@
RulesGuy
Les,
Let me start by saying that I appreciate the job you do. As a soccer referee and tournament official, I know that being the "rules guy" is often a thankless job.
But unfortunately, I read your explanation and it raised more questions than it answered.
I'm going to not touch any legalities involved with Bangkok's performance itself. I am not an expert on cheer judging, and I do not think I'm in a position to make judgement calls on any violations inherent with their performance. I want to talk about one specific aspect - and that is the fact that Bangkok had more than 12 males on the floor.
So let's start with the first issue - which is that a USASF official told Bangkok, on Sunday, that they were allowed to compete with more than 12 males. While that communication mishap is unfortunate, it happens in lots of sports. Officials miss things, whether it be too many men on the field or an equipment violation. In a pressure-packed environment like Worlds, a mistake like that is possible.
But where things went off the rails was in how the situation was handled after that.
When it came out that Bangkok competed with too many males, the absolute first thing that should've been done was to tell them that they had to get down to 12 for finals. Period. I can buy the argument that you don't want to penalize them for the safety official's mistake in the preliminary round - and the reality is that it was a moot point anyway.
But not for the finals - not after you knew what the issue was. That's basically like saying that a soccer team that played with 12 players gets to keep playing with 12 because the referee didn't catch it right away. And I understand the idea, in theory, of giving them the option to compete with more than 12 and giving them a reduced deduction. But you did state that Bangkok was prepared earlier in the day to compete with 12 males. So they knew the rule, and were preparing for that eventuality.
You don't compound one misinterpretation of the rule with another. And you don't give a team a pass because they broke a rule that you didn't catch. If I, as someone new to the sport, wants to take cheer seriously, rules can't be changed on the fly.
I understand in that situation that it's hard to make that kind of call, especially if your own safety officials were at fault. But sometimes as a referee, those are the calls you have to make in the interest of fairness to EVERYONE involved. And that means making the tough decisions that might be unpopular, or ruffle some feathers.
Going forward, I think the rule change to ensure the age grid matches the Worlds rules for IOC6 is a good thing. And having a set penalty, whether it be treating extra males as a safety deduction or disqualification, will help as well. But the biggest thing that has to happen - across the board - is proper application of the rules.
As a relatively "immature" sport, we can't give the illusion that we make things up on the fly, or change the rules for a particular situation. We'll never move forward that way. Last weekend's events certainly didn't help the cause.
