How to Manipulate the Referees to Make Every Call in Your Team’s Favor
August 4, 2014 by Coach Mac 10 Comments
Photo Credit: jDevaun via Compfight cc
Want to know exactly how to get the referees to give you every call? Simple. Bribe them with money.
Woah, relax. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. We would never do that at BFC
While bribing referees might not be the best option to get some extra calls, there are a number of ways to increase the chances of the whistle being blown in your favour…
Now I understand that there are going to be some people that have a problem with this article. It’s a little bit controversial. ‘Manipulating referees’, ‘referees deciding the outcome of games’, it’s an intense and highly debated topic. But an important one that must be talked about.
There are some people out there that believe the referees have no influence whatsoever on the outcome of the basketball game.
That is a lie. A huge lie.
A couple of referee decisions can decide a basketball game. Referees have decided many games before and will decide many, many games in the future.
Here are nine strategies that will help your team get a few extra calls every game if used correctly. 1. Build Trust Before The Game
The very first thing you need to do is build trust between you and the referees working the game. This needs to start before the game begins.
If you have the same referee a few times a season or during a tournament, building a rapport with them can go a long way to getting a few extra calls in games. Not because they’ll favor your team, but, for example, once you develop a rapport with a referee, there’s a far better chance they’ll listen to what you have to say during a game instead of shrugging you off.
How can you build trust? Here are a few of the things I do…
1. Be sure to introduce yourself to both referees before the game.
2. Ask them a question: “How’s the tournament going?”, “How’s your day going?”, etc.
3. Smile. 2. Learn Their Names
Taking the couple of extra seconds before the game to remember the referee’s name’s is important. There’s a big difference between…
“Ref! Come on, where was the foul?” and “Michael! Come on, where was the foul?”.
Referee’s will be more inclined to talk to you if you address them by their name. 3. Compliment Them on Correct Calls
You want to let the referee know that you know the difference between a good call and a bad call. Regardless of which team it’s called on.
Usually for beginner coaches the only time they attempt to communicate with the referee is when they have a problem with a call. They’re only communicating with them about the negatives.
Experienced coaches don’t only interact on the negatives. They compliment them on good calls, whether they go in favour of their team or not.
I don’t recommend doing this on every call. I save this for when it’s a 50/50 call and the referee might be receiving a few negative words from players or parents. Regardless of what team it benefits, if it’s a 50/50 call and I believe the referee got it correct, if they’re close to me I’ll compliment them on the call. 4. Ask Them to Watch Specific Parts of the Game
Sometimes all it takes to receive a few calls is to make the referee’s aware of what you think they should be calling.
Countless times I’ve asked a referee to “please keep and eye on ____” and we’ve suddenly received the next couple of calls on the exact thing I’ve asked them to watch.
Here are a few examples…
“Hey Michael, can you keep an eye on how long number 41 is staying in the paint?”
“Hey Larry, can you watch number 24? He’s holding my guy every time he cuts”.
When you bring a potential call to the referee’s attention they WILL start looking for it each time down the court. 5. Teach Your Players How to Respond
Just as players don’t make every shot and coaches don’t make all the right substitutions, referee’s don’t get every call right 100% of the time.
If you’re trying to receive some calls in your favor, the last thing you want is for your