With sanctioning for refs, high school basketball season could finally start in Miami-Dade
The Florida High School Athletic Association will sanction the Miami Dade Basketball Officials Association, after all — at least on a provisional basis.
Still, it means high school basketball season will begin in full in Miami-Dade County in the next week after a slight delay as local referees refused to register with the Greater Miami Athletic Conference and FHSAA in an effort to start their own, independent officials association.
In an email sent Tuesday and obtained by the Miami Herald, FHSAA associate executive director Justin Harrison told county officials it would be “granting provisional sanctioning” to Miami Dade Basketball Officials Association (MDBOA) for the current school year. Registration opened for MDBOA officials Tuesday, and they will have until Friday to register with the FHSAA as part of the MDBOA and take the state’s basketball exam.
With the current timeline, a full slate of games could begin early next week. The MDBOA’s executive board is scheduled to meet Tuesday to sort out its next course of action.
The regular season began for girls’ basketball Monday, with the vast majority of games postponed because of a shortage of referees. The boys’ basketball regular season begins Monday.
Sanctioning for the MDBOA came after nearly a year of efforts by Miami-Dade County officials to start their own association rather than remain part of the Greater Miami Athletic Conference. They initially proposed the MDBOA in December of 2020 before formally applying for sanctioning with the FHSAA in May. Their original proposal was denied after the MDBOA fulfilled all requirements except for a nebulous requirement that the association provide a reason to exist.
To try to find an answer to this vague requirement, the FHSAA asked athletic directors from the Greater Miami Athletic Conference (GMAC) whether they felt it necessary to start an additional officials association. They said it was not, but the MDBOA alleges the question was misleading and left out important context.
The MDBOA was seeking independence to avoid GMAC registration fees — currently $45 for referees — and make sure more money was allocated to officials for training and scholarship programs. With the MDBOA now sanctioned, 24 of the Florida’s 26 officials associations are self-governed.
As basketball season neared the situation remained unresolved, fewer than 10 referees registered with the GMAC, leaving it with far too few officials to reasonably conduct a season. Most girls’ basketball preseason games last week were postponed or canceled and the situation came to a head.
Last Tuesday, 17 athletic directors from Miami-Dade private and charter schools met and jointly sent an email to the FHSAA, throwing support behind the MDBOA. Ransom Everglades’ Corey Goff, who sent the email on behalf of the ADs, said they “feel there is now a dire need in our county for an additional association.”
The FHSAA, however, denied the MDBOA again, this time citing its organizing tactics as a reason for the denial. The FHSAA, Harrison wrote in an email to the 17 ADs on Thursday, “cannot support individuals in leadership roles implying and telling officials what to do.”
Less than a week later, the FHSAA finally relented. With the threat of large-scale cancellation of high school basketball games across Miami, the FHSAA acquiesced to the MDBOA’s demands, and the season is ready to finally begin.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 11:07 AM.
