Regional-specific rules, etc., and do the referees read the rules?

[Carol]

At the regionals I've attended, most of the volunteers at regionals are
from a FIRST team at the event, (with the exception of students from the university hosting the regionals). Frankly, where else would you get volunteers? I've ref'ed at several events, and the fact is that most of the refs are directly involved with a team. They have to sign a paper stating that they will be impartial. If they can, they sit out the matches containing their
team. If not, they take themselves out of any judgment calls such as
tipping. The tendency is actually to be harsher on your team than you would
normally.

At the Championship last year they only selected refs who had done at least
one regional. And again, most were associated with a team. But for the most
part they were assigned to divisions other than their home teams. This is
why it's so hard to find volunteers. You want to watch your team but you
are too busy, and you don't get many breaks (although the free food is
good). This year it will be worse as many more refs are needed and I don't know what the selection process was.

And yes, the refs do read the rules, but I challenge anyone to be able to
memorize 20 pages. The head refs had weekly conference calls to discuss the rules and special training. The other refs have training at the start of the event, and do revisit the various calls during lunch breaks. Most have summary sheets that they use as a reference but occasionally have to go back to the whole rule book as a check. But the rules aren't clear cut and judgment calls have to be made, many in a split second. It's harder than it looks.