Referee's on Div 1 Field.

[Hnt0r]

Just to start this is my personal opinion and a reflection of some player's reactions this Sunday.

This was my first event at CPPS in Division 1 and i couldn't help but notice the referee's lack of enthusiasm? certainty? knowledge? inexperience? i'm sure there are a few other words to describe the situation but i'll move on...

In comparison to the previous event on the main field they looked like frightened kids (in fact i think one was about 12 which personally i think is unacceptable) and nobody really contested this even though a lot of people were dropping a "someone should say something". There were countless terrible decisions, indecision's and controversy on the field and as a player watching from the sidelines in between games.. it didn't exactly fill me full of hope.

To re-iterate this isn't a flame or a dig but at Division 1 level the ref's should be in a mind set of... "these are potential teams playing at the top of their ability and looking to push for the elite league so we as ref's should show the same professionalism"

All in all though it was another successful event!

Cheers,

Kit

 

[JAKNIGHT_BRUM]

But what you got think mate is if you dont have refs you got no game so you should be happy you got refs. and such a good event to play in. I fort it was a great day! Cheers

 

[Sanchez]

I was waiting to see if anyone would mention the Div 1 field referees.

I dont know what the correct title for this ref is, but basically the ref who was keeping time and scores didnt even know the rules of the game.

We was in the play-off for 3rd/4th, and were tied at 2-2 with 30 seconds game time left, which all on the team were well aware of, so we decided we would play for an overtime point, sit in our bunkers, and wait until time expired.

More than 30 seconds had passed, more like 1 minute and 30 seconds, when the other team came down the field, shot our team out and pressed the buzzer.

We as a team were all aware of the rules, as we had just played The Med Cup, Millennium Event.

The ref then called game over, as we were getting ready to play our overtime point, in which case we argued for a few minutes, where he told us we were wrong and that he knew the rules.

At that point the head ref on the field came over, and told us we were correct and that, said ref was wrong.
He clearly didnt know the rules, which is not good enough imo, as its the 2nd from top division and we potentially lost out on a podium finish.

Not a massive deal you may think, but when we had all spent as much as we did for travel, entry and paint, we felt very hard-done by.

Nether the less, a great, well run and setup event.

 

[Liam92]

Will just add just now that I also had some major issues with referees on the Div 2 field who didn't know the rules.

 

[Hnt0r]

But what you got think mate is if you dont have refs you got no game so you should be happy you got refs. and such a good event to play in. I fort it was a great day! Cheers

Of course i appreciate the fact that people take there time to referee, but not knowing rules in division one is ridiculous AND i would imagine there is some form of pay involved. Look at it from another sport's perspective.. would you say that about a football ref?

 

[Stigma]

I normally don’t post on the forum for this – since I think the direct conversation with the reff’s is the better way forward, especially with the things listed above...

They can only fix what they “KNOW” is bothering us – if we only dare to speak up here, they might never hear the feedback they need to improve (knowing Ainsley is monitoring this - so fingers crossed). However for sake of the community I believe there are areas that need to be addressed – since there have been calls which might have been harsh and no calls where there should have been some.


We played on the Div2/Div3 field and seen a few questionable calls and received a penalty early in the day, which was in our opinion uncalled for.

• Moving a barrel an 1-2 inches while being shot whilst holding a lane and receiving a 2for1 for spinning is one of the harshest calls I have ever witnessed during a trade out in my books.
• Watching a member of “The Clan” having a bad day going to Teabag1 – slipping on his way there and making the pits chuckle, was the funny bit – him recovering from his ar$3 on his knees and while kneeling in his bunker (not having fire a shot from his marker) getting 1for1’ed because he landed in some paint which splattered on his pack ended the humour.

HOWEVER: I spoke to the ultimate after our “spinning incidence” constructively and left him with the fact that we don’t feel this was a correct call to make – but he is the man calling the shots and thanked him for his time in listening to my input, as much as I encouraged the captain of “The Clan” to give the Ultimate a poke about what happened on their end (hence me giving these two examples). The ultimate was happy to take his time and listen to what I had to say, and even if he did not overrule the decision, I felt listened to and after he explained his point - although we didn't agree with one another, I left the conversation with thanking him for his time and his explanation, in return he thanked me for taking his information on board. This can only help future conversations he will have with teams and me with reff's in my book.

Speaking for the entire Samurai Paintball Club and it’s teams I want to highlight that I am impressed of what Ainsley and his reffing crew have done with the site so far and I am sure he is far from done. I am sure we can all agree that it will take effort and patience on players, referees and organizers to ensure everything will come together more and more in the future – but constructive and calm feedback will be key for referees not feeling attacked (as it was in the past) and taking things on board, as much as reffs which will not feel they need to bark at players anymore to ensure they are taken serious.

Before I "close this chapter" I have a short anecdote – non paintball related – which me being the “germerican” talking about RUGBY, others might find even more funny than the actual tale I have to tell:

It was the Rugby WorldCup (the only time I watch rugby), over a mic on the head reffs you could overhear a player badmouthing something harsh, to which the reff from my recollection only said one word ... “Player?”
This player the immediately replied with “I am sorry, sir.” and that was the end of it.
This mutual respect of a ref understanding the “heat of the moment” of the player expressing his emotions and the player being reminded with a simple “Player? (meaning hello? Are you listening to yourself at the moment?) immediately understanding that there is need for an apology and walking away, is something we should take as a “goal post” we would like to get to in our sport.

Have a great week – and for all you UK teams in the Millennium Series and LADIES GB team … see you in Bitburg.

 

[Liam92]

The Clan did suffer a fair amount of questionable calls, and also had a major issue in our final game but I have since emailed Ainsley so that everything is down in writing for him to look over and possibly investigate.

 

[Hnt0r]

We actually approached the score desk, and the guy that looks like he knows about spreadsheets said that our score sheets weren't being signed off, turned out that they had a score wrong. It didn't effect our place but still its the principle.

 

[Liam92]

We actually approached the score desk, and the guy that looks like he knows about spreadsheets said that our score sheets weren't being signed off, turned out that they had a score wrong. It didn't effect our place but still its the principle.

that's quite worrying because it crossed my mind that we weren't asked to sign a scoresheet all day.

 

[Tony Harrison]

that's quite worrying because it crossed my mind that we weren't asked to sign a scoresheet all day.

The obvious question is - if you knew you had to sign the sheet, did you approach the scoring pod at the end of each match, and sign the sheet?

You have to remember that there are not enough people who want to ref.

This means there are not any spare personnel to go searching for someone to sign the scoresheet, as the refs don't get a break between points or matches like the players do. They have to clean bunkers, countdown the time between points and deal with any disputes.

I would suggest that, if any of you are unhappy with the quality of the reffing at the CPPS, look to yourselves for a soultion - ref the next event.