refs in our league are all on power trips. they have all got massive heads..that ben mcdonald he is the worst man.. you cant even talk to the guy without getting a tech foul..like come on dude relax your not even a good umpire you really need to get over yourself and stop actinglike your god.. when really u aintmuch chop at all........

HI horse, you dont know shit!! Benn is a good referee, one of the top six in Adelaide and in recent times he has improved his player/coach interaction.

A Tech foul is the last resort for him and other ABA refs.

Aba umpires would prefer to have two way communication so long as it is not abusive and so long as it is with in the guide lines.

Further to that, Aba referee numbers are good and there are more umpires in the juniors also but lot's of level 0 umpires.

It will take a while to bring them all up to the required level.

If you want to give it a go contact Neil Poulton at BSA.

He runs courses on a regular basis.

I was also led to believe that the Reason that the Div 3's (or Reserve 2's) aren't playing in the State Champs, was actually because without the long weekend, BASA weren't sure if they could get all the games played over a regular weekend.

that sounds more like it!!

i have to agree in some part with hihorse here. theres no doubting that ben macdonald was one of the best umpires in the state, but many of the games i have viewed in the aba this season, which he was umpiring, were under par. to see a referee change the shape of a game the way he has done on more than one occasion so far this season is not acceptable. to keep the game under control when sides start to get a little fired up is one thing, but to then go and call the game in a totelly different way is not on. he becomes whistle happy, and unapproachable, even if you aren't being derogative towards him. so far this season i have seen three really good games be decided by umpires and not the players making great plays to win. i think he just needs to pull his head in a little, and go back to the last few seasons when, yes! he was one of the best...

Isaac this thread has changed sujbect
please can it? It is not constructive to criticise one of our best assets.

Any chance of getting my query answered. 'Lay-off' is correct, this thread was not an opportunity to bag refs.

A point was made early in this post about setting an example for juniors. I think the posters should take this into consideration.

I personally feel that the standard of all officials has improved this year and Benn has clearly worked on his communication. People need to realise that all the officials (stats people, team managers, referee's, evaluators & announcers) are out there trying to do the very best job they can.

At the end of the day it all evens out.

also there are evaluators at most games to decide how good or bad the umpire was, and they are much more qualified than some people who write crap on here.

Anon (#76676) you are a coward.
what position are you in to make your comments on this site???

perhaps you are a team follower from the loosing side who has never achieved the level of the two umpires on that game.

??????

In answer to Hanging around, I believe Come on answered your question a little further up the thread saying that there are many junior umpires coming thru which will take time to develop the number back up.

as a Level 1 referee, all I am willing to say is that the referees are trying to do an honest job. Believe me, I have travelled and refereed in Victoria Metro, Victoria Country, New South Wales Metro and now SA, and I have seen some of the best referees in Australia make some of the most classical, but not intentional mistakes. I have also seen some referees that deserve every opportunity to learn at a higher level. There is a referee from Eastern Mavericks, Brett Johns, whom I think will be one of our best referees of the future, not just in SA, but in the country. If we can continue developing referees like him, i believe the basketball future in SA will be for the better, and it won't just be for the short term either, but also for the very long term as well.

Neil Poulton should be congratulated for his efforts in keeping, and developing the refereeing program for the future of basketball in South Australia. He is working extremely hard, and very rarely hears any words of appreciation... that is unfortunate, because without him, the standard of refereeing would deterioriate very quickly.

You will find out of the 5 game venues a week so far for ABA there have only been 3 venues with evaluators.