View Single Post
  #55   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 29-03-2009, 00:28
Racer26 Racer26 is offline
Registered User
no team
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: Beaverton, ON
Posts: 2,229
Racer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond reputeRacer26 has a reputation beyond repute
Re: 2009 Greater Toronto Regional

As some people have come to my defense to say, I wasn't TRYING to say that I think the head ref, or any of the refs WERE displaying a bias. I was trying to bring up the issue that refs who have ties to teams are going to have a really hard time being truly unbiased. They are likely to either a) favor their team(s) or b) be unfairly HARD on their team(s) for fear that they would be accused of favoring their team(s).

Do I think either is what happened in this case? I don't know. Maybe, but that's not really what's important. The bigger question is, is there anything we can do to avoid having refs with ties to teams? I don't think so. The problem is that few people outside of FRC mentors/alums/etc fully understand the dynamic of an FRC match, and few would know the games as intimately. I think having refs who have no ties to an FRC team (and therefore likely know very little about the program) would lead to WORSE reffing than the potentially biased reffing from team-affiliated refs.

I think everyones emotions are a little raw on the issue because the regional could have played out VERY differently if that match had been run with 188 on the field, OR if 188 succeeded in their plan to make the #1 alliance triple their score. The blue alliance only lost the regional by 7 points. The super cell scored by 1114/2056/2185 made the difference.

Also please note: I am an individual. Please do NOT affiliate my views with any team(s) I might be affiliated with.