Cash prize giant boost for referees

Added 13 April 2007

Noel Towell

AT first glance it looks as though young Ashleigh Mabilia might just have the toughest job in sport.

The 13-year-old has the task of upholding the rules in the rough-and-tumble of the Hawthorn Basketball Association league games.

It sounds like a thankless task, especially when confronted by two teams of man-mountains like Zac Barry, but the association is about to change that, introducing a monthly award for the league's best referees.

The $200 cash prize, sponsored by the Canterbury and Surrey Hills Community Bank, is aimed at honouring the young refs, often the unsung heroes of community sport, and Ashleigh is the first winner of the prize.

Association president Gary Macdonald reckons the 4000-player league is a well-behaved one, but referees need to feel the love nonetheless.

"We don't really have the ugly parents or the ugly player syndrome, maybe it's something in the water,'' Mr Macdonald said.

"But referees don't get the support players and coaches get and sometimes people forget that the referee is a young person who is on a learning curve and they need to support that learning curve.''

Or maybe they need a taste of Ashleigh's no-nonsense approach when keeping the big men in line:

"I go fair on them, but if they keep fouling, that's when I start to go hard on them,'' she said.

Umpire Ashleigh, 13, and player Zac Barry.

Picture: GLENN DANIELS N40PP205