I guess it would have been hard to re play the game at a later date. They should have called one of the mens refs to come earlier????

Who is responsable for this sort of stuff?

Basa?? they get the blame for everything

Powers that be made a decision or two a few weeks ago about who'd be umpiring ABA and who wouldn't.

Info came from "a Horse's mouth".

Surely at ABA level, a ref who didn't make the list could be called up to fill in???

In ABA, any two umps are better than one!

the ref who did the game did a pretty good job considering he was on his own; the weather and the abuse you get regardless. We were talking about it during the game and one thing at least all calls were consistent (whether correct or incorrect) and players at that level can adjust. I've seen lots worse reffing with 2 refs especially where one tries to dominate. However, I believe the ref who didn't turn up should definitely be penalised in some way. Even if he had a legitimate excuse for not being there he should have arranged a replacement

The point i'm making is that the situation was a deliberate decision by the "ABA Panel" to only have one referee for that game.

My source told me a few weeks ago that some refs would have to do an ABA game on Saturday night and then possibly front up to another ABA game on teh Sunday, as well as some games being solo'd (?).

He did a good job on his own. The ref by the 4th quarter looked like he was going to pass out. Both Woodville and South benchs did not have a go at the ref's and as I think understood how hard it was to ref the game on your own. He did not ref from the mid court, except, made it baseline to baseline on every play.

Who reffed the game?

Who no-showed?

Well I could be wrong - we do live in a democracy - tell me where i stuffed up.

I made 3 points:

1 - "deliberate decision".

2 - Umpires fronting up on a sunday after a sat night game.

3 - ABL games being solo'd

Not that hard for others to indicate which are wrong, and more importantly, which one is correct.

ok, firstly, is the cost of photocopying too high?

I agree, hopefully a ref who deliberately didnt turn up wouldn't get a game again.

I strongly believe that there should be a mentor program of referees in SA - Older ABA refs should pair up with younger refs to develop them to a high standard.

I would prefer to see a younger ref learning the game with an older ref in charge, rather than the same old faces. Just like basketball teams, refs need to be developed through experience.

Please don't think i'm complaining about the ref standard - i'm not.
I just believe that on the job training is more valuable, and the more refs experiencing ABL, the better the standard will be.

The Ref in question did a good job on his own, my only complaint was during the game one of the men's refs asked me if I wanted him to get on court and help out (as any coach would, I said yes) however the lone ref on court said no he was fine on his own. and didn't give permission for the help to come on court. I think this situation leads to a great training opportunity, put a junior ref on the score bench to learn from the game and style of refereeing, if a ref fails to show up a mentor ref is better than no ref at all.

The whole method of teaching ref's needs looking at.
Mentoring is the way to go.

Pickles, I believe you are a little short of facts.
In the mens on the weekend the following Junior umpires were rostered to mens games and worked games with Mcdonald, Wieland and Filmer.

They were Vanessa Devlin
Alex JOrdan and Daniel Troy.

so to me it looks like they are already doing the whole mentor thing.

I watched Devlin on her game and she did a good job learning from a experience person.

woman or men?

Cant remember who was on that game but am quite sure it was either Wieland or Filmer with Dan Troy on maybe his first mens game.

Glenn's idea is a good one.

Naming the ref wouldn't achieve anything positive.

Photocopying a roster only costs 5 cents.

Fresh, are you telling me that "3 junior umpires" were rostered onto ABL games? If they are doing "the whole mentoring thing" then why aren't their more younger referees doing ABA games?

Certainly nothing against the Junior refs, but for how long as the pool been that empty?

Surely somewhere BSA has dropped the ball in terms of umpire development at the sharp end of the stick (@ ABA level and up).

I know its a tough job, i've umpired as a teenager, but just like a basketball team, umpire development is an ongoing process taht appears to have stopped somewhere in the past.

Pickles housmate, you have written some silly things here. 3 junior umpires doing there first or second men's game in one weekend is more than enough....you can't have all junior umpires doing aba at the same time - surely they would be introducing them to the league gradualy as they are deemed to be ready.

also I am quite sure Alison Poulton did her first aba womans game, and there were other juniors doing girls games last weekend.

The week before it was basicly all seniors with Weeks and Tsakalos included so I guess Mr Poulton is doing a good job

And I would say that some people like yourself are simply

"mis informed"

oh and to clarify - it is normal for some umpires to back up on a sunday, but the selectors would not roster one umpire to a game so your source is wrong on that one.

looking on this weeks sarefs site, there looks to be less rookies used but mentoring is still the go:

Weeks mentoring Wieland
Mcdonald mentoring Gibson
Durant mentoring Poulton




18-Mar-06 Sat DH Dome 18:30 ABAW Woodville Warriors Sturt Sabres DTroy LSmith

18-Mar-06 Sat DH Dome 20:15 ABAM Woodville Warriors Sturt Sabres GWeeks NWieland

18-Mar-06 Sat Hillcrest 18:30 ABAW North Adelaide Rockets Norwood Flames SRivett AJordan

18-Mar-06 Sat Hillcrest 20:15 ABAM North Adelaide Rockets Norwood Flames NBridgeman PWelbourn

18-Mar-06 Sat Mt. Barker 18:30 ABAW Eastern Mavericks Southern Tigers MHarvey JWilliams

18-Mar-06 Sat Mt. Barker 20:15 ABAM Eastern Mavericks Southern Tigers BMcDonald MGibson

18-Mar-06 Sat Starplex 18:30 ABAW Central District Lions West Adelaide Bearcats MPepicelli VDevlin

18-Mar-06 Sat Starplex 20:15 ABAM Central District Lions West Adelaide Bearcats AFilmer AJust

18-Mar-06 Sat Wayville 18:30 ABAW Forestville Eagles South Adelaide Panthers NDurant APoulton

18-Mar-06 Sat Wayville 20:15 ABAM Forestville Eagles South Adelaide Panthers WMaidment DHughes

Big But did the right thing.

All the ref's read Hoops SA so just post it on here and everyone will turn up!

Attn Mr Poulton - you now need to post all changes on Hoops Sa - come on get with the system

ha ha ha ha