Inconsistencies in cross-border reffing

[jforgues]

I live right next to an inter-provincial border in Canada Two separate, distinct reffing regional associations operate on each side of the border (Province A's and Province B's). On top of that, one province operates with NFHS rules, while the other operates with FIBA.

Having reffed and coached on each side of the border, it is very noticeable that Province A calls the fouls much tighter than Province B. While Province B refs allow some contact, Province A refs whistle the minute there's very little contact. This is very consistent over the 100+ games that I've personally witnessed over the last 4 years.

Now I ref 95% of my games in Province B -- (the one that calls less fouls). Anytime I ref a team from Province A, I get accused of not calling enough fouls. For instance, this weekend I got the cliche quote "my girls are getting mugged out there !!!".

I was curious to see if you've experience something similar in your neck of the woods and how do you address a coach that expects more fouls to be called because he's used to a tighter style of reffing.

[Jurassic Referee]

I've noticed the same thing between neighboring associations, let alone wider geographical areas.

As long as the officials in each area are consistent in the way that they call contact, coaches don't have any reason at all to whine. Imo, most of the coaches make statements like the one you quoted at the bottom of your post to actually say that they want more fouls called on their opponents, not their team.