Hoops

Grand Final Appointment to South Aussie

WTF. Historically reffing was a bit of a boys club so emphasis to develop female refs had links to equal opportunity.

There is no written anything that females will ref women's finals but history shows clearly that they have been regularly appointed. History also show's that they (the appointees) have done a good job. The WNBL has awarded Sharon Arnold(25th Aniversary of WNBL) the best ref in their history to 2005 (also reffed WNBL GF 2006).

For point of discussion - when you have a number of refs who are have displayed that they are more than capable of controlling a final (inc. Haines) who do you select? Is that discrimination?

There has also been a fast tracking system for ex players. Doesn't seem to work that well but is that discrimation?

Back to the original post - Having seen the televised Pre final, the three officials assisted a competitive high standard game with low error rate and fully deserve their grand final appointments.

Biased opinion? Arnold has never looked fit. Has never looked lost. Wont find it in her resume.

Well deserved by all following an excellent performance in the pre final.

More surprising is that there was a long standing unwritten practice of where possible, using female refs in "gold medal" games. Going to a three man system, the appointments panel couldn't find room for one female ref.

Not knowing Sharon's evaluation from the semi nor her availability for the pre or grand final, its a bit harsh to call "fall from grace", but Arnonld CT aside (materity) the female ref fraternity are thin on the ground at this standard.