’t do

We know that to ensure the sport continues to grow, we need a long-term approach. We therefore will not:

Have inexperienced referees officiating 'solo’ games where they are the only referee on the court. This isn’t fair for the referee or participants.
Continue to use the same referees who constantly ‘decline’ their appointed games at late notice. Late declinations make it impossible to re-roster referees and contributes to the problem.
Roster referees to competitions and games that are well beyond their level of ability. This is not fair for the referees or participants.
Rely on the same small percentage of referees to officiate a high percentage of games. This results in burn out, injury, and therefore future shortages.

What you can do

To assist in the adequate coverage of games in the short term we are asking parents and players to register an expression of interest to assist referee games. Support and training will be provided dependent on previous experience, knowledge and skill within our sport.

The concept is to create a pool of people that can be called upon, should the need arise, to assist with games at times when they would likely already be in a stadium.

This communication should provide context that if you can assist in refereeing, your impact would be noticeable. If you are willing to be involved, please use the JotForm link below to register your interest.

Link to JotForm - https://form.jotform.com/223467188951063

Creating a safe workplace environment for developing referees to learn and thrive

To put it bluntly, can I please ask all spectators, coaches and team managers to stop abusing the children and young people who officiate our sport. They are all learning, in particular our green shirt (development) referees.

Abuse toward referees is becoming one of our biggest issues in referee retention. We have analytical and anecdotal evidence from development referees that they are reluctant to officiate district games because of the aggressive behaviour of players, coaches and spectators.

The following example is taken from a Referee Incident Report from November 2022 during a Saturday morning Under 10’s game:

Basketball SA had identified a young referee who was more than capable at a Mini Ball level to transition into Saturday morning Junior District. During their first Saturday at an Under 10 game, our 13-year old referee experienced adults constantly abusing them. This young referee did not feel confident to talk to their parents about this until the following Saturday morning when they had an emotional melt down right before leaving home, advising their parents that they did not want to referee anymore. The parent, in an email to Basketball SA, apologised for the late notice but said the referee "hated it and said the parents kept having a go at them."

I don’t know of too many workplaces where yelling, being demonstrative with verbal communication and body language toward a child or young person is acceptable. This behaviour must stop along with bystander behaviour. If you see or hear this happening, please inform an SSO, your team manager or coach, even if it’s a spectator from your club.

One thing that shouldn’t be forgotten, the green shirt referees officiating with grey shirt referees (who are also still learning) are observing and listening to the aggressive behaviour and words the grey shirts receive from players, coaches and spectators. These types of interactions make it incredibly difficult to encourage our developmental referees to take the next step and feel safe in their workplace.

As a community, we should be working toward zero tolerance in aggressive, demonstrative and negative behaviour toward all our officials.

In closing

I want to thank everyone who support the referees in recruitment, development and retention and to all those spectators and participants who are respectful and contribute to a positive environment.

The issue of referee availability has no magic fix that can solve everything before this weekend, but I can report that improving our service delivery is a major focus of Basketball SA.

We thank all our members for their patience and understanding and for participating in the world’s best sport. Together we can make a difference. Each positive interaction leads to another and if we all play our part, we will have a final outcome that is sustainable, meets the ongoing needs of the basketball community, and gives our sport a culture to be envious of.

Kind regards,

Tim Brenton
CEO
Basketball South Australia

Nothing he's listed will make the change needed. And again it's on the clubs to fix their mess. What a cop out.

Exceptional response

Armageddon, no it's on people like you to pull your head out of your ####

As a vic why do you even care?

Please explain to me one part of that statement which will change the current issue.

I apologise that you're clueless

I think it's really well written. Acknowledges the problems, gives detail and the start of solutions, etc. If there's ultimately no change, I'd guess in part that no improvement in fan behaviour maintains the drag on retention.

If you find ads about ref recruitment from SA clubs and BSA, let me know and I'll put a permanent link at the top of the forum on the off chance it helps.

