Tourney: European Hard-court Bike Polo Championship - 01/02.08.2009

I would like to add my contribution to the reffing discussion (and let's not let this over shadow what everyone acknowledges was an awesome weekend) as having goal-reffed a huge number of games over the weekend I feel qualified to comment.

Let's not forget that reffing like this has NEVER been tried before.

Calling controversial calls is a nightmare.

All you can do is call it as you see it.

You don't always have a good line of sight and play can be moving super fast. You have to make a decision quickly and you cannot be influenced by the reaction of the crowd and the players.

Very difficult when there are 100 people standing within a few metres of you screaming their heads off! I didn't ref the big court on Sunday afternoon, but I did most of the day Saturday, and it was very, very hard to ignore the crowd, and not engage with them. Props to the guys who did ref that court Sunday afternoon, especially Ray.