Quote:
Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday
I believe the general order of things in the case of a disagreement:
FIRST HQ>Head Ref>Q&A>Team Update>The Manual
Of course, the head ref is supposed to follow all Q&A, updates, and manual entries but for interpretation he or she is the ultimate authority at an event.
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It's a funny thing about officiating. What referees say is final (unless the rules of the competition specify some kind of appeal, which FIRST doesn't); however, in theory, they are required to enforce all of the rules, and considering that FRC Q&A is considered "official", they are also required to enforce those. This is a quote I like from a website about soccer refereeing:
As the referee, you are the sole judge of facts, but still at the mercy of the rules. So if you say that a defender grew an extra arm out of his head to deflect the ball away from the goal, your league will stand behind you (though possibly not very close in this case). But if you then award a throw-in for handling the ball, you've broken the rules and your decision can be contested, especially if it affects the outcome of the game.
More on-topic, hopefully FIRST will clarify to all its referees in the future that the Q&A is official, and hopefully make it (or selected parts of it, at least) required reading.