Salt Lake Tribune | 1913-12-21 | Page 35 | Basketball Referee is Much Maligned

BASKETBALL REFEREE IS MHIiEO Giving Officials More Power to Discipline Players Would Strengthen Gaine. One of tho very hardest iobs in the i world is that of being a basketball rcf- eree. To watch ton nient all experienced in tho gentle arts of tripping, shoving, elbowing, blocking, and. to detect just when and where they overstep the bounds prescribed by tho basketball rules to do this evory timo is ao hard that it is impossible. And yet, all through every hard-fought, hard-fought, bitterly-contested game the spectators of both sides will forget this and will unite in heaping insults and abuse on the referee, the one man present pres-ent -in tho hall who is supposed to bo non-partisan. A good referee is a jewel of groat price. La fact, ho is oven better, bet-ter, than that, for you haven't money enough to buy a really good roforoo, although ,you may bo wearing diamonds. To ovory spectator with the elements of fnir-nuudeducsB this continual baiting bait-ing of tho official" arbitrator iB a serious seri-ous drawback to oujoymont of the gamo. It should, bo assumed by spectators spec-tators that the referee is honest, to start with. Thoy ought to havo enough faith in tho club owners and officials of the league to assumo that much. If thov hudn't thoy should stay-away from tho games. Thoy should also have euougb rcspoct for tho experienced judgment judg-ment of the people in control as to assumo as-sumo that they will procure the most competent men possible. As long as baskotbai is piayoa, and ia popular, and as long 'as baseball is played and is popular, tho fanH will bark at the officials. ' It has come to be regarded, as a part of human nature. And human nature doesn't stand much altering. It pays money to be amused and if it wants to make ono man tho bcapepoat for the mistnTces of five men in whach it has a particular interest there ia no reason why it should npt do eo, if it pays tho money and can find a willing scapegoat But there is absolutely no excuse for tho players to attack a referee. Ther do not pay for the privilege. Thoy got honor in return for playing the game. When thoy fctart to turn on a fellow employee or tno league uu uwuoo of dishonestv or incompetency, something some-thing swift should happen to thenu Organized baseball- dorlvea Kb strength from its strong centralization. It backs up its umpires. A basoball umpire represent the superlorpower or the league ho worka for. He orders players out of tho gamo, and thoy go. Ho fines thorn, and thoy pay, or somebody some-body pavs for them, and warns them if thoy offend again a worse thmg shaU befall. And aa a result a baseball umpire um-pire usually dominates the field. A man liko Klem or Evans a master of affairs all tho timo. And the players know It. They go ahead and play ball, and if they do trwsreT tho m ot ietmt Frnm their own shoulders to that of the umpire theV do It off the ball field, and cat laughed at for doing so. Before the baseball leagues backed up their umpiroa the were all aorta of Xirtrflfres UmDireB were attacked from JSSK maSSa with pop bottles, spiked it i the feet while they were- umplrinB, hit and injuTod-by thrown balls. Ball playorB hnd little respoct for them, because be-cause they were without backing. Tho only possible way to make a basketball bas-ketball gamo a thing of pleasure to tho I fair-minded spectator is to empower the referee to discipline players. This will help a lot, for most spectators tako their 1 tips fiom- tho players.