[Oz Referee]

I must admit that I disagree with many of the comments above.

I am a FIBA referee, and therefore have to remain on the court to check and sign the scoresheet after the game. As I understand it, under NCAA (and HS) rules, you check the scoresheet during deadball or timeouts in the dying moments of the game. However, this really doesn't guarentee that a mistake won't be made in the final seconds of the game.

As far as my physical safety goes, I expect that the people that are running the stadium will protect me - whether that means having security on hand, or the police or whatever.

In over 15 years of refereeing basketball, I have only "fled" from a stadium once. It was a particularly close game and supporters from both teams were getting very vocal. My partner and I checked the scoresheet at 3/4 time and decided that we would leave the stadium at the final whistle. However, we did advise the tournament management, and we were required to return after things had cooled down and verify the scoresheet.

As far as I am concerned, I am in control of the game until it is over. The game is over when one team has scored more points than another at the end of the game. The scoresheet records who has scored points, and it is up to me (and my partners) to ensure that there are no errors on the scoresheet. This cannot be done until the end of playing time, so the refeees HAVE to hang around to check the scoresheet.

On a lighter note - I suppose I am blessed by not living in a society that has a huge number of people running around with guns - maybe if I did my perspective would be different?