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20 August 2025  6 min read

Basketball England Officiaiting Conferences 2025 - times, dates, venues

We are pleased to announce information about the Pre-Season Officiating Conferences taking place throughout September for referees, table officials and statisticians.

The face-to-face National Officiating Conference previously planned for 5-7 September will no longer take place following the realignment of the previous NBL1 competition.

We will host at least one face-to-face conference in each region for officials during September which will involve information about how games will operate under the new membership system, PlayHQ, along with online sessions for national referees, table officials, and statisticians throughout the month.

The pre-season officiating conferences are set out to provide vital education and training for officials operating in our competitions with key points of emphasis and learnings from the 2024/25 season.

National Referee, Table Official & Statisticians Conferences

The national referee sessions will take place on Monday 1 and Thursday 4 September.

The national table officials sessions will take place on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 September.

The national statistician sessions will now be delayed and are scheduled to take place week commencing on Tuesday 30 September and Saturday 4 October.

You should attend all sessions in relation to your discipline. You will receive an email with the meeting link the day before the session.

Referees

• Session 1: IOT & Mechanics - Kate Unsworth - Monday 1 September 19:00-20:00
• Session 2: Communication: When & How? - FIBA - *to be rearranged
• Session 3: Game Ready: Season Start Information - Simon Unsworth - Thursday 4 September 19:00-20:00
• Session 4: Play Calling - Neil Wilkinson - Thursday 4 September 20:30-21:30

Table Officials

• Session 1: Game Clock and Shot Clock Scenarios - Mark Patton - Tuesday 2 September 19:00-20:00
• Session 2: Communication: When & How? - Jan Timms - Wednesday 3 September 19:00-20:00

Statisticians

• Session 1: Video Analysis & Introduction: Assists and Turnovers - Nir Waidman - Tuesday 30 September 19:00-20:00
• Session 2: Assists and Turnovers - Nir Waidman - Saturday 4 October 10:00-11:00

Regional Officiating Conferences

These sessions are for both referees and table officials.

Face-to-face sessions

Weeknight conferences will run 6-10pm. Weekend sessions will run 10am-2pm.

• Sunday 7 September: North West - Archbishop Beck Catholic Sports College, Liverpool - Tom Muddiman & Zoe Silcock
• Monday 8 September: North East - Life Unity City, Middlesborough - JonPaul Heron & Sally Shillinglaw
• Tuesday 9 September: Yorkshire - University of Huddersfield - Kate Unsworth & Claire Ormandy
• Wednesday 10 September: East Midlands - Broomfield College, Derby - Martin Ford & Christine Chambers-Desmond
• Thursday 11 September: East - Sawston Sports Centre, Cambridge - David Griffin & Shaun Williams
• Friday 12 September: London (1) - Barking Riverside Campus, Barking - John Letizia & Shaun Williams
• Monday 15 September: South East - K2 Crawley - Ian Lester & Shaun Williams
• Tuesday 16 September: South - Wellington Health & Fitness Centre, Crowthorne - Ian Lester & Shaun Williams
• Wednesday 17 September: South West - Bristol Grammar School - Andy Thackray & Owen Parker
• Friday 19 September: West Midlands - University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus - Daniel Cox & Shaun Williams
• Saturday 20 September: London (2) - Ark Soane Academy, Acton - John Letizia & Shaun Williams

Sign up here

Weekday Agenda

• 18:00: Welcome & Introduction (Referees & Table Officials)
• 18:10: PlayHQ & Game Day (Referees & Table Officials)
• 19:00: Complex Scenarios (Referees & Table Officials)
• 19:45: Break
• 20:00: Points of Emphasis (Referees & Table Officials)
• 21:00: On Court Mechanics (Referees)
• 21:30: Fitness Test (Referees)
• 22:00: Close

Please note, subject is schedule to change.

Weekend Agenda

• 10:00: Welcome & Introduction (Referees & Table Officials)
• 10:10: PlayHQ & Game Day (Referees & Table Officials)
• 11:00: Complex Scenarios (Referees & Table Officials)
• 11:45: Break
• 12:00: Points of Emphasis (Referees & Table Officials)
• 13:00: On Court Mechanics (Referees)
• 13:30: Fitness Test (Referees)
• 14:00: Close

Please note, subject is schedule to change.

NBL Referee Criteria 2025/26

NBL referees are expected to run fitness tests at a regional conference. We are not accepting referees running and filming their own fitness tests.

The fitness test is a multi-stage fitness test where you must run 20-metre shuttles at increasing speed following an audio track (which can be found here). If you feel unwell during the fitness test, you must stop. We recommend that you practice the fitness test prior to attending a conference.

We will use Testportal for this year's officiating test. You will be asked 25 questions from the bank of questions that are available below. The test will be based on 2024 OBR v1.0a, 2024 OBRI v1.0a, IOT manual and 2PO/3PO mechanic manuals. 

Where not specified in the question, A1 - A5 are the players on the playing court from the offensive team, A6 - A12 are the substitutes or excluded players from the offensive team. B1 - B5 are the players on the playing court from the defensive team, B6 - B12 are the substitutes or excluded players from the defensive team.

The test was active from Monday 25 August to Sunday 7 September 23:59. For those who need to resit, the resit window is now open from Monday 22 September to Sunday 5 October. A further resit window will open on Monday 20 October if necessary.

Referee Practice Questions
Referee Resit

All referees are expected to attend a regional referee conference and successfully pass the rules test and fitness test to be eligible for games at their competency level. A resit is available for those who are unsuccessful at the rules test but will receive restricted appointments for the first three weeks of the season.

NBL Table Official and Statistician Criteria 2025/26

We encourage all table officials and statisticians who wish to officiate in the NBL to sign up for the national conference and take full advantage of the learning that is available.

Appointments to prestigious games will be prioritised for those who attended the National Conference and passed the rules test.

We will use testportal for this year's rules test. You will be asked 25 questions from the bank of questions that are now available below. The test will be based on 2024 OBR v1.0a and 2024 OBRI v1.0a, TOM v6.5.

Where not specified in the question, A1 - A5 are the players on the playing court from the offensive team, A6 - A12 are the substitutes or excluded players from the offensive team. B1 - B5 are the players on the playing court from the defensive team, B6 - B12 are the substitutes or excluded players from the defensive team.

The test was active from Monday 25 August to Sunday 7 September 23:59. For those who need to resit, the resit window is now open from Monday 22 September to Sunday 5 October. A further resit window will open on Monday 20 October if necessary.

Table Official Practice Questions
Table Officials Resit
Statistician Practice Questions
Statisticians Resit

What's on - the BE officiating calendar