heey
we are having a meeting tomorrow about that
we’ll come up with fresh infos and publish it here and on telegram :))
3 Likes
just seeing the dates now… won’t be able to be part of it 
…will do my best to promote this in BX tho.
xo
coucouuuuu 
Bordeaux Bike Polo is pleased to annonce that inscriptions for the RefCamp are now open! There are 24 slots available, each inscription is for one individual only.
Registration:
Starts on Feb 17th 2025.
Stops on March 3rd 2025
If more than 24 people apply, Bordeaux Bike Polo will choose INSTRUCTORS and PARTICIPANTS on this basis : MIXED GROUP + GEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY + BEGINNERS and ADVANCED players and/or clubs
HERE : 🏁REFEREE CAMP 👀 Bordeaux 17 & 18 MAY 2025 | Framaforms.org
The plan is simple! Each morning, participants will attend 3 presentations on varying topics. In the afternoons they take turns reffing the matchs of a mini tournament, (4v4, 6 team round robin + semi-final and final).
Bordeaux Bike Polo will provide 
lodging for all participants, 
breakfast and lunch will be provided as usual.
The fee for attending is 15€.
6 participants will be INSTRUCTORS who give presentations in the mornings, and are captains of the teams created at random for the mini-tournament.
!!?WHO WILL BE THE INTRUCTORS?!!
If you are interested in presenting one of the modules, you can volunteer during the Inscription process. Présentations will last about one hour on average. BBP will choose from the volunteers these six instructors, and work with them to prepare high quality presentations.
Dates: 16th-18th May 2025
Where: Darwin Ecosystem
Event Schedule:
Friday from 18h00 pick-ups at the court
Saturday:
8h00 at the co-working room in Darwin : presentations
Déontologie:
-Purpose of the ref
-Powers
-Priorities
-Responsibilities
-Respecting teams, players, organizers
-Fitness
Communication:
-Verbal
-Whistle
-Hand signals
- Procedures for;
°Joust
°Goal scored/restart
°End of match
°Advantage
Fouls:
-The spirit and history of the rules
-Recognition techniques
-Procedure for making a call
-Time penalties
-Severe fouls
-Trifling fouls
-Fouls during advantage
-Team captain’s fouls
13h00 : Lunch at the court
15h00 : 6 teams Round Robin tournament (4v4)
Instructors will lead their reffing teams and provide pedagogical instruction for the
Sunday
8h00 at the co-working room in Darwin : Presentations on
Time Management:
- The big picture. How much time in a weekend?
-The impact of time remaining
-Communicating time remaining
-Keeping time, ball in play/out of play
-Rolls of the assistant ref
-Wasted and lost time
Team Referee: Safety and Equipment
-Spirit/history of the Equipment Laws
-Inspecting the court
-Tools of the referee
-Teamwork in reffing
Conditions & Crowds:
-Spectator’s impact
-Foul weather
-Managing Confrontations
-Maintaining fairness and fluidity
-Aggressive players
-Unsporting conduct
-Tournament rules
-Reffing top tier games
13h00 : Lunch
15h00 : Round robin tournament
17h30 : Certificate Ceremony wwwwwwwwwouh and MEGA HUGZ 
ciaaao tchintchin
11 Likes
This is the hotness.
DEAR INSTRUCTORS !!!
we neeeeed ya to apply !
this will be WUNDERBAR don’t hesitate to share your ref talents pliiize
This will be a collective thing, you won’t be alone in a tedx vibe
2 Likes
Any chance of a livestream for people who can’t attend?
1 Like
yess
we’ll make this happen :))
2 Likes
dears !!!
3 SLOTS to take as PARTICIPANTS !!!
first come first served !!!
and still 4 INSTRUCTOR SLOTS to take ==> talk to uussssss
FORM : 
REFEREE CAMP Bordeaux 17 & 18 MAY 2025 | Framaforms.org
LIST
PARTICIPANTS
- ray (zaragoza)
- wil (valencia & venezuela)
- antonio (london)
- nils (montpellier)
- jovina (vienna)
- vazzi (bxl)
- beagle (london)
- rita (berlin)
- caro (paris)
- juicy jules (berlin)
- brice (argenton)
- benjamin (argenton)
- jerome (paris)
- christiane (leipzig)
- richie (leipzig)
- ?
- ?
- ?
INSTRUCTORS
- ana trinidad (madrid)
- bernie (bordeaux)
- ??
- ??
- ??
- ??
Would request that even if streaming is not possible that the presentations and a few demonstrations be recorded. Even with the slight differences in rulesets - having these presentations accessible would be a huge resource.
We will be streaming the event and recording it for all to enjoy. Everyone will have access to it, as well as the powerpoint presentations, and the excel doc where we will archive interesting reffing moments sourced from polo streaming through the years.
2 Likes
update🧪LIST
dears plize tell us if you’re not comiiing
PARTICIPANTS
1- ray (zaragoza)
2- wil (valencia & venezuela)
3- ben (perpi)
4- nils (montpellier)
5- vazzi (bxl)
6- beagle (london)
7- rita (berlin)
8- juicy jules (berlin)
9- brice (argenton)
10- benjamin (argenton)
11- jerome (paris)
12- christiane (leipzig)
13- richie (leipzig)
14- fred mimiche (nantes)
15- florent (tours)
16- hugo (montpellier)
17- lucas (marseille)
18- johannes (berlin)
19- ???
