> <T01> Referees have ultimate authority during the competition. Their rulings are final.
a. The referees will not review any photo or video Match recordings.
b. Any questions for the referees must be brought forward by a Student Drive Team Member (not an adult) from the affected Team within a time period of two (2) Qualifying Matches, or immediately after the score is announced of an Elimination Match.
c. Any concerns regarding the Match score must be raised by a Student Drive Team Member (not an adult) before the playing field has been reset for the next Match. Once the field has been cleared, scores may no longer be disputed.
In a semi-final match at the Southwest Texas Regional Qualifier, there was a disputed call which lead to a narrow loss. The affected (losing) team questioned the head referee immediately after the score was called, prior to any robots or scoring objects being moved. The head referee conferred with the teams and confirmed the ruling. Finalists were announced and queued to the field. The losing semi-finalist team left to the pits and then the stands, no longer contesting the ruling.
At that point there began a delay of over an hour while the REC regional coordinator conferred with the entire referee crew and persons unknown over the phone. The regional coordinator then announced that, in conjunction with the local referees, himself as a representative of the REC and other persons from the REC (by phone) , the previous ruling was overturned. The previous winners waiting at the finals field were disqualified from the finals, and (after even more delay) the finals were played.
Two questions:
1: At what point and in what circumstances may the REC overrule local decisions? T01 seems clear on the referees having the final decision, but was overruled in this case. In other words, on what basis may remote, non-observers rule on a game-play violation observed first-hand by the local referee staff?
2: At what point may persons other than students on the affected team advocate for a rule interpretation? In this case, despite the affected team accepting the ruling, it was overruled due to the advocacy of unnamed persons. Neither the affected team nor the alliance later disqualified was a part of the very lengthy discussion that lead to the disqualification.
(edited for formatting and grammar)