On November 22nd, at the South Australian Sports Awards, Vanessa Devlin received the Official of the Year Award across all sports for her work as a referee in basketball.
The South Australian Sport Awards honour those making outstanding contributions to sport in South Australia. Devlin has been a referee since 1999 when she began her career after attending a level 0 referee course and since then, she has gone on to become one of the most well-respected referees across the country. Devlin said she was extremely honoured to have been recognised for her work in 2019. “I’m so humbled to have received such an incredible award,” Devlin said. “I was very shocked when they read out my name, it was a pretty fantastic feeling.” Michael Haynes, Basketball Australia’s Head of Officials, said that Devlin is one of the best referees that Basketball Australia has. “Vanessa’s achievements in 2019 were significant,” Haynes said. “She officiated in the WNBL grand finals in February and has done numerous 3x3 international events. “Hopefully she will be there in Tokyo when 3x3 makes its Olympic debut.”
