Coach: "That was double dribble!"
Umpire: "Technical foul on you!"

I once had an referee (refs at ABL and NBL) argue that although the ball didn't hit the ring, the shot clock should reset because he was TRYING to hit the ring!

Also had an instance where "offensive goaltending" was called. They COUNTED the basket and then gave the same team the ball back!

I always thought the worst thing a ref could say was in response to a non-call "he didn't touch you". Don't f*ck*ng tell me he didn't touch me, I actually FELT it, I'm not just LOOKING at it. Tell me "I didn't see any contact" and we will have no problems.

I had a tech called on me by the baseline ref, while I was running back up the court and crossing the halfway line. He heard someone swear, somehwere in the stadium, and assumed it was me, so he pinged me. I continually asked him what I said, he couldn't answer, I gave him a spray so he started crying.

I had a ref call a tech on me. He called a blocking foul on me when I was defending, I jumped back to get behind the screener, and he must have thought there was some sort of contact. I replied mate I was a foot away from him. TECH!

Then replied to me See you dont have to sware to get a Tech, I was like, HUH!..... Its hot and I am not in the mood was his excuse

Gotta love em

About 8 years ago - one of my team mates got called for a foul at half court. I was about to sub on for him. The baseline ref called for the sub.

I walked on and my teammate who had just picked up the foul walked off - I hear my number being called out. The mid court ref called the foul on me.

Got whistled for a foul without even being on the court.

SVD, did they sort it out once you explained the mistake?

Ref "i here to ref not to talk to you" yet still keeps talking about why he is right.

Yeah - I thikn they did. Still a shock at the time though.

the refs in this state are killing the game. no wonder people go to footy, what ever happened to customer service. they didnt allow people to wear an undershirt or skins in my div 3 game last night, what a joke. sorry i didnt realise div 3 was the NBA. i also got teched when the ref called my number on a foul when it was my teammate. i was at half court and it took place under the basket. i said it wasnt on me you got the numbers mixed up and got teched. the tech was my 3rd foul in the 1st quarter and was reduced to the bench for the next quarter and a half. BASA umpires are a fuc*ing joke.

I had a ref disappear during a timeout. we had to go to the front desk to find her - she had gone to the toilet. She came back, no apology, no explanation, just acted as if we should be prepared to wait.

I got called for an unsportsmanlike foul as the lone defender in a 2-1 fast break. I was on the edge of the key and took a gamble at stripping the ball handler and got him on the wrist - stock standard foul.

The ref said "unsportsmanlike foul - he had a clear path to the basket" - yeah, except that I was standing there. Ref had NO IDEA why I questioned the call. Still shits me today!

I got unsportsmanlike behaviour called on me for hanging on to the rim once after a mighty dunk ... hey that's what rings for in bball right !!??

I got pinged for an USF last year for accidentally running in to a guy while I was looking at the ref. I was defending a guy in the backcourt, stopped him from getting the ball over for at least 15 seconds, so when I looked the ref to yell at him to call the violation, I ran in to the guy. He was obviously angry with me so he decided that I hit the guy intentionally.
He apologised to me the next week.

I owned up once and said "na, it came off me" or something, only to have the ref say that he is in charge so his (incorrect) decision is right.

Played some "Jamboree" competition at Unley years ago - mixed team that, in a night, played basketball, netball and volleyball against an opposing team. We were terrible at volleyball, top two in basketball and dominated netball. Once, in one of the netball games, ball was down near me in defense. Ref called "possession". I said "I'll give you possession", and was ejected from the game. I guess in that case, it was 'dumb things I say'.

My all time favourite was when we were playing out at Hillcrest and a certain bald umpire, I won't name him, called a foul on me. I said to him (while the opposing player was shooting free throws)that there was quite a difference in the number of fouls they had called on my team compared to the opposing team. His response was, " another word and i'll give you a tech". I didn't say another word but just pointed to the scoreboard, with which he t'd me up. I asked what the tech was for and his response was, "I told you not to say another word!" Lol...UNBELIEVABLE!

