I’ve been on the injury list so I had to take a step back from training and competing for the IBJJF SF Open.
It’s always a learning experience for me when I work as a referee. New questions come up and I am thankful that there is a team of other referees that I can ask questions and talk about positions. It’s also an opportunity for me to see how different coaches interpret the rules. (And how they might try to manipulate the interpretation of a rule so that it works for them and their athlete)
I also do a lot of watching when I referee. I am forced to watch matches that I might have tuned out if I wasn’t working as a referee. I tend to look for team trends, overall trends, and techniques that are simple and effective. It’s easy to study the same competitor because when they start on one mat, they will usually compete on the same mat you are working all the way through the finals.
Here are some questions that came up this weekend.
50/50 with ankle lock:
“When there is a submission in place no points can be scored.” That is my interpretation, but I think it is written in a similar manner in the rulebook. Here is the situations, the 50/50 is in and an athlete comes up for a sweep but the athlete being swept has an ankle lock. According to the manual book it should be no points. The book mentions nothing about how tight the submission needs to be, it simply states that if there is a submission in place no points can be scored. In this case the submission was in place. The coach seemed to think that because the foot was flat on the ground the submission wasn’t viable and the points should be awarded for the sweep. I disagreed and didn’t give points. It was later explained that if the submission wasn’t “tight” then the points could be given. If that is the case, I think the rules need to be rewritten to reflect “tightness” of a submission.
Reverse half guard / saddle:
I’ve seen a brown belt from team Atos win NoGi Worlds and I believe the Europeans with a knee bar from this position that seems illegal but was awarded the victory after a successful submission. It seems like the knee bar in application isn’t a “straight” knee bar and involves some twisting of the knee in the lateral direction. I think it’s an awesome submission, but under the policy manual of refereeing, I believe it’s illegal…
Lack of combat (Stalling):
There is a problem with this rule. In general, I don’t think there is enough “lute” calls made. Here is the other problem, in a case, someone is winning by 3 points or more, it is highly unlikely for penalties to even matter. The first is just a penalty, the second a penalty and advantage, the third penalty and 2 points, and the fourth a disqualification. Perhaps, there needs to be a warning, where the first call doesn’t matter so people are given a notice that the referee seems them as stalling. I also think adding a 1 point between the advantage and 2 point penalty being possible. In general, the rule for lack of combativeness is very vague. “20 seconds of inaction led by an athlete preventing movement.” But what is the criteria for inaction? In my opinion, the lapel guard (worm guard) where the guard player just holds could easily be subject to this criteria, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a call made from this position.
All these things are “gray zones” that need to be clarified by the federation so that the athletes, coaches, and referees can compete under the same interpretations of the rule book. It shouldn’t matter when is trendy or how people have thought about it, what’s essential is that the rules written in the rulebook (the referee’s policy manual) are followed to the letter. If there is room for interpretation based on the wording in the policy manual then we should always expect there to be conflict and confrontation.