Courting Disapproval
Adrian Seconi, Otago Daly Times
There is no fanfare when the referees enter the stadium.
Grouped together, they skulk in, looking a tad persecuted, and whittle away the minutes before tip-off hovering around the scorer’s bench, making small talk and avoiding eye contact with the players.
The applause is polite but muted when they are announced. Generally speaking, they are about as popular as a parking ticket.
It is a thankless job and they almost need armour to repel the flak which rains down from all directions. The crowd boos every call that goes against the home team, coaches scream their protests from the sidelines and the players are not much better, often bursting into petulant rants and gesticulating wildly.
Let’s fact it, people love to hate the referees.
So why do the job? It is certainly for for the money. The three officials split a $400 match fee, the lion’s share ($160) of which goes to the lead referee.
But for Dunedin-based referee Stephen Clark, there are other rewards.
“When you ref a good game, it is really satisfying - walking out knowing that you have been part of it and done your bit,” Clarke said.
The 23-year-old PhD student in biochemistry at the University of Otago had officiated in 22 NBL games, but said he still felt a bit green at this level.
Two weeks ago, Otago Nuggets captain Justin Bailey described the standard of refereeing in the league as “horrible”.
While Bailey’s comments were not necessarily directed at him, Clarke said a referee had to develop a strategy to deal with criticism.
“You have to have a think skin and block it out. I’ve been refereeing since I was 10 years old and I know if I’ve had a decent or a bad game.
“Sometimes, all you can do is hope the players will look at the tape when they have calmed down a bit, and realise [the call] wasn’t as bad as they thought.”
Bailey is just one of many imports who have criticised the standard over the years.
NBL referee appointments officer Bill Eldred acknowledged the officiating had some shortcomings.
“I think the standard of refereeing in the NBL needs to improve, but it is at a standard which is not greatly diminishing the level of the game,” Eldred said.
He believed imports who came from the college system in the United States often struggle with different rule interpretations and, in some cases, different rules altogether.
As for the perception referees were not held accountable, Eldred said performance evaluations were undertaken after every match.
In addition to those regular reviews, Basketball New Zealand had a development programme aimed at lifting the overall standards of young officials and bringing them up through the ranks.
“There are a number of young referees coming through the system, although not as many as we would like.”
Promising referees were identified by the local associations, then invited to officiate at qualifying tournaments. If they performed well, they moved on to national tournaments, then on to the conference basketball league, the women’s league and finally the NBL, if they were good enough.
While recruiting people remained a challenge, Eldred said the development programme should have good results in the next three or four years. The competition for places should help improve the standard.
Clarke plans to continue refereeing and would like to officiate in a test one day.
He still had nights when he felt like crawling home and remonstrating with himself: “I should have called this or I shouldn’t have called that.”
“But you just sort of file it away so that next time it happens you are prepared for it.”
