Alleged abuse: Basketball game called off

"In 20-odd years of watching basketball I've never seen anything like it. It's a basketball game, it's middle of the season, there's nothing on it." Photo / Thinkstock

A basketball coach who allegedly hurled abuse at a referee - despite being evicted from the stadium - caused a secondary school game to be called-off.

A spectator, who asked not to be named, said the incident occurred at the premier match between Auckland Girls Grammar School and Westlake Girls High School on June 26.

Just after halftime the Auckland Girls Grammar volunteer coach allegedly started ranting at the referee about a decision he had made, the spectator said.

The coach received a technical foul for the tirade - and responded with unheard words that earned him a second foul just seconds later.

He was evicted from the stadium, and started to walk away, but returned and continued to abuse the referee until the game was called off, the spectator said.

"In 20-odd years of watching basketball I've never seen anything like it. It's a basketball game, it's middle of the season, there's nothing on it.

It was quite bizarre. Some people just need to chill out.

"The girls just stood there stunned," he said.

About 50 people were watching the game but up to 100 were filling the Auckland Boys Grammar gym stands for the premier boys match afterwards, he said.

He said the incident would have been reported to College Sport and possibly Basketball New Zealand because of its severity.

"The kids range in age from about 14 to 18 so they're not young young, but they don't need to witness that.

"The coaches need to, as leaders, show the players the way to react and behave," the spectator said.

Auckland Girls Grammar principal Liz Thomson said the school was aware of the incident but was waiting on a report to confirm the details before commenting further.

She had heard "anecdotal" stories about the incident but could not comment on them.The coach was a volunteer at the school, she said.

College Sport said it could not comment at the time of publication.

Multiple attempts to contact Basketball New Zealand went unanswered.