Draft International Association Croquet Refereeing Regulations

[<<] [>>] by Ian Vincent on behalf of the ILC
31st December 2010 (CqE Official News)

The International Laws Committee (ILC) has been drafting, with input from national laws committees, new international regulations for referees of Association Croquet, which it hopes will also be adopted for domestic use. They are needed because international games are becoming more common while national regulations are drifting apart, both in words and interpretation.

This draft is being published to give anyone interested the opportunity to to review it and report any errors or problems they perceive, before a version is formally submitted for approval by national associations. Please send any changes you wish to be considered to ian.vincent#cantab.net before 14th January, 2011 and use the croquet-laws#nottingham-lists.org.uk, rather than the general croquet list, for any discussion.

The biggest task has been coping with unwritten rules or interpretations such as those concerning use of information obtained while watching a game, when later called to referee it. These have increased in recent years and mean different things to different people. They may be workable in small communities, but should have no place in international regulations.

The main change from the existing domestic regulations you will notice is in terminology. Many of the terms used to describe referees have different meanings in different parts of the world or even in the same part. So the terms "assistant referee", "referee on call/appeal", "spectator referee" and "umpire" cannot be used in international regulations without great risk of confusion.

Fortunately, consideration of these has allowed the ILC to simplify the types of referee. Only two types are needed: referees who in general act only when asked by a player (called "referees on request") and referees who act without being asked (called "supervising referees"). A supervising referee who cares for only one game corresponds to the old term of "referee in charge". It will be up to organising bodies to decide which are used in a tournament. In addition, experienced but unqualified players are given limited powers.

Note that the training, examination and classification of referees was not felt to be within the ILC's remit, so this draft doesn't attempt to distinguish between various grades of refereeing qualification, Note that the training, examination and classification of referees was not felt to be within the ILC's remit, so this draft doesn't attempt to distinguish between various grades of refereeing qualification, which are left as a matter for national decision.

The numbering scheme is that of the current CA tournament regulations, but can be adapted by other countries for consistency with their own publications, as cross-references have been kept to a minimum.