When we see a referee at a tournament we know they're there to do a job, but what are their duties and powers, exactly? These are defined in the ACA Refereeing Regulations (April 2015, as amended October 2015), adopted from the WCF Refereeing Regulations.
A referee must be authorised, nominated or permitted under the regulations to assist players in making decisions on laws and facts. A qualified umpire is similarly nominated or permitted to assist players by making decisions on facts.
The roles
- Referee on Request: generally acts only at a player's invitation. Inactive when authorised but not called on; becomes active when responding to a request, and inactive again once they leave the court believing their duties discharged. Rarely, if ever, employed in Queensland.
- Supervising Referee: may act on their own initiative, and so is always active for the games they're supervising. Would typically have two or more games under their control.
- Referee in Charge: also acts on their own initiative, always active for the game they're in charge of, but looks after only one game at a time.
- Qualified Referee: a person on the official list of referees, but not necessarily authorised for a particular tournament.
- Tournament Referee: responsible for nominating and allocating authorised referees and hearing appeals; also an authorised referee themselves.
- Qualified Umpire: a person on the official list of umpires, but not necessarily authorised for the tournament. Umpires are limited to adjudicating on questions of fact, not law.
General powers and duties
An active referee has the power to decide all questions of fact and law, and must ensure the match is played in accordance with the Laws of the game and the conditions of the event. They may ask players for information on the state of the game, and players are obliged to answer to the best of their knowledge. If an active referee suspects any disagreement about the state of the game, they must investigate and settle the matter before play continues, and must ask about any apparent discrepancy between a clip's position and the course of play they notice.