Andrew Bogut hits out at standard of refereeing in NBL
Andrew Bogut doesn’t need much inviation to blow up - so it’s no surprise the fallout from Sydney’s acrimonious loss to Melbourne United has the Kings star taking aim at NBL refereeing again.
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Andrew Bogut says refereeing is a “huge issue” in the NBL and called for more full-time whistleblowers to match the growing professionalism of the league.
The NBL has two full-time referees – Queenslander Vaughan Mayberry and Michael Aylen – and a host of part-timers, with the inconsistent standard of officiating a perennial bugbear for players, coaches and fans.
Bogut and his league-leading Sydney Kings have hit a rough patch with referees in recent times.
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In Monday night’s loss to Melbourne United, Kings head coach Will Weaver was tossed out of the game at halftime for two rapid-fire technical fouls after arguing with the referees. He was hit with a suspended $500 fine for “excessive dissent”.
Weaver said that away teams can be at a disadvantage in the NBL with the way games are called.
In the same match, both Bogut and Kings guard Casper Ware were called for unsportsmanlike fouls in the crucial closing stages.
A week earlier, Bogut was ejected from Sydney’s win over Brisbane after bringing up two unsportsmanlike fouls.
Bogut – who landed in Brisbane on Wednesday ahead of Friday night’s clash between the Bullets and Kings – said under the current FIBA directive for unsportsmanlike fouls, the referees were right to ping him on Monday but the whistleblowers needed help.
“I don’t blame the officials … we’ve got two full-time officials … in a professional league. So do your own homework and think if that’s appropriate,’’ Bogut said.
“We need to fix that as a league. I know the players’ association has brought it up numerous times. I know the league knows it’s an issue.
“If we want to establish ourselves as a professional league, we need to have full-time officials. I don’t blame the officials for that either.
“I’ve commented enough about the officials in the past year through the media and through social media, and if you want to go and just grab those comments and cut and paste them … I’ll use them again. Everything still stands.
“It’s a tough job. It’s not an easy job. I’m an emotional guy, I get into it with them a fair bit, much like Will (Weaver) did, and it’s just one of the things. We want the league to keep getting better and we want the referees to get better.
“We’ve got more eyeballs than we’ve ever had, not only here but in the US. The standard of everything else needs to go up with that.”
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Bogut said he loved the passion of Weaver and was disappointed his coach received a second technical foul so quickly after the first. He said FIBA needed to “clean up” the unsportsmanlike foul rule as it was too open to interpretation on whether or not players are going for the ball or the man, which put referees in a bind.
Bogut said the Kings were braced for a determined Brisbane at “The Armoury” on Friday night, with Sydney winning the last eight clashes between the clubs.
Bogut has never lost to the Bullets as a Kings player, with five wins from five outings.
“I think we just match-up pretty well against them. It’s just one of those things. Last season we struggled against Adelaide, they were our bogy team, and Brisbane seems to struggle against us,’’ he said.
“We know that they are pumped to get that hoodoo off their back, hopefully we can make it nine. But they are playing some good basketball, so we’ve got a lot of work to do.’’
Originally published as Andrew Bogut hits out at standard of refereeing in NBL
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