GOOD/BAD/POOR OFFICIATING - OBA and School Basketball

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 GOOD/BAD/POOR OFFICIATING - OBA and School Basketball

The officiating at the youth level of Basketball in Ontario could be considered one of our
most pressing issues in developing the game and our players in the long run and the funny thing is
it is not all the referee's fault. In Canada we play 2 sets of Rules an interpreted version of FIBA (REP BASKETBALL & CIS)
and Confederation rules in High School and elementary this mix and match only confuses everyone involved Parents/Coaches and Officials.

You will often hear stories about parents and coaches behaving badly however the above rules and understanding of when they should be
used often contribute to the anger and frustration at the games. There are games when the ref's will ask what are we playing today FIBA or
Confederation imagine how the kids feel .. you cant call time-out, hard to get a 5 second call in FIBA, Foul line violations hardly occur
and very odd subsititution rules and clear path enforcement.

During the OBA Weekend featuring the Bantam Boys and Major Bantam Boys .. many parents shared Referee horror stories from one Ref @ Queens University giving kids a technical for clapping there hands on defense too celebrating a 3pt shot like there favorite NBA player something that is never called here in the GTA.. @ York University for Major Bantam the complaints were voiced about using Ref's that are over 60 years old to chase young 14 year old boys who play at a break neck speed all the time.. needless to say parents and coaches alike were flying out of the gym due to Referee frustration.

There are 2 Types of Referee's

1. GAME POLICE - Bad Ref
2. GAME REFEREE/OFFICIAL - Good Ref

Latley there seem to be an epidemic of GAME POLICE ruining the game for the kids and the FANS/Parents if you are officiating a game you should not become the star of the game in a negative light to many officials are more concerned about everyone noticing them than noticing the players on the court. Often it is the older more experienced Official with the shortest temper or the lady referee who feels the extra need to "POLICE" the game and restore order even before anything has actually happened.

The facts are the Officials are not volunteering there time at all they are paid trained Officials they are the only people in the gym actually being paid to be there as a service and job function based on what we think is there love of the game and officiating youth sport. If the fans are getting on an Official as fans will do in this case the most bias fans the kids parents the Official shouldn't be looking to throw them out of the gym as a first response when these parents have paid all year more than any Season tickets would cost and you know no fan has ever been thrown out of a game at the ACC
without a serious situation occurring so why are we throwing out the parents like its not a big deal ?

In many parts of Canada we are sure people watch basketball and sit on there hands and cant wait until the game is over so they can go and watch Hockey but in Brampton, Mississauga, Toronto, Hamilton, Scarborough and the rest of the GTA the parents are going to take the game seriously and question a Ref or 2 or 3.. this is called interest in the game not bad behavior, this is called being accountable
for your work as a Ref these people want to see you do a good job or come close its not bad behavior to say "hey ref call the game fair" its a comment from the crowd is nothing to stop the game over and flex Ref muscle.

We believe that all the participants in youth Basketball should be allowed to enjoy the game and respect the game however it goes both ways this the OBA weekend showed the Officials as people who do not fully respect the Parents and Fans the way they should there wouldn't be any games
to Officiate without the parents players and coaches keep in mind you can play games without a Referee not the other way around.

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