Refereeing 'Inconsistent’

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32031, 4 July 1969, Page 7

Refereeing 'Inconsistent’

Inconsistent , refereeing and tiredness were the major difficulties for the Australian women’s basketball players during their four-week tour of New Zealand, the manager of the team (Mrs Audrey Franks) said before the team left from Christchurch for Australia yesterday.

The refereeing in the tests was excellent, she said, but in the provincial games the players faced a different standard and were confused by the differing interpretations of the contact rules, the time allowed to hold the ball, and the stepping rules. In Australia, the defence was allowed much more latitude in contact in the circle but in the provincial matches Australia was frequently

pulled up for minor breaches of contact, she said. In the match in Auckland the players were able to count five seconds before the opponents passed or shot for goal. This rule was very strictly observed in Australia. The Australian players were used to counting to two and then moving after a pause. The stepping rule, which prevented players running with the ball, had been interpreted more strictly in New Zealand. In the game against Canterbury on Wednesday evening, the players were pulled up several times in the second half for stepping, but the crowd had voiced disapproval when, what looked like stepping in the first half was allowed to pass. “The tour was too crammed,” she said. “The most difficult part occurred early in the tour when the

team played three games in five days and travelled for several hours on the days in between.”

Mrs Franks said she would suggest in her report that when New Zealand came to Australia next it should bring a referee. Differences in interpretation of rules could be discussed by referees; The team captain (Y. Liddelow) said the tour would have been better if there had been more time to see New Zealand's scenery. “But we came here to play basketball, and we did,” she said. “If the tour had been of 10 games over three weeks instead of 15 over four Weeks, the players would have been fresher.”

The photograph shows players in action on Wednesday night when Canterbury beat Australia, 55-40, in the tourists’ last match.