Refereeing

[Danny Blau]

One major difference between soccer and FRC is the idea that all FRC matches should be officiated exactly the same way. In soccer everyone that plays, coaches, watches or officiates knows thats each referee is different and will call the game differently from the last official. The soccer rule book (FIFA Laws of the Game) is filled with statements like "in the opinion of the referee...", and these give the refs the ability to apply common sense to a situation and make an appropriate decision. There is very little that is black and white about officiating a soccer game; was that a push or not, was the player tripped or did they slip on the ball, did the ball hit the ball hit their hand or body? In my opinion the fact that each referee can call a game differently is one of the best aspects of soccer, it forces the players and coaches to adapt to the game, to change their play to best match the opponents and the ref. You could have one ref that's very strict and one that a lot looser, and both are correct.

Without question soccer has a manly European influence and the rules show this, however, FIRST seems to be following the path of the largely American sports like Football and Baseball where a new rule must be created for every nuance of the game. by comparison the youth football rule book is 7 to 8 times thicker than the Laws of the Game.

The sports model is nice but I say take a page from industries' rulebook. In industry there is no rule book because the rules are always changing, people and companies have to react to whats going on around them right now not what they want to be happening or was was going on last month or last week. Give the referee's the flexibility to call matches the way they see fit, there's no reason that a match played in one regional has to be officiated the same as a match in another regional.

Danny B