Referee or Umpire

[Oz Referee]

In Oz there is far less distinction made between the Referee and the Umpires.

However, what we do have is sub-classifications of A, B and C. If you're interested, here is how referees are graded in Australia:


5 - FIBA badged ref - capable of doing international matches (including Olympics)
4 - Top domestic level, minimum level required to do National Basketball League (NBL) games
3 - Usually refs that do pre-season NBL games and that are working towards their level 4
2 - Top regional level grade
1 - Base level
Pre-lim - "trainee" referee

Each level is then split into A,B and C based on experience, assessment, leadership etc.

Don't know if this will help at all....but some may find it interesting. Oh, and all levels are governed by Basketball Australia, so there is consistencey between the states and (in theory) all refs on the same level are of the same ability.