Changes to rules mid-event? Rochester Regional

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

I agree that overall that FLR went very smoothly. However, I would like to add another one to the mix here.

6. During a match, we were on the blue alliance. One referee on the red alliance's side of the field waved a red flag about a minute into the match and pointed to the red human player within the red alliance station. The waving of the red flag and pointing to red human player were very clear. This same event happened again about twenty seconds later, indicating a second penalty on the same person. No blue flags waved for the match to indicate penalties on the blue alliance. The final score of the match was 60-60 before penalties. The blue alliance members were all fairly certain that the worst case scenario was that these red penalties were overturned and it would be a tie. However, not only were those penalties overturned to give the red alliance zero points in penalties, but the blue alliance was given 40 points in penalties. After the match, the explanation was simple. The referee who made the call against the red alliance "did not know the rule" regarding whatever he had given a penalty for. That's fine. Everyone is human. Live and learn. The 40 points in penalties assessed to blue, however, were all for the same thing. Our human player apparently reached his hand over the alliance station wall. He does not jump when he shoots. Human players out there know how truly tough it would be to stick their hand over the wall without becoming airborne because of the airlock right in front of them. Not only were these points given, any logic of "he cannot reach that far" was not looked into. We were told that because no other referee could overturn the call, it would stand. That's right... 4 penalties for the same thing without a flag being waved for something that was physically impossible for our human player. Some people also saw video evidence later in the day where it apparently "was not even close to a penalty". The worst part was that a referee was then standing right there the rest of the day to watch our human player. I don't care who you are, it is harder to perform well when someone is watching you the entire time. So I thought I would share that as personal venting for the regional.

Also, we were one of the teams which won the match you talked about in point 4. The teams were all very gracious and when you look at it from their point of view, it really is the only fair call. I am glad that it was replayed because that would be a horrible way for them to have lost a match.