Ten signs of poor reffing! In fairness to all players out there it is tough reffing and even more tough when you are reffing against good players. Here are ten signs of ref change needed!
1. The ref tries to be part of the action. You know the drill. The ref has a flair for the dramatic and tries to call attention to themselves. The best refs are invisible!
2. The ref is disrespectful of one or more players. Comments like “Yeah sure you could have gotten that” or “no way you could have gotten to that ball, you are not that fast” are some examples that come to mind.
3. Not knowing the rules-here is one-the racquet breaks the drive serve line on the right side and the player is drive serving to the right. At a recent tournament I actually had my athlete get the tournament director because the ref did not know the rule.
4. No avoidable calls–for some reason pros call avoidables and amateurs do not. If the rule is in the book, enforce it! Avoidables exist to protect the players and as a ref that is what you should be doing!
5. Cracking jokes at the player’s expense. Condescending remarks to player’s inquiries do not make the players look bad, they make the ref look bad!
6. Letting the players ref their matches. This is one I see a lot, especially with the better players. They beg avoidables, pretend they got double and triple bounces, and play out rallies they lost. The ref allows it because the ref lets the player make his or her own calls. Usually it is because the ref adores one the players; the one making the calls!
7. Allowing breach of the rules–If the rule exists that the player is not supposed to leave the court, why let them? If the rule exists that you cannot slam the ball into the back wall or scream obscenities, why let the players do that? Poor reffing leads to boorish behavior!
8. Playing favorites-a ref should be very sensitive about wanting one or the other player to win. I remember turning on blinders and trying not to look at who hit the shot, but just the two players. I did not want to pre-judge a call.
9. Making a no-call. This is a rule I violated way back in the day in a pro final. I asked the players to replay it because I did not know if it was good or not. Looking back at it, I should have guessed.
10. Inventing drama-you know that old commercial where customers wanted the football game to go overtime? Well, there are refs who wait until the stupidest times to enforce rules and sometimes I think they want to enforce their power on the unsuspecting player.
The famous foot fault at 10-10 when it has not been called the entire match or the balk serve or some such other breech of rules should be evenly enforced throughout the match. A ref should not wait until a crucial point to make such a call.
I know I missed some more so feel free to add on below! Refs have a tough job to do, but unemotional, non-cheer leading refs who know the rules are the best!!