gorillajump
Orange Belt
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2013
- Messages
- 293
- Reaction score
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Some of referee errors has to do with the sheer size of tournaments we're watching/competing in. When the refs have a start time of roughly 9 am and a finish time of roughly 9 pm, with 110+ competitor brackets, even a good ref who wants to be there is going to be worn down, tired, hungry, thirsty and wanting to get out of there.
These huge tournaments need to get smaller and the matches-per-referee number needs to drop. The trimming of the divisions is happening next year, but what also needs to happen is the adding of more referees.
We can certainly add onto the training courses, add in some more accountability - as in having an oversight committee that will actually watch videos (from stream or from phones/cameras) and see if there's anything there. But keep in mind that the IBJJF refs are held to higher standards than just about all BJJ refs out there - black belts, training courses etc.
I profoundly disagree with the suits and the unwillingness of the referees to move around to get the best angle (probably somewhat deriving from their wearing suits). Refs need to kneel, to move around and to move freely. Suits are bull pucky.
I also think people giving refs a lot of stick when the competitors/coaches aren't fully up to speed on the rules needs to stop. Yeah, some of the rules are complicated and completely stupid (DQ for knee reap, no stoppage of black belt matches if a limb breaks), but when the loudest complainers actually have no base for complaining, it makes us all look bad and go unlistened to - even when valid complaints are present.
These huge tournaments need to get smaller and the matches-per-referee number needs to drop. The trimming of the divisions is happening next year, but what also needs to happen is the adding of more referees.
We can certainly add onto the training courses, add in some more accountability - as in having an oversight committee that will actually watch videos (from stream or from phones/cameras) and see if there's anything there. But keep in mind that the IBJJF refs are held to higher standards than just about all BJJ refs out there - black belts, training courses etc.
I profoundly disagree with the suits and the unwillingness of the referees to move around to get the best angle (probably somewhat deriving from their wearing suits). Refs need to kneel, to move around and to move freely. Suits are bull pucky.
I also think people giving refs a lot of stick when the competitors/coaches aren't fully up to speed on the rules needs to stop. Yeah, some of the rules are complicated and completely stupid (DQ for knee reap, no stoppage of black belt matches if a limb breaks), but when the loudest complainers actually have no base for complaining, it makes us all look bad and go unlistened to - even when valid complaints are present.