Luke Schenscher was told in new zealnd this season that if they blew the whistle everytime he was fouled, that the game would still be going after midnight. Same ref said this again later on in the season at a Dome game.... made me sick to hear!

I got called for three seconds while playing defense. And this was long before the NBA's defensive 3 second rule was even a glimmer in its father's eye.
At least the ref realised his mistake shortly after and had a laugh about it.

I got my first ever tech earlier this year; I'd been grabbed and pulled from the waist while I was in mid-air doing a lay-up by one of those annoying doesn't-know-the-difference-between-football-and-basketball fat guys, and nearly killed myself on the way down. So, I got up and gave him a somewhat unfriendly shove (he was only hit with a standard foul, not unsportsmanlike), and I got with with the T. So then they didn't give me my two shots, and the other team got two shots and the ball! I asked the ref why I didn't get my shots, and he just said "yep" and walked off.

just last night when i got hit on my arm shooting a three and the ref didn't call anything, i looked at him and asked why the no call and he then physically hit his own arm and said he only hit you about here so it is a no call. mmm ok that is in the rules.

i just thought of another one. I once got ejected as a juniors coach after the ref said to me if that spectator says one more thing to me then you will be thrown out. i pointed out that he was a spectator and not even a parent of any of the kids playing. sure enough travel is yelled from the sidelines by the person in question resulting in me getting tossed out.

My team mate got an USF for farting... yep, got told that he deliberatley farted under the basket so the other team couldn't stand there.LOL

I then asked my team mate after the game if that was his intention and he said yes... so maybe the ref was right??? :-)

I have, as a player, been called for a foul because I looked like I was going to foul the player (at Hillcrest against North surprisingly). Been T'd for asking who the foul was on. And as a coach was told when an opposition player took 4 steps without dribbling (this is during an U/21 div. 1 game)that it wasn't travel because it didn't give the player an advantage because no one was defending her. And was T'd for pointing out that an opposition player was camping in the key, I started to count out loud to prove my point next time down and got T'd. I called a time out and approached the ref calmly and asked why the T and to watch the 3 seconds and he started crying (good way to make a coach feel bad).

Just thought of another funny one... Was playing social ball and was about to shoot 2 free throws. As I shot my first free throw one of the opposition players walked straight across the key way in front of me. I said to the umpire, "he can't do that, I should get another shot, that's a violation". His response was "no, just shoot your free throw". I asked him again why it wasn't a violation and he said if I don't shoot my second free throw straight away it was a violation. So i threw the ball up against the backboard underarm. He then proceeded to call a technical foul on me! I said, "i'm allowed to shoot the free throw however I like, it's my free throw", with which...he ejected me! Lol... A team mate went up to him and asked what he threw me out for and he ejected him too! In the end, my whole team walked off the court in protest, was quit funny.

When things couldn't be worse in basketball in Australia, it's always good to have a laugh...at an umpires expense! ;)

I once got done for 3 seconds as I was going for a 1 on 0 layup and I kinda slowed to walk ... I'm slow but not that slow. I would have been in the key for less than a second.

It was one of the refs that you would expect it from.

I was sent to the tribunal once for supposedly pushing a ref. Our game was called off, I was walking to the scorers bench, and he stepped in front of me. I had no choice but to put an arm out, or I would have made the contact worse. He said nothing, but the controller saw from a distance and came over and told him to report me.
During the hearing, his evidence was that he felt pain when I pushed him and he had no doubt I did it to hurt him. My response was "if you have no doubt that it was done to hurt you intentionally, why didn't you report me immediately." I got off.

I once got Ejected because someone through the ball at me, ump thought that I must have provoked him. Which I did but he didn't see. I just mentioned to him something about him having a weight problem

From an umpires perspective I think it might have been Geoff Weeks was being abused by an old Brisbane Bullets coach - can't remember his name. The coach used to always get ejected.

Coach threw his towell high in to the air in fustration to which Geoff replied

"If that towell comes down then you have a technical"

Coach then tried to blow his towell back up in to the air to avoid the Tech

Funny shit

Good, bad or dumb.....depends on who you are or which team you were supporting...sending a certain coach out of the Dome half way through an U16 final at State Champs.... !!

