Basketball SA is pleased to announce the following appointments:

Central ABL Referee Commissioner                                   Trevor Baker
Senior District Referee Commissioner                                Chris Clarke
Junior District Referee Commissioner (North-West)         Nathan Wieland
Junior District Referee Commissioner (South-East)           Matthew Pepicelli

The main role of the commissioners is to roster referees to games as follows:

Role	Competition Scope
Central ABL Referee Commissioner	Central ABL
Senior District Referee Commissioner	State League Division 2 and 3 Metro League Division 1,2 and 3
Junior District Referee Commissioner (North-West)	Friday night district games (Dome Hillcrest, Mars, Port Adelaide, Starplex)
Junior District Referee Commissioner (South East)	Friday night district games (Adelaide Hills, Marion, Morphett Vale, Pasadena, Wayville)

The Central ABL referee commissioner will continue to roster referees to CABL games in conjunction with referee coaches. The other commissioner positions are new, and will take over rostering duties from the Referee Development Manager Neil Poulton. The creation of these positions is a part of an overall strategy to improve the standard and quantity of referees in both the district competition and across the state.

Referees will continue to communicate their availability to the Referee Development Assistant, Heidi Verheyen. Any other issues regarding refereeing in the district competition should now be communicated to the Competitions Manager, Paul Arnott, and for issues raised by club members, this communication should be via a club secretary.

Referees, coaches, players and parents should not need to communicate directly with the commissioners. We are asking all participants to respect the new structure and allow the commissioners to do their job effectively.

All referee commissioners have a high level experience as referees, and also bring their development and rostering experience to the competition. Basketball SA congratulates them on their appointment, and thanks them for volunteering their time to assist with the development of refereeing in South Australia.

Trevor Baker

In many roles, Trevor has played an integral part in the training and development of referees in Australia, and in 2006 was awarded the inaugural Basketball Australia Volunteer Award for contribution to Officiating for over 40 years of outstanding service. At a national level, he has been a member of the NBL National Appointments committee and Basketball Australia Technical Commission since their inception. Locally, Trevor's roles with BASA included Referees Training Officer and Rules Interpreter, but his involvement has extended beyond the district competition - he was also member of the SA Country Referees Committee for 7 years, and is a life member of the SA Church Basketball Officials Association.

In 2008 Trevor continues his role National Referees Commissioner of the ABA, a position that is assigned to leagues on a rotating basis.

Chris Clarke

Chris was one of the early members of the National Referee Development Program, a program that he now co-ordinates in SA. His referee achievements include selection to 10 National Championships, including an appointment to a Grand Final of the National Schools Basketball Tournament. Prior to retiring from active refereeing in 2005, he refereed State League and Central ABL games for a many years.

As a developer of referees, Chris spent some time as an umpire-in-charge at Hillcrest, and is now an ABA and WNBL evaluator. Prior to his commissioner appointment, he has devoted many hours to referee development in the Basketball SA senior district competition.

Nathan Wieland

Nathan has graduated through the ranks of South Australian refereeing to the national panel, and has refereed NBL, WNBL and SEABL games for several years. Locally, he has been appointed to referee Central ABL Men's or Women's Grand Finals in each of the last 6 years, and was also rewarded with an appointment to the ABA National Women's Grand Final in 2006.

As well as his refereeing achievements, Nathan brings to the role his rostering experience as an umpire-in-charge in the junior district competition at Wayville.

Matthew Pepicelli

As a referee, Matthew has attended 4 National Championships, and for the last two years has been selected to be involved in the National Referee Development Program. He is currently a senior panel official, and has been refereeing Central ABL games for the last 7 years.

Mathew also has referee rostering and development experience, having been an umpire-in-charge in the junior district competition at Marion and Adelaide Hills over the last 4 years.