ANTSMAN68
19-04-2006, 22:08
Could a mod please sticky this?
In order to try to deal with a number of problems relating to dishonest playing and referee issues which are becoming more and more apparent at every tournament I attend, I am proposing a new reffing concept.
Hopefully this concept will help to address blatant cheating, bending of rules, pushing the boundaries, playing the grey, whatever you want to call it. As a side benefit this concept will no doubt increase the referee decision making quality/speed, consistency ,and above all hopefully help players to gain some respect for the people that enable us to play paintball, the reffs, as without players sure we cant play ball, but more importantly without reffs we cant play ball, end of story.
Historically refereeing our tournaments has been the domain of players that cant either afford to play a tournament, or don’t have a current team to enter , all trying to do their best on the day, to the best of their ability, which in general is rewarded by the players with accusations of lack of intelligence, profanity, insults, threats, taunting, and general immature, hot headed behaviour.As well for their efforts , our reffs have come to expect very little or no support/remuneration, whether verbal or monitary, from anyone, be it tournament organizers, playing community, or anyone else for that matter, so what we end up with are a handful of people after each tournament, that have given up their holiday weekend,usually away from their family, to be shot at , sworn at, belittled, humiliated,laughed at, and put under the microscope on forums, all because they wanted to help.
Are there any players out there that do not realize that all of the things I listed above (and more) actually do happen at every tournament?
Is this how we want things to keep going?
I for one don’t want these things to be happening and still be talked about this time next year, and the year after, and the year after, and the year after that, because that is the road which we are heading down. This is the way it has been since my first tournament in 2001, and if WE do not change, it will continue indeffinately.
I think our sport, paintball , needs new direction with regard to the way we referee our tournaments. Not just in the choosing of reffs but the whole refereeing culture.
I have identified some problem areas .
1. reffs usually only reff once or twice, as the negative feedback puts them off.
2.reffs get very little to no respect from players.
3.reffs give up their own time at their own expense to reff for us.
4.reffs get very little back from players/tournament organizers, whether a pat on the back or monitary reward.
5.because most only volunteer once or twice, there is a huge lack of consistency from tournament to tournament.
6.cheating has become so blatant and so frequent, and the chances of being caught due to inexperienced/inconsistant reffs is so small, that a lot of players think the risk is well worth it.
In order to help address these problems I think we need to re think the whole ball game.
This is what I have come up with.
We need to source a core of at least 8-12 semi experienced players preferably 4 from north 4 from mid 4 from south, if possible, that are committed to attending the 3 or 4 majors for the year , as a team of reffs. Ideally the people should have no strong ties to any one team, to try to avoid future problems with accusations of bias.These reffs should be lead by an ultimate reff, with a firm decision making head, and possibly a 2 IC.These reffs should be “their own team”, eventually be “ tight knit “, and hopefully build trust and camaraderie.
This achieved ……
We need to have them get together at least 1 full day before each tournament, to discuss issues, train and test each other, and generally hang out and get to know each other.
This reffs group will have all travel to and from the event paid, all accommodation paid, all food and drink requirements paid, and actually be paid a fee for each day reffed.
Where will the money come from for this? It will be built into the teams entry fee.Why ? because quality, and preservation/protection of our sport costs.Thats right campers, if the event organizer does not have to fork out for this, because we do, how can an event organizer say no to New Zealands own Paintball Refferee Team?
For this to work, we first need
1.People to see this idea for what it is worth, and volunteer.
2.Tournament organizers to buy into this scheme, and use the team of reffs for their events, and give them their support/backing, and have faith that the rewards from their combined efforts will help to build more teams and get them to their events in the future.
3.Players in the teams, and more so Team Captains need to show their support, verbally, on forums, pay the extra in the entry and really get in behind this concept.
Everyone in tournament paintball ideally should support this idea for the purpose of consistency in the quality of tournament refereeing, if not anything else.
I know this idea has been floated previously numerous times, with apathy towards fixing the problems that we all know are there being the major downfall.
I don’t have the answers, but I sure will try my best to improve what we have, because when my 11 year old girl starts playing in a few years I do not want her facing what we face today.
If we do not fix the problems(cheating/reff consistency), how will they get better?How will we grow the sport?
I am offering to help coordinate this idea, with anyone else that wants to help.
I picture once the reff team is sorted, and a figurehead for the group is identified, they be left to train , and communicate with each other via a closed section in one of the messageboard/forums that we use,with the figurehead taking control, and guiding them , and they then become a self supporting/sufficient entity with a strong bond, which we as players support by requiring them to be used at tournaments we as teams attend.
The first year for the reff team will be the hardest I would think, with the group trying to find its feet, and get some events under their belts, and yes there will be problems, and yes there probably will be some drama, but if we do nothing , we may lose more teams/players, risk losing potential young players, and likely be in the same situation that we are in year after year.
enough from me
what do you all think, is this something that NZ teams want and need?