Bring it, that towel story....made up, maybe? How long does it take for a towel to land? Enough time for the ref to make a comment, and even more time for the towel thrower to position himself under it to blow it up back up in the air?

i was recently called for a foul when a player made a reverse lay up and kicked me in the nuts. I asked the ref "why the foul on me, he kicked my nuts" i was told to shut up straight away and say nothing more. next possesion i was called for an unsportsmanlike when i accidently hacked his arm on a lay up. a team mate approached me as i was fuming, i told him " i dont think i can tolerate this tonight" then i was tech fouled. well i had travelled an hour to play this shit at morphett vale so i grabbed the ball and booted it, might as well get my $10 worth!

people wouldnt get so angry and potentially quit like i have a few times, if refs just treated players (PAYING CUSTOMERS) with a little respect. a mark davis quote recently was no one person is bigger than the game, tell that to these refs.

Pulled down a board, swung my elbow and was called for an attempted foul.

I witnessed a mate in my team get called for a 'hanging' foul.

He jumped up to block a smaller guy shooting a lay-up. He was much taller and had a much bigger jump and had his arms out in front of him as he jumped, more like a smother than a normal shot block.

The guy shit himself and never let go of the ball, just choosing to land and travel instead. My mate made no contact with the player or the ball.

The ref didn't know what to do and called a 'hanging' foul. Even made the action like Thorpie about to dive into the pool when signalling the bench!

When questioned he explained that even though he didn't touch him he still had to be straight up when defending the shot?

I wore #10 for most of my playing days and once a ref called me for a foul and said "zero, one" instead of "one, zero" LOL

Their is a few refs at Wayville on Tuesday Nights,especially that Fat one,he makes his own rules,is very biased and says what he likes,no wonder games are running late on tuesdays ,other games on other courts are run on time whilst our game is 5 mins late as referee has to wait for FAT referee to turn up after his smoke break,plus he pisses off to toilet during timeouts and Half time an takes yonks before returning leaving one referee to control game,cant Basa do anything about this cheapskate or he is there to keep the referees coordinators chair warm from his big ass!!!!

i was playing in a social grand final right and the team we were playing we had beaten by about 30 points during the normal season, but we're playing the game and the refs were shocking, wouldn't do anything for us swearing and abusing them or even throwing punches at the opposition. at one point one of the refs called my mate for a "push body block" foul. he asked for clarification after the game and she said he pushed the guy with his body whilst commiting a blocking foul. makes no sense. and not just being against us, but i shoot a shot, and it hits the wire supports up holding up the backboard and they have no clue it happened. the ref towards the end of the game makes the comment that "we umpires don't make mistakes in grand finals" bullshit you don't

I once got teched up because i took my opponent to the bucket and slam it down posterized him and when the ball went thu the net it hit my opponent square in the nose LOL

tech

Me : what was that tech for?

Ref: you can endanger players safty like that ?

haha

geez I love this thread. By far the most entertaining thread I've seen.

I remember in one of the US high school games this guy was playing off the ball D staying infront of his man during an inbound pass.

without knowing his man sneaked away behind him he was trash talking saying "y'all betta get ya fone ready n call tha cops cos i bout to commit some serious crime f*ckin y'all up!" funny enough the ref was right behind him and ejected him straight away saying "get changed cop outside waiting"

this one time, when i was like in the NBA i dunked on like, 12 dudes, and man, the refs ejected me i said wtf for and punched one in the face

Coaching a girls game, the bench were a little slack in putting on the light after the fourth team foul. We were playing S (a high fouling team) who had reached their full count per qtr.
We were leading the game and our girls got to 4 fouls in the 4th and, S were on 3 after a couple of girls went for early showers. The becnch put the light on S, not us as they were acustomed to doing so. S fouled us for their 4th, but the ref gave us 2 FT.
I stood up to tell the ref it should be a sideball, but the greenshirt told me to sit down and not interfere with the bench or I would be T'd. We bagged the 2 FT and went on to win by 11.
One of the S parents said we had to take 2 points off our score and then ADD 2 points to theirs.
The greenshirts agreed, but then I convinced them that you should just take off those 2 points, not add an additional 2 points....We won by 9

