Quote:
Originally Posted by dtengineering
There were several red cards for tipping handed out last week according to discussion on CD. I personally saw one at the PNW Mount Vernon event.
The team that did the tipping was a respected team with a history of GP play. The team that they tipped was also a respected team with a history of GP play. The red card eliminated the alliance from the semis... Neither alliance wanted the match to end that way, I don't think.
The unanimous call by refs across several independent tournaments has been that tipping is illegal, whether you meant to or not. My interpretation is that it is much like high sticking in hockey... Just as a hockey player is responsible for their stick, the drive team is responsible for their robot. If your opponent starts to tip, you MUST back off to prevent the tip.
I wasn't at North Bay, and have no idea in what context you are interpreting this result, but at PNW Mount Vernon, the team that received the red card in the semis, after first appealing the call, returned to ask the head ref if he'd sign the card for them. I don't think they'd ever received one before! I believe I also overheard a member of the drive team comment that the tip looked different on video than it did from the driver station.
It IS possible to get a red card while still being a GP team. But to be clear, a red card for tipping seems to be a very uniform call across multiple events and multiple weeks... "Don't tip robots" appears to be a uniform standard.
Jason
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Jason that is the problem. This was the second robot to get knocked over at the event. No red card on the first. Also fouls were clearly called MUCH more heavily on one side of the field than the other and we raised this issue with the head ref twice only to be ignored. We asked them to rotate refs. No. We also had an issue where a mentor from another team asked one of our students to help him grieve a call. The ref was respectful while the mentor was there but left mid explanation to referee the next match. When he returned after match play the mentor had left. At this point the ref was rude and dismissive to our student who was still waiting for the rest of their explanation of the call.
I am not saying that these things were unfair against us per se. Just that they were unfair. Winning is not the issue. Fairness is. As head refs are understandably hard to come by FIRST would rather allow unfair play than "micromanage" their head refs. Their comment not mine.
We would rather FIRST pay for refs and ensure fair play for the students and mentors across FIRST who bust their butts each year to raise money, volunteer time, sweat, and blood to see these events happen. We centainly pay enough for it.
We will get past this. Of course we will but we are going to Make it Loud. Watch for Fair Play FIRST buttons at our next event and learn how to help us raise the issue with the FIRST executive.