It looks very good. It also looks like they have taken the Zero Tolerance proposal by some of the clubs from last year and made it more polished. The gist of the 2 policies are very similar. As with every policy it is how it is implemented that matters, but this is a very good start.

I'm a supporter of anything we can do to reduce abuse of umpires, and this policy looks like an excellent step towards that.

My only question is this: why, as per last year, is State Champs chosen as the time to trial such policies? State Champs is supposed to be the premiere junior basketball event in this state. Rightly or wrongly, coaches, players and parents experience the "pressure to win" here more than at any other time duruing the year.

Also, the clubs first received a copy of this policy on Monday, giving us no time to get the message out to our members.

Surely it would have been better to trial this policy in the Summer season?

Having said that, I support the policy, and if it's implemented consistently, can see it helping improve the number of quality of our referees.

I agree with Paul Arnott, I think even though the policy is great and is good. I don't thik State Champs is the time to trial, they should've trialed at the start of the Winter Season so then players could get used to this.

The issue will be, will umpires follow through?

Read it!

Seems good!

Good point Paul (about receiving it). But as clubs now have it, the honus is on them to hand it out!

Very good ideas and I for one, will be pointing it out to all my refs on Fri night!

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Neil Poulton is busting his arse!

How can he organise refs for games when he doesn't even know how many games are going to be played at each stadium at every time slot!

The Policy is good and now we actually have a proper indication of how BASA would like refs to handle it.
The YELLOW CARD/RED CARD system was thrown out and in came the Zero Tolerance Policy, but no actual document was sent out!

Everybody should read the document. Players, coaches, spectators and refs!

Show me the money

Why would your Club have only the next 4 days to educate your players, coaches and spectators about a code of ethics which follows the rules of good sportsmanship. I know my Club has had this Code for more than 20 years (not always observed by all I must admit). The Club has held tribunals with misbehaving players and spectators and some have been suspended or banned for not behaving appropriately.
The only difference now is that there is zero tolerance for abuse of referees and there are guidelines for on-court actions to be taken.

The argument is not on the rules them selves, it is the issue that now they enforce them a few days from State Champs, it is notthe time to start

Once again the timing of the introduction of these 'zero tolerance' rules could not have been worse. Granted, some clubs have already implemented similar guidelines for their participants to adhere too and good luck to them.
I agree with Mr Arnott in that abuse of refs shouldn't be tolerated, but as for waiting for time outs, or end of quarter breaks to ask a question,that's garbage. Sometimes as a coach I need clarification or perhaps an interpretation of a rule as soon as practibly possible, not during my time out. In an ideal world each stadia would have the same policy, enforced in exactly the same way. Reality, however, suggests that'zero tolerance' is interpretive. Therefore I have zero tolerance for the zero tolerance policy.

it is good - and correctly in line with workplace practices

tick 1 for BASA

post cigarette coital ?

what the???

steer clear of bill clintons post coital cigars - usually pre coital!

Hopefully they're producing single-page and clearly branded sheets for each of players, coaches, parents, etc. Branding, intro, bullet point guidelines, outro. Players are more likely to read a specific "For Players" document than download this full PDF and browse for the sections that matter to them. The easier something is to read, the more likely people are to read it.

I believe that the State Champs dig at Neil was a bit off, the organisation of games was what caused the mix up so please direct your frustrations towards those people in charge.
Pay of officials has been an issue for a while and Neil is trying to address that issue also.
To Anonymous #33720 the comment: "IM all for stamping out abuse but abuse does not seem any worse now than what it has been over the past years." why do you think there is a shortage of officials? It hasn't just suddenly happened this year, it's been building up for a while, probably due to the ongoing level of abuse they are receiving.

However this post is about the anti harassment policy which I strongly agree with. I agree that it is a bit late but at least it is here. Now abuse of officials can be reduced provided that the policy is enforced at all stadiums. The onus is on the local UIC's to educate their juniors of this policy, particularly on the steps that must be taken to stop abuse on court. However I also believe that they should all read and understand the guidelines directed towards their own behaviour. All registered BASA officials sign a behaviour form but too many times I have seen juniors acting in what I believe to be an inappropriate manner, leading me to think that they may not have read the form which they or their parents have signed. Maybe this is a contributing factor to their abuse. I'm not saying that it is the sole reason but if I see these officials acting in this manner then i'm sure that other spectators can too.
All in all I say two thumbs up towards Neil for this policy. Hopefully all clubs will now take an active part in curbing abuse, rather than just a select few.
On another note I would like to request that when this policy is sent to Southern Tigers could it please be blown up to Font size 20 and have illustrations so that they actually read it.

some refs bring it their selves some referees are really bias to other teams. so spectators have the right to yell and the refs. the refs should be professional enough to ignore it. i know i do

Why on earth should a young kid or any JUNIOR basketball ref for that matter being paid next to nothing be "professional" enough to ignore it?

The form I'm referring to is for umpires not players.
If basa ref thinks that some umpires are bias towards teams then he/she is obviously thinking that from a players/coaches/spectators perspective and not that of an umpire. Maybe basa ref should think about that before shooting off such a narrow minded opinion. I know posts are for stating opinions but i just don't agree with what they said.
Also I believe that "professionality" comes with experience and if all they get is abuse then they're more likely to quit then take it.
A question I have is, all game frustrations aside, do 40 year old people feel good yelling at a 13 year old child?

nicely put misty. spectactors should respect the ref no matter what age they are. and if they do have a go at the ref they should be asked to leave the stadium