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@Buffalo_Bill
The reffing was inconsistent, with some people in the chair calling virtually nothing, and one ref telling a player that he had called a foul, even though he had not seen the incident, only the aftermath, which is pretty weak. You should only ever call fouls that you have seen clearly, not based on what you thought you saw.
Most of the games that I reffed were relatively easy - the only one that I found difficult was Dans Ta Gueule Puceau vs Munich Toros. Both teams were playing on the absolute limit of what was legal, and also on the limit, and beyond, of the adhesion of their tyres, which meant that it was hard to follow the play, and virtually impossible to tell whether a player had just taken it too far, or whether he had been fouled.
I think that for major tournaments, you need to have designated non-playing refs, who meet before the tournament starts, to ensure a modicum of consistency. Everybody is different, and will ref differently, but you can at least agree on basics. I wasn't at all happy to be wheeled out for what KH felt were the difficult games, where the contrast between my reffing and others was very marked.
The worst bit of reffing I saw was in the Rotten Apples vs Pipe Gang.
Pipe Gang were disgraceful. They didn't appear to be able to control their bikes, much less the ball. That would have been fine, except that they seem to have decided that lacking skills, they would rely on t-bones. They must have taken Em and Gabes 4 times each in the first couple of minutes. The ref did absolutely nothing.
The situation was in danger of getting seriously out of control until Rik came out of goal, and body-checked them all in turn, and even managing to body-check and block 2 of them at once.
Amusing as this was, it was a shame that Apples could only get to play some polo by having to out-match their opponents dirty play. At one point, Em pushed the ball past a Pipe Gang guy near the boards, only to be checked head-on into the boards, and the guy actually jumped in front of Em, grabbing him with both hands.
Not only should he have been expelled from the tournament, but he was very lucky that of all the London players he did that to, it was Em, because if he had done that to any of the rest of us, he would surely have found himself on his back with a fist in his face.
I think the ref did call a foul at one point, but on Rik!
I have to say that Rik brought new meaning to the phrase 'doubling up'! Great work by the big man.