Eddie Crouch

Sort Order HTML <h2><strong>EDDIE CROUCH OAM</strong></h2>

Sort Order HTML <h2><strong>Inducted as Technical Officer</strong></h2>

Sort Order HTML <p>Officiated more than 50 international games</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Officiated Olympic Games - 1984</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Officiated at Women’s World Championships - 1979, 1983, 1986</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Officiated at Men’s World Championships - 1982</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Officiated in NBL from 1979-2003 –802 games</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>WNBL Commissioner for 21 years –1982-2003</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Life Member of Victorian Basketball Referees Association - 1976</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Life Member of WNBL</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Honorary Life Member of FIBA</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Life Member of NBL</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>NBL Hall of Fame</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Has been President (1976-78, 1990-92) and Secretary (1981-1989) of Victorian Basketball Referees Association</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Prime Ministerial Sports Achievement Award – 2003</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Ambassador for Australian Sports Commission’s Year of the Official – 2003</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Order of Medal for Services to Basketball – 2004</p>

Sort Order HTML <h2><strong>Eddie Crouch</strong></h2>

Sort Order HTML <p>Regular referee coach and grading officer for Victorian Country Basketball, along with Tasmanian Basketball</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Referee advisor at Bulleen basketball Association for 10 years</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Referees committee with Basketball for 15 years</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>National Referees Commission – sub-committee for 10 years</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Eddie Crouch has made an outstanding contribution to refereeing both here in and internationally. He has always been one of the most respected officials by both athletes and coaches and has an impressive 802 games in the NBL. A most worthy nominee for the Hall of Fame</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Inducted as a Contributor in 2006</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Eddie Crouch officiated at more than 50 international games.</p>

Sort Order HTML <p>He officiated at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the 1982 World Championships for Men, </p>

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Sort Order HTML <p>Tomorrow he leaves with many saying he is still required but with the pleasure of bowing out in a key game in his home city. </p>

Sort Order HTML <p>The opposing coaches talk fondly of him, and Mark Wright of the Giants gratefully remembers an early Crouch &quot;no call&quot;. </p>

Sort Order HTML <p>Wright said he was in a fight with American Doug Coward while playing for Nunawading in the late 1970s. Their battle turned into an all-in brawl, after which Wright said to Crouch, &quot;Am I reported, Eddie?&quot; He took a deep breath on hearing, &quot;Nah, there&#39;s just too bloody many&quot;. With Crouch in the last match will be 700-gamers and long-time mates Bill Mildenhall and Ray Hunt, all level one refs, which breaks the league&#39;s cost-saving guidelines by putting together three top graders rather than one with a level two and a level three umpire. Crouch will toss the ball to start the game. &quot;It will be pretty emotional,&quot; said Hunt, who expects Crouch to go through his usual pre-game routine.&quot;He&#39;s always the last to leave the referees&#39; room, and he checks twice to see the door is locked,&quot; said Hunt. &quot;And he likes his shoes neat and tidy under the bench - the referees in the know kick them as they go out.&quot;Mildenhall said Crouch deserved no less than to reach his 800 games, and Crouch would expect no less than his younger mate having a shot at him. Mildenhall, who learnt so well from and with Crouch that he took over the mantle as No. 1 referee several seasons back, gets annoyed that people mistake him for Crouch. &quot;I don&#39;t mind it if I&#39;ve made a mistake, but when they&#39;re praising you as Eddie ...&quot;Crouch&#39;s peers describe him as the ultimate politician, someone who can talk his way out of anything. &quot;Eddie gets a little behind the play occasionally and sometimes will call something that is out of his own area,&quot; said Mildenhall.&quot;But he&#39;ll sprint to the scene and by the time the player turns around, Eddie is on top of him. He&#39;s very clever.&quot;He has that ability to manage the game, so even if he makes mistakes everybody has a great deal of respect for him. &quot;He seems not to get such a hard time from the players that other refs found hard to deal with. Eddie could win them over.&quot; &quot;I just give them the respect they deserve,&quot; said Crouch. &quot;There are other ways than jumping in with a technical foul.&quot; Crouch does not suffer from what refs call rabbit ears, so has with stood a lifetime&#39;s abuse after becoming a referee for what he said was the wrong reason.&quot;I had had only two and sixpence left after paying board (when an apprentice fitter and turner), I needed the spending money.&quot;Reffing provided handy pocket money as he widened his education - he is now vice-principal of Thornbury Darebin Secondary College - and watched basketball grow from a church hall at Fitzroy where the end lines were two to three feet up the wall, to the dog pavilion at the showgrounds, to Albert Park, to the Glasshouse, and on to Rod Laver and Vodafone arenas. &quot;I&#39;ve had a few whistles in that time,&quot; Crouch said.All well blown. </p>