Relevant passages from the General Definitions section of the game manual:
Minor Violation – A Violation which does not result in a Disqualification.
Accidental, momentary, or otherwise non Match Affecting Violations are usually Minor Violations.
Major Violation – A Violation which results in a Disqualification.
Unless otherwise noted in a rule, all Match Affecting Violations are Major Violations. Match Affecting – A Violation which changes the winning and losing Alliance in the Match.
When evaluating if a Violation was Match Affecting, Head Referees will focus primarily on any Robot actions that were directly related to the Violation.
Relevant rule:
<SG6> refers to the conditions required to safely introduce Match Load Triballs. Specifically:
Section 2a. states that
The Robot must be contacting the Match Load Zone or the Match Load Bar
Section 2b. states that
Momentarily / accidentally losing contact with the Match Load Zone or Match Load Bar is permissible, provided that the Robot is still “breaking the plane” of the inside edge of the Match Load Bar.
Scenario 1: Red team matchloads. Robot moves accidentally and a triball is loaded illegally, violating <SG6> sections 2a/2b. This is clearly not egregious or intentional, so head ref issues a verbal warning and records it as a minor violation. Team acknowledges and makes sure to not repeat the violation. Match is scored and Red wins by 1 point. Team claims their illegally loaded triball was shot and ended in the opponent's load zone so it scored 0 points. Refs did not see as they stayed focused on the robot actions. Is this match affecting and should Red be DQ-ed?
Scenario 2: Red team matchloads. Robot moves accidentally and a triball is loaded illegally, violating <SG6> sections 2a/2b. This is clearly not egregious or intentional, so head ref issues a verbal warning and records it as a minor violation. Team acknowledges and makes sure to not repeat the violation. Match is scored and Red wins by 4 points. Nobody can say with certainty where the illegally loaded triball ended. Is this match affecting and should Red be DQ-ed?
Online discussions have revealed that most EPs and refs agree that it is not realistically feasible to monitor where match loaded triballs end due to the very dynamic nature of the game and amount of game elements and that some people consider this to be an automatic 2 point infraction and some an automatic 5 point infraction (with some interesting in between ideas) for the purpose of deciding whether match affecting or not.
The intent of this question is to understand clearly and without ambiguity how to make a fair call in these scenarios.
Thank you!