This year we need instant replay

[EricH]

I see three sides to this. One is the team who loses on what they see as a bad call and asks for a replay. Another is the refs' side. The third is the team who has the replay go against them. For the team who asks, instant replay would solve the problem of losing (maybe). For the refs, each individual replay is a new piece of hassle, more teams mad at them, and they still have many more matches to go.

But what about the team that loses due to replay? No one has brought them up yet. How would they feel? They would most likely feel bummed that they lost, probably angry at the refs, and possibly annoyed enough to quit FIRST. Then where does the inspiration go for that school?

I have only reffed at an FLL scrimmage between two teams from the same school. That was hard enough. Having to note when to remove scoring objects and dealing with field damage that could affect points was annoying enough. I didn't have teams coming to me and complaining and asking for instant replay. I know this is FLL, but I think that just from that, I am not sure I want to even attempt reffing a FRC event. I am amazed that the refs even volunteer for these tough calls. Why make their job harder by using instant replay?

If instant replay would make things easier on everyone, I personally would probably say go for it, but it will make things harder on at least one group of the three covered above, and it will disappoint one of the other groups.