Often times, players and coaches are always told to stop complaining about referees and focus on the game. On a number of occasions, those who complain have reasons as to why they complain and many of them are legitimate. However, when you complain about the officiating, you are called a sour loser, or just a person who likes to complain even though your complaint is legitimate. It is never addressed.

In these playoffs, we have seen a number of unusual things that the referees have done and most recently, the controversial calls/no calls in the game 3 NBL finals between the City oilers and the Namuwongo Blazers.

Let us start with most obvious ones;

The VAR/ IRS incident

In the game 3 between the Rezlife Saints and the City Oilers, the referees attempted to use a VAR kid of system. What happened was that, City Oilers’ Germaine Roebuck went for a layup and he missed. However, Edrine who was trailing him jumped and touched the back board. No call was made and the Rezlife Saints went on offense and scored. After them scoring, the game was stopped as Coach Andrew Tendo had asked for a review.

The referee in the game, Mande Baker then went to the table and a phone was brought out to review. This shocked the entire Arena because this has never been seen in Uganda. Fast forward, noting was changed and the game continued.

Following that incident, there were very many questions. When did we start using this system? Do we have the capacity to do that? Was the phone used part of the game equipment? What was the criteria followed for the review? Another was whether the necessary camera angles were available?

When you read the FIBA rules, it is very clear when the IRS system can be used and to review whether a foul was committed or not is not one of them. Also, since Rezlife had scored on the other end, I don’t think a goal tend would have been called. But then again, if IRS is to be used, the officials are supposed to inspect it before the game. All that was not done but somehow, we found ourselves in a situation where a review is being made.

The most surprising thing is the fact that the game commissioner was unaware of the arrangement of reviews. Even the other referee was, Nambuya, was looked confused when a review was called. I doubt she was aware of the arrangement or even approved of it. How can the referees plan such things without the knowledge of the game commissioner? Make that make sense?

NBL Finals game 2 delayed by over 40 minutes

When you thought that was the worst thing that we would see in the playoffs, Game 2 of the NBL men’s Final delivered more. The game which was scheduled to start at 8:00 pm ended up starting at around 8:45 pm as the referee had not yet arrived.

This was very embarrassing because the disorganization of the sport was put out there for the whole world to see. How can the game be delayed because the referee is late? How? Fans, TV crew and service providers all arrived hours before the game but somehow a referee can arrive late? If the referee was to come late, there should have been a replacement early on.

According to an inside source, the referee, Mande Baker communicated that he would be late. However, the commissioner decided to delay the game a bit to buy him some time. That did not work because by the time he arrived, a replacement had been made but this was 40 minutes after the game was supposed to have started.

This leaves a question, are we professional? Are we serious?

If you think about the time that thousands of fans wasted waiting for the game start. The airtime wasted on TV and so much more, clearly, the federation officials take other stakeholders for fools. The whole word had to stop for just one person who didn’t even do the job in the end.

Referee Baker wasn’t meant to officiate in the men’s NBL

There is rule that FUBA officials do not officiate in the league in which they are involved. During the regular season, Mr. Baker was mainly doing assessor duties. He never once stepped on the floor to officiate a men’s game. However, in the playoffs, he has done very many games. Someone remind me, is the season done?

We understand that his team was relegated and is not playing at the moment but the season is still ongoing. If he wasn’t meant to officiate this season, why then was he brought back? UPDF is part of the 2026 NBL which is currently ongoing. If the plan is to have players / coaches, who are in the same division not officiate games in that same division, why is this an exception?

Are the commissioners or referee body saying that we have no other qualified referees? I mean, the games went on throughout the season. Can’t they go on without him?

Calls

To err is human and it is okay for referees to make some mistakes. However, some mistakes are unforgivable. An example, in game 3 of the finals, Tonny Drileba made a drive to the basket and was fouled. The referee David Ssenfuma, who was in the best position, indicated 2 free throws. However, baker overruled that it was a foul on the floor. This was seen by everyone and and it seemed obvious but to one official it wasn’t and his decision was final. This was a crucial call because the Blazers had been down by 4 points with about 1 minute left and he Tonny had made 2 free throws, it would have been a 1 possession game.

Another very poor call was the uncalled back court violation in game 3 between the JT Lady Jaguars and the Magic Stormers. Angella Auma lost the ball and it was a clear back court violation. Everyone else seemd to see it except the referees and guess what, she scored a big 3-point shot in the same possession.

Put yourself in Coach Ulanga’s shoes, if that happened, wouldn’t you be mad? But if you get mad, you are threatened with a technical.

Another big example is Patrick Rembert scored a shot which was 2 but the referees counted it as a 3. The whole Arena saw it except the referees. In a very close final like that, everything counts. You can’t afford to make such mistakes.

The big one was the foul on Patrick Rembert at the end if regular time. Brian Ssebalamu saw it and he called it. His initial call was the right one but guess who corrupted his mind.

My theory is, if either Baker or David had made that call, it wouldn’t have been overturned. Another part of me thinks that the refs were afraid of making such a big call. They then made a big and controversial mistake. Had the City oilers lost this game, wouldn’t they have complained? But do you think anything would have been done?

Complaints on deaf ears/ conflict of interest

During or after games, there are usually complaints. We saw Coach John Omondi make multiple protests ahead of game 3. Many coaches usually get clips and send them to the referees group but we haven’t seen anything being done.

Think about it for a second, if Mr. Baker makes mistakes and you don’t want him to officiate your games, where can you report him? I mean, he is the Vice President Technical of the federation and this is his docket.

Another scenario; If David Ssenfuma made mistakes and you want to report him. To whom will you report? He is the head of referees? The commissioners never seem to do anything about the complaints.

There is a lot of conflict of interest and thus lack of accountability. If the head of referees and the head of technical were in supervisorial roles, teams would have were to report to and hopefully there would be accountability. But now, who calls who to book?

As basketball, referees need to be held accountable. Also, the other stakeholders have to be informed about the unusual things that happen during games. Finally, the teams need to be given answers when they complain. The tactic of keeping silent doesnt solve anything.