Information No. 4 from FITA Judges and Coaches Committees

Information No. 4 from FITA Judges and Coaches Committees Lausanne – 22 July 2010   Information to Coaches In 2009 there were many competitions where archers were either confused or just did not know the rules or regulations currently in place. This resulted in many delays being encountered during competitions which caused frustration to the competitors and organisers alike. Because of this the FITA Judges and Coaches Committees have agreed it would be useful to introduce some  "drops" on issues concerning coaches, procedures and rules, and make judges procedures understandable to them, and not least, so the coaches know what to expect from the judges. Ken BEARMAN, FITA Coaches Committee Chairman   We hereby intend to start a series of small inputs in order to be helpful to coaches and enhance their knowledge on rules and procedures to avoid extraordinary stress on their archers. We are of course also open to questions that might be asked. Morten B. WILMANN, FITA Judges Committee Chairman   4. Appeals The possibility of appealing against a decision made by the judges or tournament officials is a basic right an archer has in order to avoid being a victim of an incorrect decision or unfair treatment. There are only two exceptions from this right: a decision made by a judge re the value of an arrow still in the target (i.e. if the arrow value is a ten or a nine, etc), and the use of a yellow card in the team event. More about this is explained below.   But first of all it is better, if possible, to avoid getting into an "appeal procedure" which will automatically slow down the competition to some extent. One way to avoid getting involved in an appeal is to ask the judges about anything that might be unclear re shooting and scoring procedures, before "a situation occurs". The Team Captains' Meeting is a good forum to air any questions or complaints, but if necessary the judges will be happy to help at any time during the competition.   The procedure for making an appeal is that the archer, or his Team Captain/Coach, immediately launches intent to make an appeal, and then have they some minutes to write up the details thoroughly on specific forms. The appeal will be delivered to the Chairman of judges (or his deputy if so announced) together with the appropriate fee, which at present is USD 50.   The fee is established to prevent unnecessary appeals and the fee is returned if the appeal is won. However, the Jury may return the fee even if the appeal is lost, which may happen if the case was well founded.   Upon receiving the appeal the Chairman of judges may find the case obvious and will solve it without involving the Jury, and then they will advise the archer/team manager to consider withdrawing the appeal. If the Chairman of judges cannot resolve the problem this way they will immediately deliver the appeal to the Jury, and inform the relevant persons (Director of Shooting, field crew, etc.) that there is an appeal and that there will be a delay in the shooting procedure (if necessary).   A bit more on the exceptions re appeals mentioned above: as our rules say that a decision made by the judge re the value of an arrow still in the target is not appealable, anything else re the value of an arrow such as a shoot-through, bouncers, too many arrows, etc, is appealable.   A judge deciding an arrow value has to follow some given procedures as indicated in the Judges Guide Book, but these procedures are not rules. If the judge does not give the value of an arrow to the archers liking the archer is not given any further rights of appeal, but unqualified behaviour by a judge should be reported to the Chairman of judges, any such information will be used to improve the overall quality of judging.   Talking about judging arrow values, as indicated in the rules neither the arrows, nor the target face or buttress should be touched until all arrows have been scored. Occasionally, due to the difficulty in positioning themselves to decide upon an arrow value, a judge may happen to touch something, even if they try to avoid it. This will however, not influence the judge’s decision who will give the value according to their opinion after following the proper procedures.   Showing a "Yellow card" in the team event is the other exception, and the reason for having this exception is that the situation cannot be re-installed. This is just like a football (soccer) referee who has to make an immediate decision. They may overlook something or make a wrong decision. This is a part of the game, so there is no need to protest on being shown a yellow card or the lack of a yellow card being shown to the other team, better to concentrate on your own team and their quick response to a yellow card and/or their performance.   World Archery Communication