Rubery's CornerFeb 6, 2010, 5:02 pm Cup Week 3 is now only two weeks away and I have yet to tell the quarter finalists who they will be playing. The two men's draws came out as follows:
Cup
Stroud v Cavaliers 1
Trowbridge v Lockleaze
Filton 1 v KBI
Worle v Bristol University
Plate
Pirates B v Filton 3
Wizards v Braves III
Olympiad v Swindon Shock
A&S Police v Filton 2
In addition, there is a scattering of mainly rearranged league and trophy games. The Women's Cup seems to be going direct to the Semis with no games in Cup Week 3.
The attachment will show full details including the allocation of referees to these games. Referees for the following weeks are currently being worked on and should be available soon.
Incidentally, a number of referees have let me know that they come across too many teams that do not have their WEBBA licences available. Remember that teams are liable for a fine of £2 a head if this is the case so that could be up to £24 for a team. Licence numbers may be added later in some cases but if referees tell me that the licences are not present at a game, fines WILL be imposed - so be warned.
As these are the Quarter Finals, the next round will be the Semi-Finals and the date for these has been on the calendar since the beginning of the season. They will all take place at Police HQ, Portishead (thanks to the Police team for making this possible) on Sunday 28 March with the Finals on Sunday 2 May at WISE. Please bear in mind that these dates are absolutely non-negotiable.
The schedule for the Semis will be as follows:
1015 Mens' Plate
1215 Men's Plate
1415 Women's Cup
1615 Women's Cup
1815 Men's Cup
2015 Men's Cup
That will be a lot to get in on the one day and the full cooperation of all involved will be much appreciated.
For any team that might be in need of a table official, Kaia Sloog, a young lady from Estonia and who is well qualified in her home country, is now living in Weston. Let me know if you want to make contact and I will pass on her phone and email details.
Finally, the latest League and Trophy standings can be seen on Results and Tables, which is also attached.
Best wishes,
John Dec 27, 2009, 11:23 am Various attachments as follows:
1 Results and Tables to show for men's divisions the up to date sitution apart from one outstanding result. The Women's division will be (or has been) sent separately to the women's teams but hopefully we will soon be able to stick them back together again. The current league table will form the basis of the Trophy handicaps which will be worked out sometime during the next couple of weeks.
2 Full Fixtures with referee appointments through to the end of February apart from those which will go into Cup Week 3 after the games in Cup Week 2 have been played. The fixture list will show the situation as we currently believe it to be. games postponed from the first half of the season have been found a slot in the second half with only a few exceptions where negotiations are ongoing. Club secretaries are urged to check this list out in detail to ensure that everything is as they expect it to be and if anything appears to be out of place or entirely missing, contact the relevant Competitions Secretary as soon as possible on or after 28 December. (Please give us a few days at least to forget it all.) If you later find something is wrong, eg you go to a game and find a pigeon fanciers convention taking place, that will be your problem. Make your checks now.
For referees, remember what you should do if you find yourself unable to make a particular game. This is as was described a while back and which is repeated in case you can't find it:
in summary, there will be three possible courses of action if a referee cannot make a game:
1 If it is the Committee's fault because, eg. a referee has been allocated to a game which clashes with his own team's fixtures or training night or the referee had previously declared himself unavailable on that particular date, the Committee will sort the problem out. Our mistake - we put it right.
2 If a club-linked referee is unable to make a game, then that referee tells his club secretary who becomes responsible for finding a replacement. List of referees will be available and the Referees Secretary (or Jen) may give advice/suggestions but will NOT do the phoning around.
3 Referees not linked to a club must contact the secretary of the home team who then has the responsibility of finding a replacement.
Two list of referees will be circulated. The first will be a list of referees appropriate for Men's Division 1 games. The second will be a list of all referees.
As a further note, please bear in mind that a referee who drops a WEBBA fixture, previously in practice accepted, in order to officiate at a National League game will be reported to EB. This can really only happen on a Sunday and will clearly apply to only a few referees.
The latest appointments have been done on the basis of the availability information received. If such information has not been acted on, then rearrangements will be made by a Committee member. If referees did not send in availability information - and quite a few did not - then the action to be taken is as in 2 or 3 above. And if this is necessary, please send Jen an email to say what has been done just so that she knows who will be or not be available on a particular night.
