Thread: Biased homefield reffing (scenario)

Biased homefield reffing (scenario)

I would like to open a discussion on :

• what is biased homefield reffing?
  
• how do you respond?
  
• worst example you recall?
  
• and propose any solutions you may think of.

Guidelines :

**Lets keep this scenario reffing specific (i.e, not recball, speedball, tourney etc)

**Lets not mention any field by name or hint at their location or mention anyone by name or aliases. got it -- NO NAMES.

Purpose :

**The purpose of this will be general education for the good of the sport and the results will be incorporated into the scenario reffing manual (being assembled on pbjunkie)

***************************************

Moderation Request :

**Mods :if you would please delete any posts that violate the field/name specific guideline -- and help keep this thread steered towards the stated purpose.

Biased Homefield Reffing:
By John "Thumper" Edens
10.07.2008
with contributions as noted.

As a active ref who has friends and teammates on the field playing, you have to realize that everyone by default will accuse you of showing favoritism if the opportunity presents itself. Even if you are trying to be as fair as possible, you wont get the benefit of the doubt. Below is a list fo do's and dont's that may help.

What to do: when reffing with friends playing on one side

When reffing your friends, be more strict on your friends.

Try and avoid situations where you have half your team playing and half refing.

Volunteer for ref jobs that don't have much room for favoritism (chrono, base ref, etc)

If picking teams, give the opponents of your friends the advantage.



What not to do: when reffing with friends playing on one side(allies): (many of these I have personally witnessed)

Bird dog opponent players

Point out opponent player's locations to allied players

Allow early execution of missions of either team

Allow early insertion of players of either team

Wipe an allied player (even if needed and justifable)

Stack teams so your teammates have the advantage.

You asked for the worst example, so here's mine:

Situation: Field owner & game producer were the one & the same person. There was also a field manager. Both of these individuals were supposed to be neutral.

So it's a big, one day event (as I remember it), though many teams had camped out on Friday night. It was my first visit to this rather large field. Well, I had been playing all day til I had a rather nasty event take place. I was out & had a long walk back to base & unknown to me, a couple of guys followed behind me at some distance to the field boundary, which was marked by tape. I had my barrel condom on & carried my marker in the correct position until the moment I need to pass under the tape. At that very moment, they yelled from behind me & I stopped & turned to see them--just before passing beyond the tape. So in a very calculated move, they then pepper me with several rounds & yell "your gun was down so you were fair game". To this day, it's the closest I've ever came to saying "screw it" and running those guys down for a good 'ol fashioned butt kicking. I managed to control myself but I was so mad I took myself out of the game. You see, there had been "little nasty" incidents all day long, and I knew that just one more & somebody was getting hurt & I was going to jail. So I took my self out of the rest of the game, which really only consisted of the "final battle".

So, I'm like the only player walking around the grounds near the office area, which just happened to be situated with a really good view of the final battle & both teams as they advanced toward each other. So nobody knows me & I'm not wearing any team identifying clothing at that time. Anyway, I notice the supposedly neutral boys talking on a walkie talkie. So I kind of sauntered over behind them close enough to hear what's being said. Well, they were calling in the enemy locations to their home team & home tanks, giving them very detailed instructions.

Well, needless to say, I lost whatever respect I might have had for those people and they are a fairly well known group (No Thumper, that's not a hint, I'm just letting everyone know that I'm taking about fairly important people here, not a group of unknowns at some unknown field). I haven't been back to that field yet; one day I will, but I'll know next time what kind of people I'm dealing with.

Now, you might say this isn't about reffing, but I beg to differ. Stacking the odds one way or another is what you might call "preemptive biased reffing". Another words, you don't actually need biased refs because you've already stacked the deck.

Character-- It always matters!!!!

This is a great topic, too bad i cant comment without throwing out names or even a hint

My worst experience with the "homefield bias".

Long story short.. The head refferees scenario team was on the other side. We pounded them all day. Going into the final mission I asked a ref what the score was. He told me that we were up by 600pts and the other team was mathematically eliminated an hour ago. The other team won the final battle, which I found out afterwards was conveniently worth 700pts. Giving them the "victory" in the end. Afterwards the head ref and the owner asked me if my team would let them take our picture in front of their store to put on their website, since we had jerseys and looked like a real team. I'm not a sore loser so we let them get there picture, but I have never taken my team back to this field nor do I recommend it to anyone.

I would contribute but all my experiences are limited to Speedball.