Game Reports

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GAME INFORMATION

INCIDENT REPORT

DATE: November 10, 2024

WHO: Primetime Sports

WHERE: Western Canada High School

LEVEL: U14 boys

REFEREES: Ethan Nickerson

Kristian Roth

Repeated issues with the audience from one of the teams. They were yelling and abusing the referees verbally.

Repeated warnings were issued to the audience throughout the game with little to no change in behaviour. The referees finally approached the coach of the team that the parents were with and asked him to speak to the parents. Game was delayed while the coach approached the parents and asked them to stop what they were doing.

The game proceeded and in short order the abusive parents were back at it, yelling at the referees and being just as disrespectful as they were prior to the stoppage of play, and first request to stop this harassment.

At this point the referees stopped the game, approached the same coach and told him that if this behaviour didn’t stop right now, they would request these parents to leave the gym. The parents were informed of the choices they had, and the game continued.

In short order the abuse from the parents started again, at which time the referees stopped the game, approached the coach and informed him that the parents had to leave or the game would be forfeit, and awarded to the opponents. The coach and referees approached the parents and requested that they leave the gym. The parents refused to leave, and the referees informed both the coach and the parents that the game has been forfeited, and awarded to the other team.

The parents were asked to leave the gym, and the other team was informed of the decision.

FIBA rules for incidents like this were followed, where a warning is issued to the coach of the team with the problem audience, the coach informs the audience, and the game continues. If the problem persists, the game is stopped, the referees inform the coach that he/she must ask the problem audience members to leave the gym. If they refuse the game is forfeit and awarded to the other team with a recorded score of 20 – 0.

These are rules to protect referees from this type of behaviour, and in our opinion, should be used more often, because the incidents of this type of behaviour seems to be on the rise. Referees, you are in control of the game, which includes the audience, so take control.

DATE: October 13, 2024

WHO: Primetime Sports

WHERE: 7-Chiefs Sportplex

LEVEL: U14 boys

REFEREES: Sam Wong Ricardas Plungys

This is another incident that illustrates that as referees we need to be consistent with our calls, and not let our emotions factor into our game.

It’s good to never forget that we are humans and the voice of reason and understanding always plays a part in anything we do when dealing with others. But in this case, the referees were dealing with a head coach who has a reputation of outbursts and NOT controlling his emotions. Often the end result is he expresses this to the referees and the scorekeepers.

Unfortunately in this case he was verbally questioning the referees throughout the game and was deserving of a technical. Unfortunately this didn’t happen soon enough and other people on the benches noticed this and things just went downhill from there.

Our referees did make a mistake, which made their game very difficult. If the issue with the coach continues, they should have issued a 2nd technical and had the coach ejected from the game. By allowing the problem to continue they lost control of the game because everybody on the court saw this and realized that there are no consequences to the bad behaviour.

If and when this happens, the referees need to regroup quickly. Do this by having a referee meeting at the first opportunity, then go to the table to verify the technical calls, then go to the coach in question and explain the outcome, and ask them to leave the gym. If they refuse the game is forfeit and awarded to the other team. That’s FIBA rules and must be followed.

Lesson to be learned from this when confronted by an aggressive coach, it’s very important to leave your emotions out of the game and call it by the book. Lay the law down very quickly with this type of coach, by giving them one warning, and if they persist, then a technical. If this is followed by an outburst, then a 2nd technical, and a game ejection.

This is unacceptable behaviour, and as referees we need to recognize the signs and act accordingly. Sooner is always better, and don’t let the game get out of control. If this happens, then the referees need to regroup at a break (half-time), and make sure that you make it clear that there will be no room foray further abuse in the game.

If you do things by the book with situations like this, the people involved have absolutely nothing to complain about and they need to reign it in, or face the consequences.

DATE: September 13, 2023

WHO: Brodie Rec League

WHERE: Prolific Sport House

LEVEL: Tier 2 mens

REFEREES: Pau De Guzman

Doran Clark

Game was full of fouls on both teams, and got progressively worse. Skill level of a number of players was not consistent with tier 2 mens, and this resulted in what we felt was some frustration on the part of some of the players. End result was they started to push, block, grab and generally do whatever it takes to disrupt their opponent.

We called a number of fouls in the 1st half, issued 1 technical and were on the verge on being in a bonus situation. The 2nd half started where the game left off with the same kind of play from a number of the players, only by now the players were starting to grumble and show their frustration.

Teams were evenly matched with a point spread of no more than 11, and this was narrowed down to a few points towards the end of the 2nd half. When the game was down to the last 2 minutes, and the score was within 4 points, the players for the most part were doing whatever it took to even the score. The majority of our calls were in the last few minutes of the game. At this point 1 player in particular (Mike) started to complain about our calls and for this he was issued a technical. He then went off on both referees which resulted in a 2nd technical and an ejection from the game.

On his way out he took it upon himself to harass not only the referees, but the scorekeepers, and then the receptionist by the front door. He was escorted to the front door by one of the referees. During that time he took it upon himself to give everybody the finger, and continued to yell out how awful the refereeing was, and what a crappy league, etc., etc..

The game resumed, and went into overtime which in this league is 2 minutes long and whomever is ahead at the end of this is the winner. Absolutely frantic play on the court resulting in numerous fouls and an eventual winner, but no more technicals.

The Brodie Rec League representative was witness to all this and discussed the incident with the referees. After the game the referees sent a report to the COO of the Brodie Rec League describing the incident, as did the Brodie representative.

Outcome of the incident – the player will be removed from the team and banned from playing in the league. This was determined by the Brodie Rec League head office.

DATE: September 27, 2023

WHO: Brodie Rec League

WHERE: Prolific Sport House

LEVEL: Tier 2 mens

REFEREES: Jaime Cebedo

Paul Blaha

Men’s tier 2 game that had blue team committing an overwhelming number of the fouls on court. They were also disputing a number of the calls to the point where their player coach was handed 2 tech calls and suspended from the game.

Unfortunately he took it upon himself to disregard the referees repeated requests to leave the court and sat down on the player bench. After repeated requests by the referees, he still didn’t leave.

At this point even the other team was complaining about how this was disrupting the game and could we continue to play. The referees decided to continue the game, but unfortunately the example that this player displayed to his teammates rubbed off, and there were a continued series of fouls called right through to the end of the game.

The incident was reported to the Brodie Rec League head office and is still under investigation.

After discussing the incident with the referees, we concluded that possibly the officials should have warned the offending team that failure to comply with the referees call would result in a forfeit game and the win would be awarded to their opponents. Not to mention that the league would receive a game report outlining the players behavior.

Possible result of this would be a player suspension from a number of games, or for the duration of the season. Worst case scenario would be the player being removed from the league.