Hoops

referees are human how can we help them to improve

The best assistant coach is one who can take over for a few moments while the coach sits down to cool off, not the one who just agrees with him that the ref is wrong and againt him all the time.

That however requires a coach who can accept being told to cool down when the signs are there to everyone else that he is about to get a tech because of his actions or frustrations.

The ref probably doesn't even see or understand any of this as he/she is hopefully focused on the game, all they see is an upset coach that they don't want to talk to and nothing good will come from that interaction anyway...

I find most refs try their best, but a lack of training, support and being held accountable after a less than ideal game lets them down. If someone looks generally out of their depth then I can forgive their mistakes because they were most likely dragged in at the last minute so we could have our game. It's well known that there is a shortage of more mature referees.

However.. There are two refs in the SEABL who think they're above the game and are quite rude, arrogant and downright disrespectful to the players, coaches and officials. It's referees like this that unfortunatley get in the ear of others and turn them into self centered spotlight hunters.

I think there needs to be a fair few $$ put into development and having the right people teaching from the beginning because like anon above with the Knox example, there can be some absolute idiots teaching the future generation.