Referees May Call 'em from Ceiling in Tryout by Varsity

Despite the axe of wartime necessity which hangs over the head of intercollegiate sports, basketball coach Earl Brown will, in a few days, approach the H.A.A. with the proposal that Harvard ho the first Eastern university to experiment with the "crow's nest" system of officiating, a much discussed innovation from out of the West.

Brown's hope is that this system, which raises the referees right off the floor up to platforms above each basket (as shown in the accompanying picture) will not only prove a boon to the actual playing of the game, but will also serve to stimulate spectator interest, something which the coach considers of primary importance at a time when war cloud threaten to eclipse all progress in competitive athletics. "It's well worth a fair trial," brown stated, "and while basketball is still on its feet we should do everything possible to encourage progress in the game.

Brown's Request

Brown will ask the H.A.A. to have a referee's platform, approximating the one shown in the picture, constructed above the baskets on the Varsity court at the Indoor Athletic Building. At the same time he will approach several rival coaches is the Boston area to test their reaction to the idea.

Once the physical barrier, the actual setting up of the "crow's nests," is overcome, he expects that opponents will cooperate wholeheartedly in this "laboratory test."

The case for raising the much-hooted men in the striped shirts up toward the rafters is very convincing, and Brown has only limited objections, mostly of a technical nature. There must be some basic reason, he agrees, why the whistle tooters are a winter-long source of irritation to spectators, coaches, players, and sports writers (and that taken in just about everybody).

Referees Not at Fault

Certainly, he continued, the competency of the referees is beyond question, since most of them have spent years on basketball floors, either as coaches, players, or arbiters. The crow's-nest may be the solution. Test conducted in such big-time atmosphere as the national intercollegiate championships at Kansas City last year showed that it eliminates several possible sources of error.

A referee is often screened out of a play, missing the action, and drawing cat-calls from bitter partisans who feel that their team is being fouled without seeing justice done. "Putting the referees up there over the baskets should give them positions of almost perfect vision," Brown declared, "since it is true that the majority of fouls are caused by lateral action which can be seen best from above."