More shortages for this week too, why not raise the pay for refs a little bit? What are all the absurd club fees going towards?

Also why is there a div 9 for any age group at all, isn't that just pretty much b grade social if not worse

I think it was well written as well and great that BSA has come out and made a statement publicly rather than try to hide away from it.
It seems the biggest deterrence in umpires continuing is abuse, terrible to hear in that statement real life examples. Problem with calling out knuckleheads in the crowd is that in itself can lead to more problems and perhaps physical altercations. Does there need to be security if things are targeted more strongly.
Examples also need to be set by senior coaches as well. Some junior coaches think they are coaching game 7 of Lakers Celtics and argue every single call. So of course players and parents think that is acceptable. Then a few NBL1 coaches, one in particular that can't be named, behaviour is absolutely shocking, so what example is that setting.
There's always going to be plays where an obvious foul is missed and human nature is to blurt out "foul", but it really needs to stop at that, even before that with greenshirts, just expect they are going to make a lot of mistakes because they are learning.
Pity those teams that have the abusive people in them aren't the ones to have their games cancelled.

So where do you guys think these referees come from? The clubs actually need to do more to provide referees as well. Whether that's players or parents, they need to be more encouraging and without stating the obvious, the clubs need to be responsible for reducing abuse. You need referees who know a bit about the game as it’s easier to teach...
What happened to the days of referee break play?
Oh that’s right clubs are too precious, hate referees and therefore push out anyone who even tries.

Frisbee, I actually wondered if we could see a future where referees wore noise-cancelling headphones that only allowed comms from vetted parties. Obviously almost impossible in practice but entertaining. Do they need zero tolerance with coaches?

i 100% agree that sideline abuse needs to stop, immediately.

I think BSA should do what they promised though, head umpires/court supervisors at each venue, whose job it is to patrol the crowd. Any bad parent gets a warning and you then out.

But I have noticed that there has been a cultural shift in umpires and their communication with players and coaches. Some umpires will still talk to you, explain the rule they enforced, or didn't or even their perspective on how the game is being officiated. But a lot these days will make their call and just stand there silent. Now I get we don't want to have 100 conversations per game. But at a dead ball let's talk. When I was a kid in the 00s I felt comfortable talking to the ref without fear of being tech'd, so with that I would approach the ref and just talk.

Human nature when you are being ignored and in the heat of peak emotion you are probably going to yell as a player or a coach. If an umpire calls travel 5 times in a row and you ask what happened 5 times and they just run past you to the baseline, on the 6th call it's not a ask it will be a big yell.

Maybe training needs to be about the rules and also how to communicate with coaches and players. if that occurs PLUS the court supervisor/head ref, then we will most likely see a curb in these outcomes.

Let's empower the umpires to communicate, let's empower them to engage with a head umpire and say "hey I've explained x rule to the coach, he is getting a bit heated/ crowd is being a bit abusive, can you look" if they see anything Bang someone is there to protect them

Pity there couldn't be a cone of silence that could be lowered during junior games.
And the best refs are those that will talk and explain things during games. Most rational coaches can live with an explanation or that the ref simply missed the call. But a lot of kids either aren't comfortable talking to an adult where they were just abused by them a minute earlier. Maybe it's recommended by powers that be to simply not talk at all.

BSA has informed refs a few days ago that anyone that referees 4 games straight on Friday night and Saturday morning will receive a $20 bonus. This is only temporary.

Grote 12, are those supervisors generally senior/strong enough to feel comfortable putting parents in their place? Random adults are unpredictable and I can see how almost anyone short of a bouncer might be uncomfortable provoking someone who's already outraged. Can't imagine they could be convinced, but senior ABL players or club stalwarts might have the best chance.

Frisbee, my guess is that the willingness to discuss mid game just invites too much more of the same. Perhaps the mystery of calls or occasional wrong calls without recourse need to be accepted as part of the game.

radelaide, is that likely to move the needle?

