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Friday, February 20, 2009

Referee Dilemma – Part 3

I’m satisfied. Not quite that perfect, but its there. Above satisfactory. On the recent concluded MY-NPL in MAPAAC, the level of refereeing is good. At least at field 1, where D1 and D2 players games were.

Generally, I find the referees are being lenient. It’s not a bad thing really, but somewhat players will try to get away from getting penalties. I mean, I saw some. Surely some of you also did. Eventually the player either gets shot or penalize; but slightly too late and damages had already been done (playing on and affecting gameplay)

Okay, here’s an example that happened to me. My teammate got shot in the loader on the break and continued shooting. With the thunderous sound of seven guns shooting, I guess he didn’t hear the loader got hit and continued shooting. About 10 seconds later, the referee came and pulled him out, and he didn’t get any penalties (which is 1-for-1 for playing on with obvious hit).

The referee was being very lenient and we were relieved that he didn’t call for a penalty. I mean, even if we did get it still OK. You played on, you get a penalty. That’s it. It occurred to me that, what if we indeed get the penalty, the result will probably be different. We might get rundown quickly soon afterwards cause we lost couple of bodies early in the game.

You see how this will affect the outcome of a game. Playing on is very damaging to the general outcome of the match. So, referee should really be alert. I’ve heard referees from other leagues or promoters are rewarded with cash for pulling 1-for-1 penalties.

Where’s the sense of integrity? It only takes a few drunken refs (at players party) to spill the beans out. Although we don’t mind getting penalize for the right reasons, we hate it even more when referees simply wouldn’t admit their fault or simply say ‘I’m sorry’ for a bad call they themselves acknowledged. Owe it to yourself, you call the shots, and if you’re wrong - admit it! That being said, we all can leave the field and get prepared for the next game.

Back in MY-NPL, I’ve heard that our Head Referee, Mohsin was unhappy when refs didn’t pull a 1-for-1 when clearly he has the right to do so. That got him worked up and he went in the field to help out as well. If you noticed, during the later stages of the tournament, he was right there in the thick of the action. Kudos! It’s great to see hard he’s trying to raise the standard of refereeing.

Some communications between the referees might need to be work on I suppose. There are a few communications between them that got misinterpreted by the crowd and players as giving out players positions. We experienced it ourselves last year and after an explanation from the head ref, its all good.

So in summary, there is always a room for improvement. I’m not targeting specific referee groups but as a whole.
  1. Integrity - Be true and uphold the rule the best you can
  2. Humble - Ready to admit fault if there are any
  3. Alert - Watching the players, not the game.
  4. Conviction - Especially when making penalty calls.
I'm pretty sure there are other values out there, but these are just my version. The first two points can also be applied to players in general. We could make this sport a gentlemen’s game if we have these two values.

Sometime in April, there will be a clinic by Dan Perez of former NPPL and now the USPL. This will be very educational. I hope to be able to join this.

Meanwhile, anybody interested in becoming a referee, please check out this link. Also check out this video featuring MPRO(Malaysian Paintball Referee Organization) highlights on 8TV, May 31,2008.



Note: I wanted to include something about the declining number of referees that could potentially hurt the sport and ways to overcome this. I didn’t see any problems yet so far and I’ll hold this next post about refs for some other time.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

most of the referee are student..when the time they finish their study, then go to work,no more referring as before since they considered it as part time job..

rAmiZa.mY said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Caranthir said...

Taking up the responsibility of a paintball referee is not a simple matter. You need passion for the sport and the drive to uphold the rules of the game. Day after day, week after week.

Pay isn't that much, so part time job is out of the question. Like what Ramiza said. Working at 7Eleven or Hypermarkets would give you better pay out for sure.

No one wants to be out there in the hot sun and get so little. And yet, the refs are there everytime we need them. What would the players & organisers do without them.

badman said...

players spend 5 - 7 mins in the field & the refs spend like 50 - 70 games... is it abt the pay...? if so then we won't have a decrease in numbers of experienced ref. as caranthir said, it's the love & passion for the game that keeps them going. but the numbers are declining each season & they had to recruit new guys to fill in. mistakes are inevitable among the new ones but the seniors are working hard in minimising, if not eliminating, the bad calls...

just be grateful the marshals are there to ensure everything goes according to the rules, else there'd be constant & never-ending dispute. players are playing their best in the game, so do the refs in accomplishing their task...

play fair & it would make everyone's life easier there... ;-)

Anonymous said...

the true value that paintballer should have -
"play fair & it would make everyone's life easier there... - by badman"
u know u got hit and it's broken, get out of the game immediately. dont wait for the referee to pull you out. please..please..please..ADMIT that you have got a shot. if you have the PASSION in this game, you wont play-on because if this things happen, you kill the game..not the ref.

Anonymous said...

yes...i saw one player got shot kat shoulder...then selamba terus tukar letak marker on that shoulder...Pandai!!!...Some more he bersyarah about play on....hipokrit siot! Kau tau kan sape orang tu caranthir!

Anonymous said...

Sapekah yang hipokrit tu... namakan je dia! Takyah selindung2...

badman said...

some would say the cheat's part of the game, cat-mouse game between players & refs.. NOTTT...!!
man... this is not WWE where anything u do is ok as long as the ref never see it. those wrestlers get paid to do all that choreographed moves for entertainment. paintballers paid their ways to get into tourneys..

hmm.. i think most of us would like to know who the player is..

Caranthir said...

Macam la aku tau saper. Hundreds of players out there. LOL!

Anonymous said...

Aperla ini Anonimes punya worang... takat selindung2 camtu tak yah lah nak cerita kat sini.

By the way, I'd say the reffing was good... at the center field at least because thats where all our games took place. Guess they need to be stricter on the penalties & be more confident when making their calls. I did saw some hesitations... a ref calls a player out but then changes his mind. Great to see the MPRO chief leading by example & hope his compadres take note.

hybrid said...

hye, i'm a first time blogger here, n am called to comment this post....if u ask me, i'll answer its the passion towards the game that drives ref to the hot sun and face cheating players...
as a student, the pay hardly help us to cover our weekday expenses,so it must be the love towards paintball that drives me to it.
it saddens a lot when paintball game in m'sia gradually decreasing in quality be it from the organisers, players and also referees. i would love to uphold the beauty of the game but i gotta be on one side only and i choose to be a ref becoz thats the closest party in paintball to the rules and regulations. it saddens sometimes wen players n organisers(in general) hardly appreciate our 'work' especially if there are major disputes going on. we tried our best to perform despite hours spent in the hot sun and gradually at the end of the day we tend to make more mistakes as we already drained out of energy and our concerntration decreases. it helps if we can take turns in the field but as u admit, our numbers are decreasing.
as for me, i will still continue to ref even if i've finished my studies....for the love of the game.:)

Caranthir said...

Hybrid, thank you for dropping by. We all admire on such determination shown by the refs in the sport of paintball.

Unfortunately, it seems some people undermined the referees and threaten to impose a certain 'executive power' and also over-ruled the Ultimate Judge, in which they have no authority at.When referees have no freedom to do their job and always under the scope, they will get frustrated - And could affect the overall refereeing standards.

Anonymous said...

hahahaha....what a cry baby...got yourself banned by cheating, say this. C'mon, BE A MAN....

Anonymous said...

When it's you being judged, you make a big hoohaa over it..when you judge and scrutinize someone else even when there wasnt even a case, its alll okayyyyy...wth man...you are such a big sore loser.

Anonymous said...

psssttt.....dont mention "BIG" bcos he is HHHUUUUUGGEEEEEE!!!!!!