Officiating with Archers Basketball – Cardiff Met Archers Basketball

As we reflect on officiating, who better to hear from than Duncan Mackenzie, our officiating co-ordinator. A stalwart of the club, Duncan not only organises our officials, but you will also see him refereeing, on the table, supporting young officials, organising courses and so much more. This year, Duncan was awarded the South-West region Statistician of the year by Basketball England, a very well-deserved accolade for someone who gives so much to the sport.

Duncan, diolch yn fawr for all you continue to do for our club and the sport in Wales and beyond!

Duncan Mackenzie

25 years is a long time! I think I’ve been involved in this role for seven of those years and my time pre-dates COVID, so that always make events feel like a lifetime ago!

We have come so far in that time with the number of games we have running out of the Archers Arena on a weekly basis and the processes we have in place to organise and appoint officials. This season we are scheduled to host 208 home games across all our teams, with around 630 appointments to make from U12s up to the highest levels of BUCS, wheelchair basketball and women’s professional basketball. So far this season we have used 68 officials and are course to spend around £17,000 on officials, which sounds like a lot of money (and it is!) but, because we support and nudge members to get qualified and become officials, much of this money returns to club members who have become referees, table officials and statisticians as well as players and coaches.

And with all that nudging we have been able to support members to become active officials at the highest levels of the domestic game. We are now up to ten (I think, apologies if anyone is missed off the list below!) current members or recent alumni who are active in the WBBL and BBL across all three officiating disciplines, with two of them also holding FIBA qualifications.

We also have a large number of Junior programme members holding qualification and regularly working on senior fixtures. Combined with club members who have achieved international honours for Wales and GB as players and coaches, our officials also punch above their weight!

Additionally, we have had, and continue to have, a number of players from our flagship teams officiating alongside their playing duties. Our senior players, especially from the WPL and WBBL squads, remain great role models to our younger members who not only see them on the court, but also coaching our academy teams and officiating across all our other games – which feels like an appropriate way to run a club.

Our ability to run so many teams and so many games is not just a reflection of the number of players and coaches we have, it also reflects the willingness of our members to get stuck in and support the whole club to function. And long may it continue like that, for another 25 years and beyond!

Current and Alumni members officiating at BBF (British Basketball Federation) and FIBA level:

Matt Godfrey – BBF referee

Azeb Smalley – BBF table official

Eloise Ferguson – BBF table official

Emily Gilroy – BBF table official

Rhian Mackenzie – BBF table official

Rhys Mackenzie – BBF table official and statistician

Barney Blake – BBF table official and BBF / FIBA statistician

Dan Cox – BBF referee and BBF / FIBA table official

Duncan Mackenzie – BBF / FIBA statistician

Caitlyn Riley – BBF table official and statistician

Rebecca Ganley – Four Nations International Table