the referee’s award would be awarded to the team with the least penalties.
i think it might be a good idea bit it might be a bit redundant.
post your thoughts
There would be to many teams that would have no penalties to give an award to just one team…
maybe the people who dont get any penalties are elligable for the award and the refs pick the team that best follows the rules or represents the game.
what would the other criteria be?
matches that are played in the spirit of first. such as scoring for the other team to make the match closer, righting a and opposing robot.
maybe it could be decided by the refs kinda like the judges award
That would be a really cool idea! Maybe the refs could pass out something to a team that doesn’t get any penalties after every match , then at the end of the whole competition the teams with the most “chips” could be eligible for that award! Then maybe the refs could pick the team that scored the most, but still managed not to get a penalty out of all of those eligible teams. 
I am dead set against this. We don’t have favorites, or at least we should not, and should not give the appearance that we do.
We don’t judge; we enforce the rules. Teams should not be looking to get an award from us - if you know what I mean. :eek:
This makes just as much sense as a police officer stopping a non speeder and giving them the equivalent or even more then what they would be docked had they speeded… your reward should only be the lack of penalties given, respect from other teams and possibly respect from the refs for following the rules, no need for any more rewards, besides teams don’t want to play with those that get penalties… so even in Alliance selections you are getting rewarded… Bad idea, besides the majority of refs I know are in some way connected to a team, and this is a much easier place for biassed views to come into play, as its hard to let go of a blatant penalty even if you are biassed. That is why in my view it is a bad idea.
The Referees need to be impartial. Having them give away an award makes them look partial to a particular team. So I do not believe they should give out an award.
Now the idea of a ‘sportsmanship’ award (for righting a tipped opponent, scoring for an opponent to increase his RP, Pushing an opponent up the ramp or back onsides after they broke down) is a good idea.
I’m going to have to agree that this might make the judges play favorites, but the other thing is that they need to concentrate on enforcing the rules, at the first regional we went to this year(BAE) there were many disputed penalties, as well as matches being horribly mis-scored( we were in a match that we should have lost, and one that we should have won). i do like the idea of a new award though, maybe its time to retire an award and implement a new one…
Keep it straight - Judges hand out awards, Referees enforce the rules. Referees don’t hand out awards, Judges don’t enforce the rules. Keep it simple.
I get the concept: a sort of “Lady Byng” award, but I think it can be implemented as part of Sportsmanship. I agree with Jack (for once) that Referees should not have any part of any award. We may not be unbiased, but at least we’re impartial.
There already is a Sportsmanship Award:
9.1.2.8 Johnson & Johnson - Sportsmanship
This award celebrates outstanding sportsmanship and continuous gracious professionalism in the heat of competition, both on and off the playing field.
As for refs giving away awards? No. That’s what we have judges for.
The Referee’s award is presented to the team who plays the game on the field the way it’s ment to be played. With Gracious Professionalisiom. No penelties are just the beginning. Helping other teams occomplish their tasks. weather they be yours or your opponents, the game is made more fun, professional and exciting thanks to you…this team… the Referee’s award for the (Fill in the blank). is presented to team…
What if we got Cingular involved in this
like a “Cingular Wireless Raising the Bar Refferee’s award”
or “Cingular Wireless Raising the bar Communications award”
The Cingular Wireless Raising the bar Communication Award is presented to the team who shows the best communication techniques within their team and outreach to other teams, on and off the feilds, stands, and pits. …
anything else.
I disagree!
How about this idea…
It’s clear that you are an individual that appreciates fair play on the field and wants it to be recognized. The manner you want it to be recognized in has a couple of faults, so be an innovator for your team.
Make a team Fair Play award. You can make a certificate, or a mounted poofy ball, or something similar, to a team you think plays the game well and gets the job done right.
If it’s recognition you are looking for, that will give you quite the image - of caring enough to honor teams that you may be against for the entirety of elimination rounds, or teams that you never play against, or teams that aren’t selected for the finals but clearly did something right.
I like how Jack Jones put it - the referees enforce the rules. Be your own judge and follow the rules. You shouldn’t need an award to do it :).
In the spirit of being professional, let’s leave the awards to the judges… The job of the refs is to follow a strict set of guidelines, there’s no room for improvision when firm, clear rules are involved. The judges have criteria that determine who deserves the other awards, the refs have rules that determine penalties. Awards shouldn’t span both of these concepts.
At Midwest Regional the Head Ref gave away poof balls at random parrts of the day to the most spirited teams, a team that could answer a question, or helped out another team with parts or building. The US Navy also gave out a poof ball we recieved it. It was nice it had U.S. NAVY written on the side wiht like a dremmel. Every year there is somer part of the field that you can use and hand out as team to eam awards. Or you can be adventurous and make your own awards like I believe team LKightining and Miracle Workerz do. These awards are a way that a team can recognize another team for excellence. A new award would be redundant to others such as Judges and Sportsmanship, and Safety. I believ FIRST will add new awards over the course of the years but i highly likely think it will be a refs award.