Dear Members,

After the AGM on Monday the 23rd of February 2009, a new committee was elected by the members.  The following people will represent you on the committee in 2009.

President:  Mr. Sean Gottliebsen

Vice President:  Mr. Daniel Battye

Secretary:  Mr. Stephen Cavanagh (LM)

Treasurer:  Mr. Horst Eberius (LM)

Tribunals:  Mr. David Lawson

Minutes:  Mr. Bradley Sheehy

VBRA Delegate:  Mr. Anthony Aulsebrook

Past President:  Mr. Stephen Cavanagh (LM)

General:  Ms. Jessica Hughes

General:  Mr. David Pretty

General:  Ms. Kate Davies

General:  Mr. Ken Andrews (LM)

In my three years as president of this referees association i have never had to send out a public notice in a negative tone, nor have i had the disappointment of having to step in and make a ruling that will have a drastic effect on the on court judgement of out officials as a whole entity.

Well it is with great sadness and disappointment that i write to you today.

Over the past decade (in my experience) the committee have discussed time and time again the issue of playing referees and misconduct whilst taking the court as a player/coach. We have never felt an urgent need to change what was currently the practice however there is a need to now raise the issue and intervene.

Over the last twelve months there has been an unacceptable increase in on/off court incidents relating to games that members of our referees association have taken part. The level that this is at is unacceptably high. It is this reason that Daniel Battye (VP/Appointments Officer) and myself are issuing the following directives to ALL referees that are officiating VBRA Knox Branch members.

ZERO TOLERANCE is now in place for all playing/coaching members. Any inappropriate behavior does not have to be warned and should be penalized accordingly. This is not an option and is to be enforced immediately. I ask all supervisors to ensure your referees adhere to this instruction.

A message to those of you who are playing and coaching.

We understand that this is going to cause some controversy amongst the group, however we also understand that those of you who are just there to take part in a domestic sport and are not interested in causing issues for the basketball community as a whole will not be concerned about its implementation.

Those of you that are repeat offenders, and you know who you are, that don’t feel it’s fare for us to take such action, our message is simple. Don’t cause trouble and there will be no issue!!!

You have a responsibility to your fellow refereeing community to provide a safe and acceptable workplace, it is bad enough that on occasions we all have to deal with conflict in games of basketball, let alone having to deal with it from a part of our family!!

What is most disappointing is that it is not as simple as dealing with a single person or team. This problem is now so wide spread within the basketball community at knox that it is making us all look bad.

I believe that this referees association is the greatest in the State, if not the Country, we will not tolerate a small number of our members jeopardizing that for the rest of us.

Let it be known that this publication is from Daniel and Myself and that the new committee will be given an opportunity to review the policy once the AGM has been completed.

Yours in Refereeing,


Sean Gottliebsen                    Daniel Battye
VBRA Knox Branch                  VBRA Knox Branch
President                              Vice President