James criticises the quality of refereeing in the BBL this season

Worcester Wolves head coach Paul James has criticised the quality of refereeing in the BBL this season.

The England Senior Men's team boss says some officials are not experienced enough but the BBL have denied that standards have dropped.

"I've tried to speak to the official supervisor about the way the game is being called," James told BBC Hereford & Worcester.

"Some of these referees they are bringing in aren't ready for the BBL."

The former Leicester player added: "It's frustrating because I'm working the guys really hard in training week-in and week-out to do a certain thing. If they don't perform I deal with it.

"But there are referees out there who are not performing and not being dealt with."

The Wolves head coach said he has seen a number of contentious decisions already this season.

"Some of the referees are going round thinking they can do no wrong and I'm not the only coach who believes that, trust me," he said.

BBL chief operating officer Andy Webb called James's comments "surprising" as the league have only received one official complaint this season from the Wolves coach and only a handful of complaints in total from the other coaches.

"It seems a little inconsistent for a man who says there are serious areas of concern if he's only made one that was proven to be unfounded and to the satisfaction of Paul," he said.

When I was head coach at Guildford and we were winning titles I complained more then. I don't want people to think I'm moaning because we're losing Paul James

"There is a misconception among the coaches that referees aren't held accountable for any under-par performances.

"We have overall accountability for our officials, we chose them, we monitor and assess them on a regular basis. If we think we have an official who isn't up to scratch we address that."

James admits he has only made one official complaint this season but said he had spoken on the phone a number of times with the official supervisor of referees for the BBL, Will Jones.

"It's a bit of apathy," he said. "You get to the point where you don't complain because you know nothing will ever get done.

"It's just one of those things we're just banging our heads against a brick wall at the moment. So, it is what it is and we just have to get on with it and deal with it as best we can.

"When I was head coach at Guildford and we were winning titles I complained more then. I don't want people to think I'm moaning because we're losing. We're not talking about real technical stuff, these are black and white calls.

"They are refereeing the superstars," James added. "The likes of [Great Britain's] Andrew Sullivan don't get calls against them in order to keep them in the game. I've had players who are stars in the league who have got away with literally murder, it's not right and I've moaned about that.

"Referees need to call the game, regardless of who the player is and we'd have a better game."

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