Pioneer Referee Toni Caldwell Calls Time on Career

After 157 games and 13 years as an NBL referee, and 10 years as the only female official, Toni Caldwell leaves the league as a pioneer and role model amongst the referee fraternity.

Caldwell recently announced her retirement from basketball, but her legacy will live on forever, especially in the minds of aspiring female referees.

Mindset is such a vital element of being a referee. It can often times be a thankless job, with pundits quick to highlight your mistakes and slow to celebrate your achievements. As a young female rising through the ranks, Caldwell faced some unique challenges, one of the prime ones being told no.

However, two moments helped Caldwell not only overcome, but smash, any preconceived ideas that a female couldn’t become one of the most well respected officials in Australian sport.   

The first came when she was still in her refereeing infancy, when she wouldn’t let the word no stand in her way.

“I was 18 and someone asked, who wants to ref NBL, and I put my hand up and no one else did, and they were like, oh you probably won’t, girls don’t really do that,” Caldwell said.

“I was like, do you know who you’re talking to? The NBL was my dream and my goal when I was 18 and to do that was all I ever wanted.”

The second came when an icon of Australian basketball delivered a message to Caldwell that has stuck with her ever since.

“My first game, I wasn’t even on the panel, I was a development referee,” she said.

“I filled in for Scott (Butler) because he was sick. I remember walking out onto the court, and I turned up and I was like, hi, I’m here to ref.

“Phil Smyth from Adelaide grabbed me and said Toni, don’t listen to a word they say, it’s all bullshit and you’ll be great. Those words kind of stuck with me for the rest of my career.”

It’s a message that inspired Caldwell to thrive as a referee in a career filled with memories and highlights.

She now hopes her story can be used to help other young female officials who are looking to make it to the elite level.

“A little 5’3 person from Ipswich being able to run around the court and be the only female official for the last 10 years – if I’ve encouraged one young girl to pick up a whistle or one young girl to play basketball or to go after what they dream of, then that’s the highlight for me,” Caldwell said.

Those aren’t just empty words from Caldwell, as she is working with the next generation of officials in her home state of Queensland.

“I mentor a lot of young female officials and I’m always jumping onto the court and reffing with the little under 10 kids and still doing those types of things at the grassroots level,” she said.

“I always say to young girls, just be yourself. Don’t try and be someone you’re not. Use your personality and be kind and treat people the way you want to be treated and you’ll get that respect back. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something.”

Not only can Caldwell retire comfortably knowing she is still making an impact with the next generation, she also knows the NBL is putting structures in place to assist the next wave of officials.

“I think Larry (Kestelman), Jeremy (Loeliger) and Scott (Butler) have opened that door for young female officials to come through,” she said.

“That’s why I feel like I can retire. People have always said to me you need to stay there so young female officials can see what they can aspire to and I’m like well, I’ve done my job, I’ve done that, that’s up to the next group to come through now and I look forward to sitting on the couch and watching them.”

That being said, Caldwell is well aware of the barriers female officials face. While improvements are continuing to be made, she hopes more is done to keep talented female referees involved in basketball.

“It’s different for us. I gave up having a family where some women might not want to do that, there’s other opportunities for women and we deal with things differently,” Caldwell said.

“I think we have to make sure we nurture those young female officials coming through in the right way to keep them. We lose them at a certain point, and we need to work out what deters them from going that step further.

“I think having some programs in place that recognise the differences in learning and the different ways they deal with pressure and deal with certain situations will certainly help.

“There is some great female talent around, especially in Queensland. There’s some great ones coming through and I hope some of those under 10 ones I’ve taught in the last few years grow up and in 20 years are part of the NBL.”

The love of basketball will never disappear for Caldwell but approaching 45-years-old and having dealt with family tragedy, she has recalibrated and decided to pour energy into other areas of her life.

“I haven’t refereed since March, haven’t picked up a whistle and we found out last year my mum had melanoma in her brain,” Caldwell said.

“I reffed the whole season with that on top of me and then she passed away in July. This year put a lot of things in perspective for me of what’s really important and where I want to go in the next stage of my life.

“Basketball just wasn’t a part of that anymore. You sacrifice so much personally, I didn’t have children, professionally I gave up career opportunities for basketball and I just didn’t want to do that anymore. Basketball just wasn’t having that positive impact anymore.”

In reflection though, Caldwell will forever be thankful for what basketball gave her, the memories she made and the relationships she was able to build.

“You love the sport, and you love the game, that’s why I’m involved in it,” she said.

“When some of those athletes dunk that ball or do something amazing you’re like, holy crap, did that just happen? I’m right there and part of it.

“I’ve been so lucky to see the NBL change and grow to what it is today and to have been a part of that in the last few years especially has just been amazing and I’ve been so honoured.

“I got a beautiful phone call from Carrie Graf and beautiful messages from people I didn’t even know. People would message me going, you don’t know us, but we have watched you for a number of years, and I’m like, oh my god.

“It’s those relationships and those friendships that you build over the years and people like Michele Timms and Sandy Brondello have helped me over the years, Lorraine Landen was my mentor from Basketball Australia and she’s the one that got me into FIBA.

“I got to travel the world with basketball, like how lucky am I to have done what I’ve done just from refereeing a sport.

“It just goes to show you don’t have to be a player or a coach, refereeing can take you to those heights and can be just as fulfilling and wonderful.”