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29 September 2026  2 min read

Two men, one grand tour – Basketball England's mission to prepare officials for 2026/27 

Officiating Senior Delivery Manager Simon Unsworth and Officiating Development Manager Shaun Williams took their Regional Officiating Conference tour around the country, as well as hosting online sessions, to refresh and prepare BE officials for the 2026/27 campaign. 

The pair visited all of BE's 10 regions, hosting 11 in-person events and connecting with more than 1,000 officials to explain FIBA rule changes and points of emphasis for the new season. 

One of Basketball England's priorities under the 'Game' section of the organisation's 2025-29 Strategy is to 'increase the volume and quality of officials trained and deployed'. 

As part of that aim, the target of the tour was to prepare the officiating workforce to be able to deliver the best possible service to leagues, clubs and teams during the new season which has just got underway. 

Topics of discussion included clock management, special situations and the effective processing of plays from start to finish, with new rules such as flagrant fouls and disruptive fouls a key area of explanation. 

Williams said: 

"We set our Conferences to reach as many officials around the country as possible within the limited timeframe available.  

"We are really pleased that the number of officials attending the online sessions and the in-person Regional Officiating Conferences from year to year are increasing which justifies our commitment to hosting a conference in each region.  

"This year was an important one with some significant changes to the Official Basketball Rules along with our other points of emphasis, and we'd like to thank all the officials that attended the various events." 

The West Midlands Regional Officiating Conference

Key figures 

On the Regional Officiating Tour, Simon and Shaun: 

• Travelled 1,800 miles 

• Visited 10 regions 

• Delivered 15 sessions, totalling 48 hours - 11 face-to-face, 4 online 

• Engaged 1068 officials  

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