Referees Ranking -CMAS Kranj World Champs 2009

Referee Ranking from CMAS Kranj World Champs

3 star
Ray Dolman
Jason Miezis
Jean Gatignol
Alexandre Davion
Wayne Rathbone

2 star
Edwin Muir
Sebatien Dotte
Sebastien Lepage
Ken Kirby

1 star
Nathan Peall
Tony Maidment
Donato Puggioli
Xavier Garcia

0 Star
Joan Llonch
Erin Muir

__________________
Tristan Reynard
Tournament Director
CMAS Underwater Hockey Commission
www.cmasuwh.org
www.cmaswebsite.com

Hi Tristan

I am really amazed that the water fitness test is the only criteria used for referees ranking.

Having read the list of your 3 and 2 stars referees as well as one stars and having played or been reffed by some of them ,I strongly suggest u do a written test to them about the rules of hockey as I am sure while some of them can swim they don't know the rules properly .

Antoine

I hate to admit it but I partially agree with Tony here.

A simple fitness test is not the way to rank a water referee. A country could bring in a very fit speed swimmer that could blow the doors off anyone on this list for example and instantly become a level 3 ref by your testing standards.

That being said - Tony - in the past the world championships have relied upon the countries to approve their Level 1 through 3 refs based upon the training within their own countries. Many of the level 3 refs that I have personally reffed with at Worlds are very good and know the rules. The problem is that each country / referee can interpret the rules slightly different causing confusion at Worlds and inconsistency in the reffing. This is a large reason why we need to develop a standardized world wide reffing program and not just rely upon the ruleset.

Canada in the past has worked closely with the USA an also Australia in this regard, and, most recently I have been working with NZ on this project. We have taken this upon our own initiative at this time but hopefully it will be looked at and adopted by other countries in the future. More importantly, the work being done needs to be recognized and supported at the world level by the governing body.

If anyone else wishes to join in to help standardize a program such as this please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Tony - You may not have noticed, but at each World Championships (at least the past 4 or 5 anyways) the Level 3 refs from around the world have meetings to discuss certain fouls / infractions and try to get everyone on the same page before the tournament. As well, we meet throughout the tournament to further discuss any odd calls / situations to help further try to fix these types of problems. It's not a perfect system, but it has helped a lot and the quality of reffing has improved somewhat over the past few Worlds.

Thanks,
Darryl

Darryl, Tony,

The rankings are based on assessment of performance. The Beep test is part of the process. We need to make sure referees are able meet the fitness levels required as it is noticeable that unfit referees become passengers in a game rather than participants.

In New Zealand we have been looking at the assessment of referees as well as referees training. My role for the past 15 years has been Junior development so my focus has been the Junior Referees and Level 1 Referees course.

In NZ the L1 referees course is general 10-12 hours. ie 3 hours rules and discussion and 1 hour exam with 6 hours in the pool. Then to complete the course the person must referee at least 10 games at a certain level within 12 months to complete.

We have also reshaped our L2 course which happens once a year at our U18 tournament which is played to international rules. We try to have no more than 4 people on this course and we would prefer that people were selected for this course as they must be able to apply the rules. This course happens on a full weekend with a mix of theory and refereeing duties.

Once people are level 2 we rank them for support to obtain L3. As part of the UWHNZ support L3/L2 referees are supposed to organise and instruct L1 courses. This helps with their understanding of the rules and application.

As a international coach I have observed very poor referees. Generally the fault is the poor application of the advantage rule.

I am very supportive of the development of the refereeing team concept with the top 10-16 referees being supported by the tournament to attend. The biggest problem I see in the sport is that we all pay to play and most federations can't even support players let alone referees.

__________________
Tristan Reynard
Tournament Director
CMAS Underwater Hockey Commission
www.cmasuwh.org
www.cmaswebsite.com

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What is the 'assessment?' done by whom? when?
What is needed is agreement on the advantage rule and application
Most players and referee support themselves with few exceptions.

__________________
Carol Rose