[archiver]

Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 3/30/2000 8:27 AM MST


In Reply to: You also have to wonder about the refs... posted by Brett R. on 3/29/2000 4:19 PM MST:



: Are these people that go to all the regionals and ref?

: or are they volunteers for that particular regional, and have they even _read_ the rules? (or team updates)
From my experiences working on the crew at the Great Lakes Regional, I can defend FIRST and their referees a bit...the head referee is part of the travelling crew, and the other referees are specific to a given event(at least as far as I saw.) Before the event, the referees have meetings to discuss the rules, and are given a 'referee's book,' which outlines the rules that they need to know. The FIRST crew is rather small, and for them to have a travelling set of referees for all events(especially with some weekends having 3 regionals this year,) they would be more spread out than they already are. Because of this, while the referees may not always be perfect(but truthfully, in what sport are they?), I believe that FIRST is doing the best that they can under the circumstances.

: I think they should have a ref near the alliance stations so teams can talk to the ref about rule infractions the team sees but refs miss (their decision isn't final 'til the match is over).

Also, nowhere in the rules does it state that the decisions are not final until the end of the match. In fact, for some infractions(I don't have my rule book right in front of me, so I can't tell you which ones,) the rules specifically state that the call will be made at the time the action occurs. There are 4-6(don't remember exactly how many) referees at various positions on the field during the match, and if none of them see a violation of the rules, which I believe they are well aware of by the time the competition starts, then we will just have to live with that call. As for the comment of having a referee near the alliance station, the view that the teams may have may not always be the whole picture, and having a ref that always has to be listening to whatever the teams feel is an infraction of the rules(whether it actually is or not) would just distract them from their real job of watching the events taking place on the field, therefore perhaps causing them to miss more important calls.

While the two teams that were part of the alleged infraction of the rules have been quite vocal since Chicago, the voice of FIRST, most likely due to their busy schedule with the last two regionals, as well as preparing for the national competition, has been quite silent on these discussion forums in the past few weeks. I am not going to say whether I believe there was an infraction or not(that's not my call,) however, I just wanted to clear up some of the issues regarding how FIRST chooses and prepares their referees for the competitions.

Nate Smith