Protests
Comments about this discussion:
Started
I would like to make the language around protests more clear. Here is what the current Rulebook states:
6B.4 Protests
Protests must be filled on an offi cial form within 15 minutes of the posting of event results. Protest is only possible against mistakes in calculation or other mistakes not connected to a judge's subjective score. Protest against judges' scores is not permissible. The Chief Judge must resolve all protests within 30 minutes of receipt of the written form.
Currently at Unicon, when a protest is filed, there are often very strong feelings. It is understandable as riders and their families have worked hard on these routines for months. However, currently this often results in the Chief Judge being yelled at or harassed by multiple people and it is not done with professionalism. This does not happen in other high level sports. I suggest that in order for a protest to be submitted, it must be submitted by a country liason. Only the country liason may submit the protest to the Chief Judge and the Chief Judge and Jury may not be approached by others during the competition for protest reasons. The Chief Judge will then communicate the results of the protest with the country liason. At smaller competitions this could be a coach or club liason.
Also I think that we should have an official protest form in the IUF Rulebook. Right now there is not a standard form.
Comment
I completely agree that there needs to be an official protest from. Every Unicon I am surprised there is not a standard form, simply a form that has been used in the past. The template should be part of the rulebook documentation (appendix or otherwise).
I will bring this up in the Main committee.
As for protests within Freestyle - completely agree with this proposal. I am always stunned at the treatment of Unicon officials (volunteer or director) when emotions are at an all time high. I think adding the level of country liaison will first relieve some of the emotions that are unleashed on the Freestyle Directors and Chief Judge, and remind competitors and their family/friends, that they need to keep a level head first.
Comment
In Germany we have the following sentence in virtually every call for competition: "Einsprüche kann nur der bei der Anmeldung benannte Verantwortliche des entsprechenden Vereins, bei Einzelstartern der gesetzliche Vertreter bzw. der volljährige Teilnehmer, im Wettkampfbüro einlegen" - translated in English it would be something like: “Protests can only be filed at the competition office by the responsible person of the respective club named at the time of registration, in the case of individual starters by the legal representative or the adult participant”.
In my opinion, this regulation has two major positive effects:
1. as Patricia suggested above, protests cannot be filed by just anyone, but only by certain people, which reduces emotions when filling protests.
2. the protests must be submitted to the competition office, which means that there can be an intermediate level to the Chief Judge and the Chief Judge does not have to collect protests personally, which could otherwise hinder the flow of the event.
When I am involved in organizing competitions, I have a protest form where the protest can be filed and the competition office has a separate section on the form where it can note the original time when the protest was received and confirm receipt. In this way, the person who files the protest can see that it has been received and also has a guarantee that the protest was submitted within the protest time.
Comment
Jan, this all sounds great. I'm trying to envision what this looks like in reality. What is the competition office? I want to make sure we use language that can make sense for all sizes of competitions.
Also would you be willing to share the form that you have so we can see if we should use that?
Comment
I would say at every competition there is a room/place somewhere apart from the jury table where things are organized for the competition, lists are printed, the jury sheets are collected and possibly transferred to a PC program, and so on. - I would call this room/place the competition office, as this is where everything concerning the competition comes together.
The form I'm using can be found here: www.einrad-bdr.de/upload/file/IUF_Rulebook_Committee/Forms/VUni-Form_1.01.1_Protest_EN.pdf
Comment
I think that the form your shared Jan is great and I would propose that we add it to the rulebook. I wonder if for freestyle it makes sense to say that the form should be turned into the Chief Judge? I know that often at freestyle competitions the officials are merely sitting at a different table slightly apart from the judging table.
Also wondering about the language regarding who we would like to be responsible for turning it in. At Unicon do we still want it to be a club representative or should it be one person for the country?
Comment
From my experience in Germany, I would say that it is less disruptive to the competition and, above all, relieves the Chief Judge if protests are not (or do not have to be) handed in to the Chief Judge, but can be accepted by the competition office, for example. I also know that at Unicons there may not always be a competition office in the form that I am used to in Germany. In the end, however, it is perhaps a matter of definition as to whether you call the table standing a little to one side the competition office at a Unicon. In any case, I think it makes sense for people not to come to the jury table itself to make an protest, as this can disrupt the competition.
> Also wondering about the language regarding who we would like to be responsible for turning it in. At Unicon do we still want it to be a club representative or should it be one person for the country?
While I can understand the idea of having one person per country, I wonder whether we make sure that every rider at a Unicon knows who the one representative of their country is? We also need to ask how this representative is determined and how it is communicted who it is? Furthermore I would ask, if it is ensured that this representative can always be contacted to file a protest in time?
All in all, I see some challenges if we really want to stipulate that only a certain representative of a country can file a protest.
Comment
I am fine with it remaining a club representative instead of a country one. So far we have had only 3 people contribute ideas here so I would be curious to hear from others.