Pity the poor referee. Part 1.
The plight of the underacknowledged, underappreciated martial arts referees, judges and officials.
In two parts, in this one, looking at:
· Good and bad in competition officials.
· Everyone doesn’t necessarily think the same way – even in Japan.
· Anecdotes of how bad things can get, if the officials are not on top of it. (The Birmingham bloodbath revisited).
Setting up an ideal.
I am reminded of the model of ‘the perfect restaurant waiter’. It is said that if a waiter is doing his or her job properly, nobody seems to notice them.
From the diner’s perspective things just seem to happen, as if by magic. Nothing interrupts their experience of fine dining.
It’s only when things are going wrong, or the staff are too ‘in your face’ that these waiters then become a feature.
This is rather like the unfortunate referee.
As a competitor and an official at numerous karate contests, I can think of quite a few occasions where to a lesser or greater degree, things have gone sideways. Where officials have done the wrong thing, or made a judgement call that threw the whole thing up in the air. Or the entire premise of the competition was wrong.
But also, conversely; where the referee (or judge) was so flawless in their conduct and decision-making that things happened effortlessly; as if the Gods of Organisation and Efficiency were smiling down on the event, and the competitor’s experience was unhindered by unnecessary bureaucratic fuss, or organisational dysfunction.
But before I get on to that; a question… Why would anyone put themselves forward to be an official at a martial arts competition?
A couple of things to consider:
The officials are the bedrock of a successful event. Basically, no officials, no competition. But, also, nearly all officials have been competitors themselves (and bring all that experience to bear). They have also benefitted from the commitment of the refs and judges from the past – now it’s time to give something back to the next generation.
This is an important thing and fits in nicely with the aspirations of modern Japanese Budo and the contribution towards the greater good.
But, everything isn’t necessarily rosy in the garden.
Not everyone is a team player.
A few years back I heard a story from within one of the well-established traditional Japanese martial arts where, in Japan, they were experiencing a reluctance from mid to high level Dan equivalent ranks to step up for promotion. Initially this puzzled the people at the top. Was it misguided humility, or a feeling of not being worthy, or something else?
Further enquiry told them that some (not all) did not want promotion because with their advanced rank came advanced responsibilities; which included bureaucratic burdens and acting as officials in examinations and contests. Apparently, they were unwilling to accept the additional load and were just content to continue training, pursuing their own personal developmental trajectory.
At one level, I get it, though I don’t agree with it. But, at another level I wonder how that goes down with the Japanese sense of societal cohesiveness, or groupthink? It does sound very un-Japanese; but the Japanese are full of contradictions.
Karate competition can sometimes suffer from the phenomenon of ‘the perfect storm’.
A few examples; some from personal experience; others from recent history that have since become folklore:
Birmingham Ballroom, early 1970’s.
Talk about not reading the situation!
I know I have written about this before in detail (see https://budojourneyman.substack.com/p/chapter-3-karate-an-alternative-story )
I think I titled it, ‘The Birmingham Ballroom Bloodbath’.
Basically, wrong time, wrong situation, wrong location, wrong reaction, in fact everything was wrong about it. I don’t think I necessarily blame the organisers for their intentions, they just didn’t see it coming and their actions to try and rescue the situation were too late and totally ineffective.
In a nutshell, this was a UKKW karate competition event that erupted into carnage because of an overly partisan crowd who had whipped themselves into a frenzy, coupled with an organisational structure that failed to read the signs and fell into a state of atrophy. By the time they moved, events had already spun out of control. Any remnant of good refereeing failed to get a handle on the situation; it was well beyond that.
Throughout the day, the injuries piled up; the hospital in Birmingham was kept busy right until the early hours of the morning.
Some people who I was with on the day never entered a competition again. If this was karate, they wanted no further part in it.
In the next part:
· How ‘open’ is ‘open’?
· What happens when politics and pride are allowed to run amok.
· What was going on with the early UFC?
I founded and helped run a tournament organization for many years, and refereed a bunch before that. It's a thankless job!