Some things for you to know.

Pay rates have increased a little

The ABA is better than eva at the moment and there is opourtunity to crack it in to the Aba after some stong performances in Div 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Players and coaches have improved 10 fold and are not so abusive these days. they just want a honest performance

What i find strange about the refereeing situation at the moment is some games of social i have seen where there are grown men playing with the game being called by young (ie 12 years old) kids.

What would happen if a fight broke out and these kids got caught up in it?

Insurance? placing employees in danger?

Noti Bagy - What stadia are you talking about? surly there is a older umpire on the court also???

some of the best umpires started when they were 11 years old

I hear Hollywood Mal Cooper is now living it up in the city of churches and is looking for a gig. Is phone number is 1800 HOLLYWOOD

Mal was a great ref when i played in Eltham and Dandenong .. bring it on. You could pay him in his beverage of choice, he is the most "social" referee going around.

Imagine at your job if someone abused you and heckled you everytime you made a decision, imagine if you started this job at 13-17 years of age, you would want to quit and never return

This has been debated a thousand and one times, but BASA should bring in a complete zero tolerence, all coaches, players and spectators should no the rules, so why warn them? No warnings and that's it your out! One strike only, ref's will feel like they have power and coaches wont like the cold and maybe then they'll shut up and let basketball be played

Want more refs? Stop abusing them when they start, stop abusing them all together

I agree with the stop abusing ref's policy but the problem is if u start telling ref's to throw tech's around then when they grow up and start doing higher level games how are you meant to teach them game management. Think about one of these ref's growing up and in their first ABA game having Dean Kingmens or Mark Wallace. A tech the first time either of them open their mouths. lol

Referees need to be protected, but coaches and players want consistency.

I have always noticed a huge increase in the strictness of umpires when it comes to social Finals... why do they decide to become super-whistle happy during social finals and be complacent during minor round games???

I dont know what the pay rates are for refs but this may have something to do with it and teh current crisis???

Food For Thought: What is the average age of the UIC's throughout BASA stadiums, and does this affect their mobility to get out of the Umpire's Room and around the courts to watch games???

The other day one of my players was run into by the opposition - i thought it was a charge. (both players fell over and the opp player lost control of the ball, her teammate gained possession). i asked the ref about the no-call and the reply was it was a block. So why didnt she call the foul on my player??? CONSISTENCY.

I am not just talking about Thursday night matches, coaches have no right to abuse anyone anywhere, as does anyone else, protection of ref's is vital

Seriously, who wants a job where they get abused, when they could easily go out and get a better paid job and never get abused

Basketball can not be played with out ref's people!

Degenerate, i see where you are coming from however there are rules in place to protect the umps. simply let the player/coach know they have gone too fare and if they continue "T" them up.

We could debate this topic over and over again and when it comes down to it some idiot in the third row will still stand up and heckle refs. I agree with zero tolerance and this will bring more refs in, then refs get on a power trip and coaches get annoyed again, refs loose control and we are back where we started.

I agree with Freddy, becuase he is agreeing with me :)

But seriously, the coaches should know the rules, ref's are afraid to T coaches, instead they argue with them, you do not have a convo with the ref during game time, I just want to see a ref turn around and just T the idiot, whether they're the coach or idiot in the first row

Speaking social, is anyone playing Thursday nights at Pasadena? Haven't been out for a while and am keen to know what's happening.

So are the old farts still getting the job done?