Obstruction!! and a moan

after a small hoo har on saturday night when i was reffing can anyone clear up my interpretation of obstruction please?

i understood that you had to actively try to get in someone elses way for it to be obstruction.

My example was;

if someone else aims for you whilst your sat motionless on the pitch and mades no attempt to go around you, but gets stuck on your back deck after failing in their attempt to speed bump you, should that be obstruction?

I didn't think it was but maybe i misunderstood that part of the refs course.

Also with regard to local league i try to ref in a fairly restrained manor and tend to play a lot ( a whole lot!) of advantages, and in fairness let a lot of drongos get away with a lot of stupid things and then try to educate them at half time or at the end of the match, rather than spending the entire 6 mins giving out cards. I was to understand the point of local league was for players to develop and no one learns from 1 mins play and 5 mins carding. Maybe i lost control of the game slightly on saturday but there are two refs for a reason, namley that polo is a very fast and hard game to ref and keep up with, but if I miss something and the other ref doesn't see it either its just tuff, get on with it.

Should i keep doing this or should i start refing like Mr Andy Dancer?

I think i'm coming round to Ivans way of thinking with regards to player ref interaction going through the team captian. I was a bit dubious before but now having been on the reciving end of players and spectators shouting abuse at me during the match its very off putting and i have to say looking back it did influence me to be fairly harsh to the team doing it.

Everyone refs to the best of their ability and local league is the only real chance we have to develop our skills as refferees. Most teams at local league don't have their own qualifed refs (some don't even know the basic rules) so when people who want to learn and get better volenteer to help out teams without refs perhaps they should get a bit of slack if they get a couple of decisions wrong. Otherwise we'll end up with the situation on saturday night where after being abused i couldn't be bothered any more and matches were reffed by people who had absoultly no idea what the were doing and most of the time weren't even watching the game.

And as one final moan the day i get every decision right in a game i'm reffing will be the day i feel that i can start to criticise other people's reffing skills; perhaps if a few of the "qualifed" refs from saturday night should consider doing the same.

Also as its a development league is there any need for players to be so aggressive towards other players? its supposed to be fun friendly league!

here is the rule:
68 - ILLEGAL SCREEN
Signals 9 and 15 apply. Illegal Obstruction/Holding & Free Shot. An illegal screen is when a player actively impedes the progress of an opposing player, except where:

68.1. Both players are competing for the ball; or

68.2. The opposing player is in possession of the ball; or

68.3. The opposing player is within three (3) meters of the ball and is the nearest player to the ball, where the ball is on the water and not in the air (also classed as being in Control); or

68.4. Both players are jostling within the six (6) metre area.

68.5. A player is considered to be actively impeding the progress of an opponent when their kayak is moving and/or they are attempting active paddle strokes.



You were completely right on Saturday. And I thought your reffing was excellent, and very appropriate to the level of play. I did exactly the same allowing alot of 'minor' fouls to play out for the benefit of the game.

As for the 'incident', sadly something like that often happens during competitive sport at any level. It is particularly sad that it happens in places like local league which as you say is all about developing the sport across the region. And i don't think you lost control of the game, it certainly didn't escalate after a player was sent off!

Hi, wasn't there on Saturday but heard a little bit about it.

Your interpretation of the rule is correct and it does sound as if you didn't lose control of the game, however, if you say you did to an extent, then maybe???? However, what is more worrying to me is that once again, someone doing their best is put off refereeing or helping in general because of one or two selfish and stupid individuals.

I know I have not always been a saint, but have and continue to work hard on getting the level between representing the team and point of view in certain situations on and off the water and going too far and looking like a numpty, right.

With regards to the sending off, without any names being mentioned, the player in question used to have (20 years ago for us old enough to remember!) a bad reputation. He has been at regional training a few times and looked like, after 16 years out the sport, to have changed his ways. Sounds like he hasn't and whether or not he was repeatedly fouled or goaded into reacting, it sounds like the sending off was the correct decision. Maybe it is harsh on him to say leopards and spots, but it is a tad concerning.

No, you don't have to referee like Mr. Dancer, although lets face it, the general idea of where he was trying to get to was right; it was the methods that wound people up, and it is a shame that a few short sighted prats have denied the governing body of a committed individual.

I do like my idea of only speaking through the captain, or as captain, taking on the responsibility for talking if required (rarely), but have found it hard to adopt in my own play over the season. I will keep trying though. I think not playing 1/2 the season doesn't help though!

Anyhow, please keep reffing; I think you're quite good at it and could certainly become qualified quite easily. I know Ray and I were talking about doing a regional reffing course to get more people qualified. I was thinking of doing something before the nationals so people could get themselves assessed there. What do you reckon?

I think if this happened at Local League the team and players that are abusive should be named and shamed.

If they continue to be abusive I suppose the final act would be to ban them from Local League, which I am sure the organiser is within his rights to do. That is at the far end of the scale.

Perhaps the place to start is that at the beginning of the night a 'zero tolerance' approach to abuse directed towards refs is explained and the consequences (i.e. yellow or red cards) are also outlined.

That is my thoughts

Or rough justice and just do them in (in a legal fashion) on the pitch Tonksie

I think a Ref course up here would be well worthwhile... I think it would be well supported by Tigers both in participants and facilities. Great suggestion Ivan

sounds like a plan on both fronts!

I love humping drongos!!!

And a refs course that we don't have to drive 5 hours each way to would be good!

I have just read the comments posted on here about "an incident" that happened at a local league tournament. I could spend a great deal of time answering and commenting upon the points raised - however if someone repeatedly strikes me in the face with a paddle, and the referee decides to ignore this highly dangerous play for whatever reason, I will retaliate, and comment upon the lack of action taken by the referee.
Duncan. C