Why would they come back? The crap they put up with, im surprised they get anyone at all!

some good names in that list though.......

how would you like it if players, coaches and supporters were consistently putting you down game after game. After a while you get sick of it. You could be the best ref and people will still have a go at you

My fault (post 49975) i probably missed the intended point of this thread.

Yes, it would definitely be nice to see some of those guys back.

Perhaps it comes down to. "If the pay is peanuts - youll get monkeys".

Not saying any of the current refs are monkeys exactly - but - they obviously ref for the love of the game, perhaps raising the dollars, will attract refs who will do it for the cash, not just the love.

A few of these referees have stepped away from Basketball for the reason of their full time working career which puts the bread on the table. They may come back in a few years time when the bread is baked.

However, there are some refs in this list that stepped away for a number of different reasons from player/coach/spectator abuse, nil support from BASA and the tribunal system (which is a very big point that needs to be resolved), little communication, some refs see the door to advancement close quicker than they want it to, and very low pay to boot.

Maybe, some of them got where they were going too quickly and walked away because they couldn't handle the toughness of the communication from all angles (i personally think that this needs to be addressed with officials to help them develop the thick skin). The good officials take in their stride and deal with it - they stick around, their love for the game is bigger than that. If this is the case, then those referees may never want to come back as they will love other things.

What BASA can control is the pay (incentive) structure, support (incl tribunal, learning and development and social aspect (a lot of past referees would go out and referee just to have a hoot of a time with their fellow referee mates.

There are many reasons why referees quit. Some will never come back because they never had it in them anyway and don't love the game or miss the game as much as they should. Others won't come back simply out of principle of how they were treated in the past.

I think, those that are lost due to the above, maybe lost for good - that is something for everyone to think about next time there is a tribunal, or next time the pay and incentives are being reviewed, or next time a know-it-all coach or spectator chases a referee in to the car park calling them a cheat etc.

So, best case scenario is to focus on the stocks that we have now and the referees coming through. Treating each one of them like your own and making it a more pleasant environment overall. Basketball from all angles needs to be a more pleasant environment for everyone.

This is no different to how a player may feel when considering when to stop playing or switch sports. How many make it back to Basketball ???

why come back when you get to a tribunal and the player comes with a lawyer

Amy and Brad might come back. both are good refs, rob hoooper might be a outside chance also because he still refs for salvation army basketball.

the others have mainly quite because of polotics from people who are not involved anymore but i agree it may be too far gone for some of these.

new refs who have steped in to replace include

matt coombe
luke smith
vanessa devlin
bruce northcote
mike gibson
chris mcdonald

I reckon Daniel haebich might ref again along with tristan graham if they returned to adelaide for work.

based on this, basa could have a aba line up like this:

geoff weeks
phil haines
caroline tsakalos
andrew filmer
nathan wieland
nathan durant
wayne maidment
john clover
tristan graham
brad hosgood
robert hooper
amy rohrlach
daniel haebich
neil bridgeman
andrew just
paul welbourn
mike gibson
bruce northcote
daniel hughes

and then other refs to challange for a game would include the new refs
19 very good experience refs on the top pannel in sa would be almost as good as victoria.

all that needs to happen to make this work is convince weeksy, carroline to ref aba - maybe 50% of games, and get amy, brad, hooper, tristan and daniel back.

i guess even with this group people will still complain about the standard of refs, but hey thats normal.

at least they would be experience to handel it and the young ones can break in slowly.

why if you are weeksy & carolyn want to ref aba it is like you can't get maher etc to play aba

they need a break they have achieved the highest level and there are ONLY so many hours in a the day

it is like the aba refs who don't do juniors anymore there are only so many hours in a day, days in week
do too much and you burn out.

besides when you get as old as geoff you need time to recover ;)

there is a well known aba coach who chases refs into car parks, harangues them in bars bails up evaulators and calls the umpires cheats - or is that a cheapshot

Just a question. How can it be suggested that the top referees shouldn't have to do ABA games?
Can you imagine Maher as alluded to or any other NBL player for that matter playing for 7 months and then taking 5 months off and be expected to maintain the same level?
It is easier for a player to maintain fitness and get a reasonable level of training in the off-season, most NBL teams only have a 3 month layoff and no players take this whole time off (if they want to be any good!). Unfortunately for the refs the only way for them to hone their craft is the ABA, unless theyre reffing at major international tournaments and that obviously is a different story.
I have always thought NBL referees should be given the appropriate amount of time off and then be REQUIRED do some ABA games to keep a reasonable level of reffing going, it certainly wouldn't hurt them.