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September 6, 2024 at 8:13 am #5862
David Lu
ParticipantI understand that ultimate is a sport that has long enjoyed the distinction of being different from other sports in various ways, one of those being its self-officiated aspect. It was a nice (and necessary) idea when the sport began, and at lower levels of play it will continue to be utilized out of necessity. However, pure self-officiating is unworkable at high levels of competitive ultimate, and the current WFDF GA system does not do enough to ensure that fair and correct outcomes are reached, which should be the #1 goal of the rules and the officiating system. However, I understand that completely switching to a referee system immediately is unlikely. Thus, I propose the following change to the GA system:
In instances where a call is made on the field, the GA has a clear perspective on the play, is requested by at least one player involved in the play, and the resolution of the onfield dispute under the rules is plainly obvious to the GA, the GA, in good faith, shall exercise the power to make a definitive call, notwithstanding a “contest” from an involved player.
The following are further reasons for empowering GAs in this way:
1. Self-officiating doesn’t work when it can’t be reasonably certain that players have an accurate understanding of the rules. The current WFDF rules cert requirements cannot reasonably ensure player knowledge of the rules, as its easy to cheat etc., and no replacement “exam” could do this either. It is unreasonable and unfair for us to make this a requirement of players, esp those who speak different languages. In fact, the current rules are written in a way that is inaccessible to most players, causing them to at best have a flawed understanding of the rules, or at worst to ignore the actual rules altogether. The current rules cert also is not conducive to actually learning how certain on-field outcomes should be resolved based on the rules, but that’s another issue altogether.
2. Self-officiating takes too long. Games slow down to a crawl when successive calls begin to get made and this detracts from both the play and watchability of the sport. This is especially true when a translator is required. Even though timing rules exist, there is no requirement or enforcement measure to ensure players adhere to these timings. There should be no reason to spend an excessive amount of back and forth on calls that are clear to the GA.
3. There is currently no mechanism in place to ensure players act fairly. The current rules, spirit scores, and GAs do not truly prevent a malicious player from acting in their own self-interest, against SOTG and the rules of our sport. Even if a player does not intend to act maliciously, they can still make incorrect calls out of negligence, or simply because in the heat of the moment it can be hard to ascertain exactly what happened when involved in a play. To an extreme, we have seen many times where a player makes an egregious bad call, or is even told that based on their own recollection of the events that what they’re arguing for would or wouldn’t be a foul/violation, and they choose to ignore the words of their opponents or the GA and insist on making their call/contest. To give out medals, to charge people thousands of dollars, to have people take time off work/other responsibilities, for outcomes to be decided in this manner, should be untenable to all and offend all sporting sensibilities. This rule is especially intended to address these outcomes.
4. GAs can be trusted to be more impartial than the players involved in the game and only exercise this power when they firmly trust in their perspective. In any situation where a GA cannot be certain of their perspective or the occurrence on the field, the current call and contest system would be used, and the GA can give their non-binding perspective as usual.
5. As an addendum, technology such as VAR, when readily available (viewable from the field of play), can also be used by GAs to assist them in their determinations under this rule.
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