[Shankar M]

While I am going to avoid any of the specific references brought up in the original post, I think it is worth addressing a couple of things related to the clarity of rules and their enforcement at events. Two things regularly stand out to me that perhaps merit some (re)consideration.

Referee Accountability
Let me preface this point by saying that I am eternally grateful to the myriad volunteers that make FIRST tick. The countless hours that are put in by people that give their time to the programme has a profound impact on its participants (me included).

The role of referee is amongst the most difficult to take on at a FIRST event. It takes time to prepare for the event before carrying out the various tasks in a high-energy, stressful environment. It is hard, often thankless, work that makes me admire referees tremendously for the work that they do.

That said, I think one must not ignore the fact that any role (as a volunteer or not) comes with responsibilities. It will not take you very many threads to find a reference to the fact that FIRST is very much a microcosm for the real world. In this real world, accountability for your actions is paramount and ignorance is not a passable excuse. There are plenty of other jobs that are screaming for your involvement if you do not quite have the time to dedicate to being a referee.

Yes referees are volunteers, yes they are human and will occasionally err as we all do, but that is not a get-out-of-jail-free card applicable to every situation. Let us find a way to hold our referees accountable so we do not hear complaints about referee rulings event after event, year after year.

Penalty Announcements
I would love to see penalty calls (and their rationale) explained by the head referee. As the field is reset there is often an opportunity to explain why a call has been made in a given match - there may only be time to explain why technical fouls are called, but something is better than nothing at all.

In my experience, as a score is read off by the announcer readying themselves to introduce the forthcoming match, on rare occasions references may be made to fouls assigned but almost never to why they were called. Perhaps this is to be expected: the announcer's role is keep the atmosphere of the event exciting, not to elucidate the minutiae of the rules.

Allowing the head referee a moment to announce any penalties and why they were enforced as they were would bring transparency to a generally murky realm. It would make clear to all teams at the event how the referee interprets the rules and what actions must be taken to avoid being penalised in the future while adding an element of accountability to the referee's actions.