Only two good refs at wayville are the experienced ones the white headed guy and the tall older bloke,they the only two who can referee the rest are crap,play mon nights there as for pasadena can say its fair as lot rougher conditions and refs must call everything regardless,mars r okay.rate Wayville the worst as lots of screaming on mon tues night games.

haha - i remember playing social at the powerhouse with paddlepop lion umpiring and we were playing against friends

we were up heaps at the time and one of my teammates went for a fast break layup, so for fun i went to block my own teammate and we collided heavily

i got called for an USF for fouling my own teammate and then ejected for trying to explain to the caveman looking ref that we were on the same team

haha we got shots and the ball lol

Just the other week, I wanted to talk to the ref about a tech he gave one of my players, but he refused to speak to me. So at halftime, I approached him and in my calmest voice, I asked the umpire "can we have a discussion like adults?" and he T'd me up. Apparently we couldn't talk like adults.

Just wanna say, I've been playing in the Monday night competition run by the Salvation Army at the Powerhouse/Dome... the reffing there is generally excellent. Far superior to social competitions I've played in at Mars and Wayville in recent years. Makes for a much more enjoyable basketball experience!

Sorry that wasn't a funny story, just wanted to add that. As you were!

Re. Paddle pop lion, is he still going?

this was years ago, havent seen him umpiring in ages, however i did get in a taxi which he was driving recently......

This paddlepop referee happens to be FAT?????with the ice coffee he brings along every week????

There is no personal attacks on here! just people describing some situations which happened in basketball games. and there are no names used anyway. Get off your pedistool

lol, have a whinge - 90% of this isnt personal attacks, rather a collection of stories about the pathetic level of umpiring in this state

"Disgusting", really? In a time of holocaust denial, gang rape, domestic abuse and more, funny stories involving refs is "disgusting"?

Next up that lawyer you speak of can go after those "kids say the darnedest things" columns in women's mags. Or sports bloopers videos (disgusting abuse of athletes!). Or celebrity ugly fashion lists. Or worst 36ers import threads.

I'm happy to be convinced by more discussion on the topic if many others agree that it's inappropriate, but from the ones I've read, the posts IMO are not identifying refs and the majority of the situations are pretty ludicrous.

There's this one ref who i knew in primary school when we used to pick on each other a bit, and now every time he refs me he makes the stupidest calls and 9 times out of 10 i end up fouled off.

One time, years ago, just about everyone was in the key and my team were defending. I was defending a player at the top and she got around me, then one of my team-mates reached out and fouled her, and he called it on me!!!! I was about two metres away from her, and it was my fifth foul (of which about 2 were actually genuine)!!!!

Another time, my whole team were getting really frustrated with this same ref guy and we were sitting on the bench plotting ways we could get back at him, top of the list being forcefully confronting him in the dark car-park. Anyway, we figure he must have overheard us coz he disappeared pretty quickly after the game...

Also, he's got all his ref mates in on it so there's about three of them who do it every time they ref me. What's worse is that this is at my home stadium. What hope do i have if i cant even trust my own refs????

There's this one ref who i knew in primary school when we used to pick on each other a bit, and now every time he refs me he makes the stupidest calls and 9 times out of 10 i end up fouled off.

One time, years ago, just about everyone was in the key and my team were defending. I was defending a player at the top and she got around me, then one of my team-mates reached out and fouled her, and he called it on me!!!! I was about two metres away from her, and it was my fifth foul (of which about 2 were actually genuine)!!!!

Another time, my whole team were getting really frustrated with this same ref and we were sitting on the bench plotting ways we could get back at him, top of the list being forcefully confronting him in the dark car-park. Anyway, we figure he must have overheard us coz he disappeared pretty quickly after the game...

Also, he's got all his ref mates in on it so there's about three of them who do it every time they ref me. What's worse is that this is at my home stadium. What hope do i have if i cant even trust my own refs????