THE Portland Basketball Association’s grand final day was a big day for the Farley family, with three generations taking part in Sunday’s action.

The eldest participant was Kev Farley, who refereed the division four men’s grand final, while his daughter Joni Farley and granddaughter Havanah Farley-Harvey were victorious in the division four women’s grand final.

Kev told the Portland Observer that he has been refereeing basketball since 1968.

While he was disappointed not to have had the chance to referee his daughter and granddaughter in their grand final, he said it was still cool that they were all able to be part of the day.

“It’s pretty awesome I suppose, they were both introduced to the game at a pretty young age, so I’ve been able to see them work their way through the ranks,” he said.

“I’ve done a lot of refereeing over the years; I can remember the years where we were in a really bad place with numbers willing to ref.

“It’s good to see where the association is at now with its numbers.

“Early on it was a little bit different when I was refereeing Joni, but then again there’s a lot of big families in Portland who all play and ref basketball, so it’s not really that unusual.”

For her part, Joni said it was an awesome day to share with her daughter, especially as its her first season back playing in nearly five years.

“I had to take a few years off due to some health issues, and I was pretty much coerced into playing by (Tigersharks coordinator) Cheryl (Donohue),” she laughed.

“I was pretty nervous about getting back into it to be honest, but all my teammates were super supportive and just encouraged me to keep at it.

“It was a pretty amazing season, we started right down the bottom but just got better and better as the season progressed.

“It was just a really good feeling when we were able to get up and beat the top team, it’s probably inspired me to keep playing basketball for many more years if I can.”

When asked what it was like playing alongside her daughter, Joni jokingly described her as “bossy.”

“She likes to tell me what to do when we’re out there… she has played Coasters, so I suppose it makes sense that she tries to teach me what she’s learned,” Joni said.

“She has a lot to give when she’s out there on the court, hopefully we’ll get another season together before she ends up getting graded up.

“I’ll have to do my best to keep getting better as well and that way maybe the both of us can go up

As for being refereed by her father, Joni said it made her feel like a kid running around out there again.

“He introduced me to the game when I was six, and he’s coached and ‘reffed’ me a heap of times in that,” she said.

“He’s an awesome referee and I think a lot of people could learn a lot from him.

“It was a shame we didn’t have him refereeing the grand final, the refs we did have did a great job but it would have been nice to share the moment with him.”