It reads to me like the kids are really going to miss out in radelaide. For all but a gifted few, junior sport is more about learning teamwork, communication and fair play. It's not about preparing for a future career in the sport, and we’re not playing for sheep stations.

I played and reffed in Adelaide as a junior and young adult in the 80s & 90s. We did not need "court supervisors". Are the court supervisors skilled and trained in de-escalation techniques and communication strategies?

Parents abusing kids learning to ref- that’s just wrong. They’re exposing the refs AND their own kids to risk of psychological harm. At the very least it’s failing to contribute to a healthy and safe environment.

IFF parents/fans are removed from the stadium, is there any tribunal and/or future probation or ban available as a sanction? Does the same behaviour occur at school games? Why should a non school sport accept worse behaviour towards children than a school would?

Isaac

I always felt that minor discussion over an individual call can be made in-game.

But if it's about the "way the game is called" or “missing too many fouls” the coach can discuss during breaks or after the game. The focus needs to be on communication. The coach approaches refs at the end of the game on their own. Asks for the ref’s take. Coach listens. Voices their perspective. Refs listen. Maybe agree to disagree. Kids will see this from a distance, and see it as a problem being discussed, not as a verbal fight. Kids learn communication styles from this, not the loudest yeller wins the fight.

Isaac it used to be ok to question an individual call, but had to be coach or no,inmates Captain. Is that still true?

UseTaHoop yes originally only the Coach or designated court captain could ask questions. Technically it is still the case Article 6 & 7

It really comes down to what society in general is like these days. Road rage incidents are more common and with technology, caught on camera all the time. Not saying it never happened 30 years ago, but generally if you got cut off there'd just be the classic "Nice indicator dickhead!" instead of getting out at the next set of lights and going nuts.
Some people think buying a ticket allows them to forget about societies laws and abuse officials, players and supporters. Maybe a bit of banter can happen, but when it comes to juniors it's treated as normal compared to prefessionals. And things people say. A few years back people were saying LeBron was weak when he had a fan ejected till it came out she was wishing his family would die in a car crash, how can people be so vile? One answer is social media and wanting their moments of fame. Look at all the school fight clubs that are common now. Before social media, word would spread by mouth, a few punches might get thrown behind the shelter shed, might be a winner and they'd head off without having to act like Connor McGregor.
Another cause could be the inexperience of coaches and club officials these days. In years past, just in my experience and observations, coaches would start out in the lower grades and would learn along with new umpires. We/they would sort of get conditioned to getting bad calls but would go along with it as long as it was officiated fairly. Experienced coaches could generally remain focused and club members that had been around for years could give advice or even plainly to tell some loud mouth to pull their heads in. And if they didn't, they'd get overlooked when club coach selections were made. But clubs are desperate for coaches and volunteers as well these days. So anyone that wants to coach are pushed ahead and not know how to act, their only experience is watching guys like Buford or even coaches in their own club. I won't mention one particular coach again, but his behaviour in the past seasons nbl1 games, and even before, makes it a mockery that he keeps getting a chance. Used to be desperate times when parents were asked, but that seems the norm in lower grades. Maybe a direct effect in stamping out referee abuse is for coaches to be held to a higher standard. Then with club backing, it could spread in team meetings that certain spectator behaviour is not acceptable. So maybe like so many have said, cut district teams down to 5 divisions maximum. Have coaches evaluations not be based on win loss records, but team behaviour as well. Have feedback from the more senior refs, not green shirts necessarily, who can report to supervisor and feedback go to club secretaries early in week. Discuss with green shirts if there was a major problem, but they do have to understand they it can't always be rainbows and lollipops, they can't and shouldn't be sheltered from constructive criticism, else they will come to believe they are never wrong.
A great coach will push their team and players, but it's a fine line before it becomes abuse. But not like the classic Phil Dunphy quote, let's show these guys the team they're about to beat.