The last Update made reference to two lists that would be made available to you, one for referees suitable for Men's Division 1 teams and another of all referees. The first of these is still in preparation and the other has been sent to club sectretaries - it shows referees currently listed and is the one that was sent out earlier in the season.
A final note of concern to referees arises enquiries that have been made during the season so far. These have concerned some players' cultural or religious practices and as far as possible, these must, of course, be respected. Therefore, do not take exception to Moslem women whose faith requires them to keep their legs covered. Provided that the trousers (or whatever) are not of a design that might cause a potential health and safety problem for the wearer or particularly other players, then there can be no exception to them. Similarly, with a player of either sex with dreadlocks or similar, it is acceptable and probably better that they be covered, again, if only on health and safety grounds.
3 Many of you may know that in their 13 December semi-final, Bristol Academy Flyers defeated Derby Trailblazers in what I think was one of the best games I have seen at WISE since Flyers were formed. This was a game that swung backwards and forwards and was really only decided in the final few minutes. This victory means that Flyers will now meet Manchester Magic in the National Cup Final on 31 January at the English Institute of Sport in a game that tips at 3.30pm.
4 In case you get bored over Christmas, the 4th attachment is a group of photos taken from old licence cards. All the players shown are still currently involved in WEBBA and local basketball. Some are easily recognised, some are more difficult. See how many you can recognise.
Have a good break,
Best wishes,
John Nov 15, 2009, 11:15 am Recently there has been a number (not too many) of "unusual incidents" like disqualifications and a proteted result. As the follow up has not gone as smoothly as it should, it is worth repeating the procedures that should follow:
Disqualifications.
When a player is disqualified, both floor officials are required to submit reports to me (as disciplinary convenor). These reports should be factual and accurate and not include opinion. If possible report exactly what was said by the disqualified player and his/her actions and attitude after the disqualification. State positions of players and referees on the court and confine accounts to the specific incident which led to the disqualification. These reports are most helpfully submitted by email and they should be received within three days at most.
Unless the disqualified player makes an appeal against the disqualification, there is an automatic one match ban which should be served by missing the next game that the player's team actually plays. Any appeal must be received within seven days and include the £10 appeals fee (returned if the appeal is successful). A cancelled/postponed match does not mean that the ban is postponed to whenever the cancelled match is eventually played. This automatic one match ban applies in all cases of disqualification, including disqualification as a result of two unsportsmanlike fouls. After the reports have been received a Disciplinary Sub-Committee will be convened to decide what further penalty, if any, should result. The disqualified player may receive a personal hearing if he/she so wishes or may make a written submission after having seen the referees' reports. Again, all appeals and submissions are best submitted by email.
The home team must send in the white copy of the scoresheet by post to arrive within two days of the disqualification. This must be the original white sheet and not a copy of any kind. Failure to send this in may result in a fine.
Protests.
This can only happen when a losing team believes itself to have been disadvantaged by the way in which the game has been conducted and in such a way that, otherwise, it might have realistically won the game. (It is very unlikely that a protest against a defeat by eg 80-50 could come into this category.) In order to protest, the scoresheet MUST be signed in the protest box at the bottom of the sheet at the end of the game and before the sheet is signed is signed by the floor officials. It should be signed by whoever was court captain at the end of the game (though this will not normally be a sticking point). The protesting team should then tell the referees the general grounds for the protest.
Following this, the referees must send (email please ) their observations with regard to the protest to the relevant Competitions Secretary within three days. The secretary of the team protesting should then make a written submission laying out the reasons why the team believes it was disadvantaged (email again, please) and send in the protest fee of £10 (returned if the protest is successful).
The home team must post the white copy of the scoresheet to arrive within two days of the date of the match.
In the case of a protest, a decision will be made by the Executive Committee at its next scheduled meeting, unless there is an extreme urgency in which case, an alternative route to a decision may be taken.
If a team is unhappy with the way in which a game goes (apart from its own play!) but the final result is not really affected, it should contact and inform the relevant Competitions Secretary who will, if necessary, carry the complaint to the full Committee.
