http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/catwood1-11211/ en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:28:40 GMT Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:27:38 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss vBlogetin craig@fencing.net craig@fencing.net http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/catwood1-11211/when-refereeing-goes-bad-7262/ Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:27:38 GMT I was at a collegiate event yesterday that was not well refereed. It was a team meet, where we fenced 5 other schools. 2 of the refs didn't show up, so one coach got drafted into reffing, and other epee refs got moved to RoW that had absolutely no business refereeing RoW weapons. I can legitimately say that in my 6 years of fencing, this is the worst refereed event I have been to. As a competitor, athlete, or coach, this was the worst.

My day went from kinda frustrated, to angry, to furiously angry, to sarcastically *****y, to just laughing at it. I have included a mini rant at the end of this about the reffing itself.

By the end of the day, I really didn't know what to do. Not as a competitor, because there I had an idea what I could do. I knew what the referees were calling, and how to sway them. Our last team match was against Navy. In every encounter I've had with the Navy team, they are a stand up group of fencers. They have all been very friendly, and I had a good time talking with them. In one foil bout I had, we were at 4-4 in overtime, there was a 2 light action that the referee threw out because he didn't know, and I acknowledged the touch and loss against me. He attacked and I made a duck counter with 2 on target lights. CLEARLY not mine, but the ref didn't know. I didn't deserve that win. We were getting killed in the team match anyway, so I'd rather take the loss then feel like an ass in an event that doesn't really matter.

I was unsure what to do, though, as a coach. I had a few fencers there who I was EXTREMELY impressed with. My ex and good friend who started fencing with my club in college 2 years ago fenced very well. By FAR the best I've ever seen her fence. Unfortunately, a blown call at 4-4 against one of the better fencers in the room cost her a bout that would have been a nice ego booster. But talking to her after the bout, we both knew it was her touch, and she had won the bout. She also had a few awesome touches that got thrown out.

I'm really unsure of what to do in that kind of situation. If the referees are consistently calling something, you can adjust. But when they're just in over their heads, and have no business in RoW, what can you do? If we were in contention for winning the team event yesterday, I'd argue for just trying to win bouts however possible. However, we had a bunch of guys having BAD days, so that wasn't gonna happen. Knowing that we weren't gonna win the day, what do I do as a coach and what do I say to my team? Because saying "fence hard and fight for every touch" would be totally ignoring the absolutely incompetent refereeing.

What do others think?

I had alot of teammates tell me the referees were being biased. I assured them that was not the case. Because 1) We got alot of bad calls in our favor as well. and 2) I have the utmost confidence that these refs were refereeing to the best of their ability. That threshold was just not very high...

Sighdamnit...


edited out my rant because it served no purpose. Here is the short version: Many missed calls in a row, and I was a jerk to referees when I shouldn't have been.



*Put me over the edge for the first time yesterday...]]> catwood1 http://www.fencing.net/forums/blogs/catwood1-11211/when-refereeing-goes-bad-7262/