As Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) continues to invest in its referees at both a local and international level, the quality and experience of its Kiwi officials continues to rise.
With 10 New Zealand referees and two commissioners being granted licences by FIBA for the 2023-2025 licensing period – including three referees who join the list for the first time – New Zealand now has an arsenal of high-level officials available to referee at international FIBA-recognised events.
Six referees have again been granted Black licences for this period, making them eligible to officiate international games at all senior and junior levels. They are: Matt Bathurst, Marty Davison, Ryan Jones, Sherhon Martin, Sam Pan and Callum Welch.
Sasha Nicholson has now been upgraded to a Green licence, which allows her to officiate the following international games: all senior men’s games at sub-regional level, all senior women’s games, all junior games and all senior and junior games of international preparation/friendly games.
Three referees have also been granted licences for the first time; Mikey Graham, Rhys Hamilton and Duran Whiu. A White license allows referees to officiate all junior level games at regional level, all senior and junior level games at sub-regional level, and senior and junior games of international preparation/friendly games. In addition, Tayla Ammunson is listed as pending as she awaits medical clearance.
The referees were nominated to FIBA by BBNZ at the end of 2022. Since then, the candidates have had a period of online study followed by a written test. They also had to partake in a fitness test, where following its completion FIBA awarded the licences based on the test results.
Mikey Graham, who first started refereeing on a regular basis back in 2005, says he is happy to be able to progress in this space after honing his referee abilities on the domestic stage.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity, to see where it’s going to take me, it also shows all the work that the referee trainers have invested in me and supported to get to this level,” says Graham.
“The experience I’ve been able to get recently through the Sal’s NBL had allowed me to start progressing forward towards my international license, so this is the next step in that progression for me. Ultimately my goal is to make it all the way up my Black license; I’d love to see how far I can take this and I know it’s still a long road ahead.”
In addition, Melony O’Connor and Alistair Tod have both had their commissioner licences renewed by FIBA. The role of a commissioner at an international game is to sit at the score table and supervise the running of the game. Similarly, the candidates for commissioner also undertook a period of online study and a written test before being selected by FIBA.
BBNZ People Development Lead, Nick Hogan says that getting to this level demands years of training and on-court experience through the national pathways.
“Our new FIBA referees have worked their way up the pathway through the national age-group tournaments and national leagues, and have benefited from the resources that BBNZ have invested in referee training at these tournaments and events,” says Hogan.
“It’s vital that we continue growing our referees in Aotearoa, giving them the tools to succeed and experience at our highest level domestically; the more games they can referee the better as every game is a chance to learn and improve. We’ll be rolling out changes to our referee pathways in 2024 which will enhance these opportunities and grow our referee pool even further.”
For anyone interesting in beginning their own refereeing journey, a great place to start is BBNZ’s online course for learner referees. Find out more about this at http://nz.basketball/officials
FIBA Referee licences (2023-2025 licensing period)
Matt Bathurst – Black licence
Marty Davison – Black licence
Ryan Jones – Black licence
Sherhon Martin – Black licence
Sam Pan – Black licence
Callum Welch – Black licence
Sasha Nicholson – Green licence
Mikey Graham – White licence
Rhys Hamilton – White licence
Duran Whiu – White licence
Tayla Ammunson – Pending
Melony O’Connor – Commissioner License
Alistair Tod – Commissioner License
