Allan Dobbs

Allan Dobbs was an active basketball referee for more than 25-years, in Rockhampton, Pittsworth, and Brisbane. He refereed at Queensland State Championships from the mid-1960’s until well into the 1970’s and was one of the first referees to be awarded a State refereeing badge.

Allan attended many Australian championships as referee. At the under-18 men’s Australian championships in Sydney in 1971, Allan was awarded his Australian badge which he maintained for quite some years. He was Vice-President of Brisbane Basketball Referees’ Association (BBRA) for nine years, President for two years, and is a life member.

Allan was BBRA referees’ coach for more than ten years during the 1970’s and 1980’sHe was a member of Queensland Basketball Referees’ Association (QBRA) for more than 25-years. He was QBRA President in 1971 and Vice-President in 1972 and 1973. He was elected a QBRA life member in 1982. Allan was a member of the QBRA standards committee for many years from before 1970 into the 1980s.

He was also Queensland state rules interpreter between 1977 and 1980, and his reports and referee education in service documents added significantly to the consistency and commonality of refereeing across Queensland. During the 1970s and 1980s Allan was a highly sought-after referee coach and he conducted referee courses and clinics – too many to count – throughout the state. Under Allan’s guidance, several Queensland officials attained Australian and FIBA rankings.

Allan was an active contributor to the BBRA and QBRA newsletters and regularly used these documents as the vehicle to carry many of his messages about refereeing. In addition, he coached the Queensland under 16 boys team at the 1961 and 1962 Australian Championships and represented Queensland as a player in 1962.

He was also the the inaugural president of Rockhampton Men’s Amateur Basketball Association and founder of Pittsworth basketball.

Allan Dobbs – another outstanding early contributor to referee education and administration in Queensland who, along with a number of colleagues, built the platform on which others would go on to achieve national and international success – and a very worthy member of the Class of 2016 of the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame.

Sadly, Allan passed away on 2 February 2021.