UKASF: Who’d be a BBL referee?

by UK American Sports Fans

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Referees. No matter what sport you follow, chances are that as a spectator a wrong decision will probably cause you to sit up and react, and on occasions result in a person thinking, and letting particulars know that they could do a “better” job.
Players and coaches, no doubt probably would say the same, if they could, when calls do not necessarily go their way.
In the past week, there have been prime examples of that in the BBL.
Friday 9th November, there was an incident (before the Etilopy blow-out) of a double technical on Gael Hulsen, leading to him fouling out of the game before half-time and six free throws swinging momentum away from Tigers against Sharks, and a few short days later, this time Sharks seemingly on the receiving end of “bad” calls against London Lions, which led to some post-game frustrations online.
At UKAmericanSportsFans.com, the BBL beat writers felt it was time to let this get some real airing.
So with comments from all sides, Mersey Tigers’ Chris Bigley (post-Sharks), Sharks’ head coach Atiba Lyons (post-Lions) and BBL Chief Operating Officer, Andy Webb (post-everything); we want to let the BBL universe make their own mind up.
A step in to the unknown, as we understand that comments on referees can stir up some emotive feelings, but nonetheless something that needs to be looked at head on. Enjoy…
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Chris Bigley (player) – post-game Sheffield Sharks

Two words – touch fouls. But we also hit the self-destruct button, there’s no two ways about it, there was a fifty point swing, but it’s got to start from somewhere.

Gael [Hulsen] getting two T’s was tough, I don’t know exactly what was said, but from what Roger [Harrison] said, and I respect Roger, he’s a very good referee, been around a long time and refereed in Europe; I’m not going to disagree with his calls, he’s refereed at a very high level.

He told me, he [Hulsen] swore and kept swearing, and I have no complaints, and it was a turning point.  

Gael and Rudy [Etilopy] get a lot of harsh treatment; we turned up in Division 4 last year, killing a couple of guys off, but when we’ve stepped up and it’s the same guys refereeing – I don’t know if they expect us to be playing superstars and expect us to lose by fifty each week, but it just gets to the point where all you want is a level playing field. I respect Roger, but I said just that to him.

I know these guys have to learn somewhere, but right now, I think they are out of their depth.

We have to not let our heads drop, and that’s what we did, and that’s why we did lose the game.

Without sounding racist, but Rudy is a very French guy! He’s also an extrovert, and I relate to him a lot. I’m playing for my hometown team and trying to think and react like how David Aliu used to play here, who is someone I’d like to try and emulate. If you’re reading this though Dave, I’m not half the player you are!

Rudy feels victimised, he’s an extrovert, and sometimes his feelings come out different. We all like the guy and want him to do well. Reactions like that don’t help of course, but it was beyond it by then.

I’m trying to look at the positives. We were up by 18 points, and that’s not happened before. I’m annoyed though because this is a club that is building, and we’ve had more here tonight, but we can’t expect to react the way we did tonight and expect to win against guys like Sheffield.

Atiba Lyons (Coach) – post-game London Lions

The pathway for refs in the BBL is similar to cricket.
I don’t want to come across slating or attacking the refs. This is just how most coaches in the BBL feel and I feel is the simplest solution.
I think the main issues with refereeing is the number of refs are low. We need to increase the number of refs by recruiting ex players or avid basketball fans that really understand the game.
Right now we see the same refs throughout the season at the same venues a lot of times. It always softens things when you are seeing different faces and getting what is perceived bad or missed calls right or wrong.
Andy Webb (BBL) – post-everything

We have 31 referees in the main group of officials who work the BBL games, we have another 7 development referees who are currently working towards becoming full members of the group. 31 is the largest number we have had in the group for some time and is easily sufficient to cover the BBL games with sufficient rotation and to the required level.

Of the 31 referees in the group, 11 are active FIBA officials with another 3 former FIBA officials. At nearly 50% of the group I would think that is probably a higher % of FIBA officials than most European Leagues could lay claim too. We believe the referees are performing to a high level but they are of course continually assessed throughout the season to ensure optimum levels of performance. This season, with the assistance of England Basketball, Mick Howell (BBL Officiating Supervisor) and his team of Observers, have available to them the excellent FIBA Observer Programme to aid the ongoing assessment of officials. I am also delighted to say that the referees have embraced the more rigorous assessment process this season as they strive for an even higher level of performance – I believe we are fortunate to have such a dedicated group of referees.

There is a process available to clubs to raise concerns as to the standard of officiating in games, to date we have only received two such complaints from games this season (from approx. 60 games played) which certainly appears to indicate that, other than on the odd game, clubs are happy with the standard of officiating.

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So there you have it. A look from almost every perspective that matters. There will be plenty of questions that remain though. 

Is this enough for the BBL? Is this enough for players and coaches? Is this enough for the paying supporters?

We’ll leave that one up to you…