Of course, I hope that no further protests or disqualifications occur and, considering the size of our competitions and the number of games played - more than 500 each season - there are thankfully very few, anyway. But in case there is another, everybody concerned should know what to do and what is expected.
Best wishes,
John Oct 30, 2009, 10:11 pm Results and Tables can be found here. This time several latish results have come in (and several are still due) and the Women's Division has been added.
Also a couple of things arose from a Committee Meeting this week.
1 It seems that some people/clubs have lost track of current rates for referees fees and expenses, in spite of them being unchanged from last season and appaering in the league rules, circulated earlier. So - as a reminder - fees are £14, Level 4 and above, £12, Level 3 and £10, Level 2. Travel expenses are 30p per mile and when a referee officiates at two consecutive games at the same venue, he/she may claim a £3 subsistence allowance.
In order that current costs can be monitored, a form similar to that used a few seasons ago is available here. Clubs are asked to print this off, complete it at the end of each game and return it at the end of the season. Please start to use this form from the beginning of next week, ie Sunday 1 November.
2 Still on the subject of referees, the Committee position of Referees Secretary will be vacant next season. This position is central to the running of WEBBA competitions and without the work that Derek has done over the years and that Jen is currently doing, there would be no WEBBA Competitions at all. Sending out this information now gives 6 months for somebody to think about it and come forward. So if you are somebody who thinks they would like to do it or know someboidy who would, it is possible to find out in advance what the post entails. And if there is no Referees Secretary in place following the next AGM, there won't be much point in drawing up a fixture list.
3 Dates and venues for Wiltshire International home fixtures are now finalised. They are playing variously at Isambard Community School, the Link Centre and the Oasis Leisure Centre, all in Swindon. Days and time vary but with one exception, the games are played in the weeks originally sceduled for Kings home games. The exception is the home game against Redcliffe 84 which has been brought forward to clear it from the Trophy period. Details are given here and should be studied carefully by Division 2 teams to make sure they go to the right place on the right day at the right time. the one Div 2 team that does not play away to Wilts is Pirates A who previously played away to Kings (and Pirates B are nearly a week late with a report form!).
Best wishes,
John.
There is also an expenses claim form (similar to the EB one) available here, which club secretaries can use for referee expenses, this can then be passed to your treasurer. webba1 May 12, 2008, 7:35 pm  Please find the follwoing information available:
See you at the AGM on Tuesday 20th May
John Jan 25, 2008, 2:14 pm
Several things arise from a recent Committee meeting, as follows:
Finally the Committee concluded what has been an ongoing discussion about the bond that WEBBA clubs have always been required to provide. The purpose of the bond has been to guarantee payment of any fines and/or costs levied against a team/club but the summ has become out of date. Back in the early 1960's, the bond was set at £25 per team and it has remained unchanged ever since. As costs etc have increased, this figure has become quite unrealistic with the average charge imposed being in the region of £25 while some have exceeded £80 when costs and fine have been totalled. Therefore the Committee has agreed that from next season, the basic bond will be increased to £50 per club - and not per team. The logic here is that a debt is owed by the club rather than the specific team and that all teams within a club are equally liable for any infringements. For some clubs, this will mean no change, as two-team clubs may already have placed a bond for each team. For many it will mean that an additional £25 will be required. Please note that the bond is returnable if a team/club does not re-enter WEBBA competitions and has completed the previous season's programme and has no outstanding debt owing. It was also agreed that clubs whose debt significantly exceeds its bond at any time may be required to place a larger bond the following season, though "good behaviour" will see this reduced over time.
Hopefully you will all now have looked at the WEBBA website. The webmaster has certainly done a brilliant job of building the site and is to be congratulated on the speed with which it is updated with all the latest results. It is intended to now include email addresses for all clubs playing within WEBBA. This will enable potential recruits to contact their nearest club and who does not need new players? However, if there is a club secretary that does not want an email address published, please contact the webmaster on
webba.basketball@virgin.net immediately. Telephone numbers will not be displayed. The webmaster is also looking for more photographs, particularly team pictures. These should be emailed direct. Finally clubs with their own website are invited to make contact in order to set up links between their site and the WEBBA site.
Best wishes,
John and Jen |
Fixtures
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