Guys, I'll quote what somebody posted on another thread about this topic.
"Reffing X Ball
To help with this thread I thought I would reply. I was one of the reffs that reffed X Ball I was the one in the tower. The Americans did get more penalties then any other team. I keep hearing that we may have been Bias and that bothers me because that is far from the truth and Robbo thanks for the Kind words and it was nice to meet you. Let me explain to you about what we saw and did. The Russians and France played a very clean game and the next game against USA the Russians tryed to play dirty the first Quarter. I think they thought lets beat the Americans to their own game. Well it cost them because we put them in the penalty
box just like everyone else. Once they stopped pushing the limits of the Rules they played 5 on 5 against the Americans and the Americans started to lose. But because of the Americans lead from the first quarter they did not catch up. Let me tell you my team was their to reff and not to make the USA win. The Russians in my oppion could have given the US team a run for their Money but they thought they would get screwed by bias reffing and decided to play on in the first Quarter and they had not played like that until they played the USA Team.
We reffed for 13 hours a Day and I am sure we may have missed one or two calls but we are only Human. We did this for X-Ball and our Sport of Paintball. I think this is what we need for the future of our Sport. We knew as a team that we made History and the one thing we did not want to do is screw it up and reff bad or bias. Oh by the way we hate reffing. I think we did the best job we could and I am sorry that some may think we screwed up. I hope we can come up with a solution with our nations being able to trust each other. I have heard about the past but maybe it is time to change and Unite as Paintball Players and I feel My team has helped start that by providing unbias reffing."
This comes from a guy called Rick Hartman, who plays for team Nasty, and as you figured out by now, they reffed X-ball.
First of all I'd like to thank Rick for coming forward to give his side of the story. I think it's cool to know that some Americans are really impressed with the way some of the Euro teams played, particularly the Russians, who, had they stuck to their own game, might just have walked away with the trophy.
I'll take Robbo's word for it when he says that there is still a gap between the quality of the Russians and the Americans. I was not at the IAO, so I can't comment. But personally, from what I've seen I don't see this gap. The way the Russians play has impressed me more than the way any American team I've seen play. But that just might be the machine like way they play, which is something I love watching.
As far as the reffing is concerned, I have this to say.
Yes, the Americans are a people who, on avarage (so forgive me for using a generalisation) are very proud of their country. I do not know any other country that is as chauvinistic as they are. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing I'll leave somebody else to decide. The avarage American loves winning. Only winners get remembered. But do they have a win at all costs mentality? No, not always. As far as countries go, the US is considered one of the 'decent ones', just like most Western European countries. Meaning they have a set of morals and values very similar to eachother. After all, a huge proportion of the people in the US hails from European lineage.
So yes, they love to see 'their' team win, but does that mean that there has been this collective conscious or subconscious decision to ensure that their team wins at all costs? No. Like I said, Americans have the same morals as Europeans. They know when they're doing something that just ain't right. Sure, there will be the occasional ******* who just doesn't give a f**k, but you get those in Europe too.
If you are going to 'attack' the refs, attack their quality. After all, there is very little training for refs at the moment. Be constructive, attack the performance, not the person. When you feel the need to say they are biased, make sure you bring some heavy duty ammo, because then you are no longer talking about performance, but about someone's personal integrity. In that case you'd better be damn sure of yourself and have plenty of proof, otherwise you are the *******, not they...
Soapbox anyone?
Seriously though... Really sucks to hear the reffing was one sided. But who were the Refs at this tourney? Players that might get something from turning a blind eye? I tell you if I were to ref as well as Robbo I wouldn't take **** from anyone! 
