ASA S. BUSHNELL, Executive Direc-
tor, Central Office for Eastern Inter-
collegiate Athletics; Director, Sports
Section, Office of Coordinator of In-
ter-American Affairs; Director, Col-
legiate Basketball Officials Bureau;
Secretary-Treasurer, Eastern  Inter-
collegiate Basketball League.

BUREAUCRACY IN BASKETBALL

N the spring of 1940 the Collegiate Basketball
Officials Bureau was established through the
interest and cooperation of nine colleges in the
New York metropolitan area. Other institutions in
the East later joined in the sponsorship, with the
result that the Bureau served 24 colleges last year
and lists 26 among its subscribers at the outset of
the 1941-42 season. One purpose of the organiza-
tion is to simplify the process of selecting and as-
signing basketball officials through central appoint-
ment, just as is done in football, hockey, and a
, number of other sports.

An even more important objective is to acquire
uniformity—throughout Eastern territory for the
present, possibly over a wider area in the future—
in officiating methods, techniques and mechanics,
and in the conception of the game of basketball.
It seems superfluous to say that such uniformity is
desirable, and that it has not existed in the past.

The Bureau’s sponsoring colleges felt that previ-
ously there had been not only good and bad ofh-
ciating, but also different kinds and types of good
officiating, with the play of games too greatly af-
fected by this variance. They believed that basket-
ball and basketball officiating would benefit greatly
if steps could be taken to standardize the most
widely approved officiating techniques and to make
the performances of the recognized experts the pat-
tern for all officials.

In an effort to accomplish these ends, a series
of clinics for officials was held last season and
will be conducted again this year. At these sessions
men with many years of experience in handling the
sport demonstrated frequently misunderstood plays
and interpretations.

To this same purpose, a pair of capable field-
men, Dave Walsh of Hoboken and Ellwood Geiges
of Philadelphia, have undertaken the task of ob-

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serving and advising promising younger officials,
in an effort to bring them as quickly as possible

_to the peak of their perfection. Another step has

been distribution among officials registered with the

-Bureau of a small pamphlet entitled “Manual of

Basketball Officiating.” This publication represents
an attempt to commit to paper a definite technique
and method of basketball officiating, and to pre-
sent various suggestions designed to assist indi-
vidual officials and to better officiating in general.

This booklet is just a beginning; if properly and
popularly used, however, it may some day develop
into a manual which will tell the whole story. It
is not felt that a guidebook of this sort will make
good officials out of those who have no ability or
promise, but it does seem certain that it will help
a man with officiating gifts and instincts to make
the most of his possibilities.

In my own opinion the worst foul which basket-
ball officials commit today is one which they share
with persons who never carried a whistle or who
perhaps never saw a basketball game. Like most
people, basketball officials talk too much. In my
view they are too inclined to describe the fouls
which they have called and are too ready to explain
the rulings they have made—with an occasional
comment on the war situation thrown in for good
measure. Fouls called briefly and announced clearly
leave their impression just as well as any others,
and officials who handle rulings in this way are less
likely to antagonize crowds and players as well.

Very briefly, these are the aims of the Bureau.
With basketball now one of the fastest games on
foot, with teams crossing the continent to play each
other before thousands upon thousands of specta-
tors, the skill and keenness of judgment of the offi-
cials must be a tribute to—not a liability for—the
popularity of the sport.