This article was written in my local paper about a referee that has taught more people to referee and play asketball than anyone else I know. Just thought I'd post it here as some of it is quite interesting - even if the names and places are meaningless to most of you Yanks
"BLOW THAT WHISTLE NORM" Manly Daily 27 February 2002
The following article, written by Cathy Sweeney, was published on page 45 of the Manly Daily on 27 February 2002.
North McArthur has been the whistle-blower on local basketball courts for longer than most players and fans can remember. CATHY SWEENY takes a closer look at the man who has become a peninsula institution.
NORM McArthur is living proof that "age shall not weary them". Neither a battle with cancer, a heart condition or the stiffness in his legs has ever tempted him to retire from the sport he has loved for more than half a century. At the age of 70, he rates as one of the oldest basketball referees in Sydney and probably Australia. To the basketballers on the northern beaches he is far more than a referee - he is an institution. There is hardly a player in ihc past three decades that did not leam the rules of the game at the hands of Norm McArthur. He has lectured, encouraged, nurtured and instructed them all - from Olympian Brad Dalton down to the youngest mini-baller. It's not uncommon to see a basketball dad stroll up to Norm at a match these days and say; "Hey Norm, do you remember me. You used to ref when I was a a kid," "Now that does make me feel old," laughs Norm but he keeps going and intends to keep going for as long as his body will let him. "I love it, it's as simple as that," he said. "I enjoy helping the young boy tackle another player as if they were on the football field and seem another run the full length of the court with the ball tucked under his arm looking for the tryline. "I've been refereeing for 35 years but I never have to think twice about turning up on Monday nights at Balgowlah Boys High for matches. "1 can't imagine doing anything else." The Curl Curl veteran, a life member of the Manly Warringah Basketball Association, has been around basketball so long he says he can remember back to the days when there was only one basketball court in the whole of Sydney. "In the early days basketball wasn't as big as it is now," he said. "When I played, we had to play on tennis courts and whatever else we could find. "There was this one concrete court that sloped down from the middle so when you were attacking you were always running downhill." "It's fantastic for the kids of today to have this beautiful stadium at Narrabeen with its four courts."
Considering his long history with the game, it is not surprising to learn that Norm has a strong connection to the peninsula's most famous basketball family - the Daltons. "I played with the dad Tom and coached my daughter's team which had Karen Dalton in it," he said. 'And I refereed a grand final that my son was involved in against Brad Dalton when they were much younger." "I've never forgotten it because the scores were level at 8-all and I called my son for a travel." "Brad's team won in extra time and my wife didn't talk to me for a week."
Norm says one of the crucial things when refereeing those just starting out is knowing when to call and when to let things go. "I'm very lenient on the one's coming into the game for the first time and I try and explain what they're doing wrong when they're blown for something." "You have to let them get away with three or four steps initially. If you call them for a travel all the time there's be no game." There are some Tuesdays when Norm admits it's "damn hard" getting out of bed folowing a Monday night session that involved six mini-ball teams. The legs ache, the hip hurts and at around $9 an hour he could hardly call financially rewarding. "I'm not in it for the money that's for sure," he chuckles. "I'm doing it because I love it. It's almost as good as going fishing."
[Edited by Oz Referee on Feb 28th, 2002 at 10:09 PM]