Ants
In order to try to deal with a number of problems relating to dishonest playing and referee issues which are becoming more and more apparent at every tournament I attend, I am proposing a new reffing concept.
Hopefully this concept will help to address blatant cheating, bending of rules, pushing the boundaries, playing the grey, whatever you want to call it. As a side benefit this concept will no doubt increase the referee decision making quality/speed, consistency ,and above all hopefully help players to gain some respect for the people that enable us to play paintball, the reffs, as without players sure we cant play ball, but more importantly without reffs we cant play ball, end of story.
Historically refereeing our tournaments has been the domain of players that cant either afford to play a tournament, or don’t have a current team to enter , all trying to do their best on the day, to the best of their ability, which in general is rewarded by the players with accusations of lack of intelligence, profanity, insults, threats, taunting, and general immature, hot headed behaviour.As well for their efforts , our reffs have come to expect very little or no support/remuneration, whether verbal or monitary, from anyone, be it tournament organizers, playing community, or anyone else for that matter, so what we end up with are a handful of people after each tournament, that have given up their holiday weekend,usually away from their family, to be shot at , sworn at, belittled, humiliated,laughed at, and put under the microscope on forums, all because they wanted to help.
Are there any players out there that do not realize that all of the things I listed above (and more) actually do happen at every tournament?
Is this how we want things to keep going?
I for one don’t want these things to be happening and still be talked about this time next year, and the year after, and the year after, and the year after that, because that is the road which we are heading down. This is the way it has been since my first tournament in 2001, and if WE do not change, it will continue indeffinately.
I think our sport, paintball , needs new direction with regard to the way we referee our tournaments. Not just in the choosing of reffs but the whole refereeing culture.
I have identified some problem areas .
1. reffs usually only reff once or twice, as the negative feedback puts them off.
2.reffs get very little to no respect from players.
3.reffs give up their own time at their own expense to reff for us.
4.reffs get very little back from players/tournament organizers, whether a pat on the back or monitary reward.
5.because most only volunteer once or twice, there is a huge lack of consistency from tournament to tournament.
6.cheating has become so blatant and so frequent, and the chances of being caught due to inexperienced/inconsistant reffs is so small, that a lot of players think the risk is well worth it.
In order to help address these problems I think we need to re think the whole ball game.
This is what I have come up with.
We need to source a core of at least 8-12 semi experienced players preferably 4 from north 4 from mid 4 from south, if possible, that are committed to attending the 3 or 4 majors for the year , as a team of reffs. Ideally the people should have no strong ties to any one team, to try to avoid future problems with accusations of bias.These reffs should be lead by an ultimate reff, with a firm decision making head, and possibly a 2 IC.These reffs should be “their own team”, eventually be “ tight knit “, and hopefully build trust and camaraderie.
This achieved ……
We need to have them get together at least 1 full day before each tournament, to discuss issues, train and test each other, and generally hang out and get to know each other.
This reffs group will have all travel to and from the event paid, all accommodation paid, all food and drink requirements paid, and actually be paid a fee for each day reffed.
Where will the money come from for this? It will be built into the teams entry fee.Why ? because quality, and preservation/protection of our sport costs.Thats right campers, if the event organizer does not have to fork out for this, because we do, how can an event organizer say no to New Zealands own Paintball Refferee Team?
For this to work, we first need
1.People to see this idea for what it is worth, and volunteer.
2.Tournament organizers to buy into this scheme, and use the team of reffs for their events, and give them their support/backing, and have faith that the rewards from their combined efforts will help to build more teams and get them to their events in the future.
3.Players in the teams, and more so Team Captains need to show their support, verbally, on forums, pay the extra in the entry and really get in behind this concept.
Everyone in tournament paintball ideally should support this idea for the purpose of consistency in the quality of tournament refereeing, if not anything else.
I know this idea has been floated previously numerous times, with apathy towards fixing the problems that we all know are there being the major downfall.
I don’t have the answers, but I sure will try my best to improve what we have, because when my 11 year old girl starts playing in a few years I do not want her facing what we face today.
If we do not fix the problems(cheating/reff consistency), how will they get better?How will we grow the sport?
I am offering to help coordinate this idea, with anyone else that wants to help.
I picture once the reff team is sorted, and a figurehead for the group is identified, they be left to train , and communicate with each other via a closed section in one of the messageboard/forums that we use,with the figurehead taking control, and guiding them , and they then become a self supporting/sufficient entity with a strong bond, which we as players support by requiring them to be used at tournaments we as teams attend.
The first year for the reff team will be the hardest I would think, with the group trying to find its feet, and get some events under their belts, and yes there will be problems, and yes there probably will be some drama, but if we do nothing , we may lose more teams/players, risk losing potential young players, and likely be in the same situation that we are in year after year.
enough from me
what do you all think, is this something that NZ teams want and need?
Ants