INSTRUCTORS
20- ana trinidad (madrid) topic TeamReferee/Safety
21- bernie (bordeaux) topic Communication
22- tristan (Perpignan) topic Déontologie
23- anne lise (bordeaux) topic Time Keeping
24- ??
+++ Alejandro (Barcelon) topic Crowds and Conditions via videocall
Well… The deed is done, and it was awesome. The participants were awesome, the presentations were awesome, the instructors were awesome. The content was awesome. We are confident that everyone involved has learned something new about arbitration. Let us see where it goes from here!
9 Likes
I’ve taken the time watch the streams for refcamp, we will soon create a space where these videos, and the discussion notes will be available. Especially a roadmap for arbitration improvement in the sport needs to made. We need critical reviews of what was offered at the camp so that the next one will be better. To be honest, everyone had a good time, but it can be done much better. I will create a roadmap for future ref camps as well.
5 Likes
Some conversation has cropped up about the Law of advantage of TG. I will forward the message here.
A quick synopsis:
The law of advantage communicates that: the whistle blow after an infraction, only happens when the team commiting the foul gains possession.
Consequentially, the ref must accord advantage after any infraction (unless someone is hurt ofcourse), and then blow the whistle only when the team at fault gains possession.
Alejandro addresses the history and spirit of the Law of Advantage. The Law was made for the specific purpose of allowing play to continue IF, the team who was fouled has a clear opportunity to press an attack.
In short, the Law is meant to nerf “tactical fouls”. I.E., fouls committed ON PURPOSE, to stop play when there is a possibility of being scored on.
Thus, if there is no clear advantage in the moment of the infraction, the ref can, at his/her discretion, blow the whistle, stop play, and assign the appropriate sanction.
3 Likes
it seems a bit confusing to say so when , traditionally , it has never been enforced.
maybe , for better comprehension , we could discuss a real situation when this takes effect ?
1 Like
This isn’t enforced so to speak. The discretion and judgment of the referee isn’t enforced. Laws are enforced by a referee.
Sure, some laws aren’t well enforced.
Besides, there is no place for tradition in these conversations. I am sure you agree, considering that the sport is alive, changing, and reffing is an obstacle right now.
1 Like
no you xant wake up every day and flip the whole culture that took 15 years to build up to this.
if you see exciting games of bike polo in 2025 its because the crowd work from scratch to this.
when i use the word “traditionally” its not to get labeled as a conservatist vs progressist type convo, im reffering to the actual reality of how we play the game , the game mechanics as they are understood by everyone on the court atm. very real talk here.
so you are saying that within the ruleset , a ref can “let play” and not give advantage if the foul doesnt trigger any real consequences.
although i might agree , since a ref always have the choice to “let play” , i was asking you if you had a particular situation in mind to depict this call that have never been enforced traditionally ?
1 Like
Exempli gratia:
A defending playing commits a topping foul on an attacker who has possession, pinned up against the boards. Both players are down, and all other players are far away from the ball which is “under” the dabbed player.
In my future matches I will consider blowing the whistle right away, instead of waiting on possession to be determined and potentially declaring advantage as I have in the past.
I won’t declare advantage unless it makes good sense to do so.
1 Like
I think that eventually we will get to a point where what you are suggesting becomes close to the norm. But, as Benji has rightly pointed out, it’s not currently.
One thing to consider is that a penalty is not only for the purpose of rectifying a disadvantage but also serves as a deterrent against committing any given foul. As it stands, the current protracted period of advantage performs both of these tasks. In the case you’ve outlined there seems to be no great disadvantage at play so a ball turnover seems sufficient in that regard. However, I believe that by greatly reducing the likelyhood of recieving an advantage call by merely reposessing the ball we are defanging an existing process which performs an important role as a deterrent.
If we were to move away from the current interpretation of delayed penalty/advantage, which I notionally support, we would need to consider what could stand in for the lost deterrence function. One option would be to use minor penalties more frequently. However, I believe it would be a mistake to use mandatory minors after some reduced number of infractions.
My preference would be a middle ground where we continue to allow advantage if the fouled team retains possession however we greatly reduce our tolerance for retreating to gain a better offensive position. This might assist in reducing the pressure to use the minor penalty as a deterrent but there would still be more pressure than currently exists. On balance, I think more frequent minor penalties would be a good thing for the game overall. It would put the deterrent power in the hands of the ref rather than in the machinations of the game.
A simple example I like to tell new refs is that if an egregious t-bone occurs and the person fouled ends up on the floor or you wince at the contact and wonder whether the persons bike is ok, it’s time to consider awarding a minor penalty. Mitigating factors in this case seem to directly relate to whether an advantage call is made after the t-bone. Some might ask, “but what if they retain possession and score, surely that rights the wrong?” I try to point out rectifying the disadvantage is an important component but keeping control of the game by deterring bad behaviour is also a large part of the refs job. It is up to the ref to decide whether a minor penalty is necessary separate from the rectification of mere disadvantage. How such a decision is made is perhaps outside the scope of this discussion.
TL;DR Penalties act as deterrent as well as rectifying disadvantage. Those making changes to existing rules or interpretations should consider how the game is reffed currently and take this two dimensional view of its effects on the game prior to making changes.
1 Like
wow thats a pretty strong change in reffing mechanics ! but your answer is incomplete :
after the defense commit topplong on the ball possessor , who gets the ball ? i can guess the team with possession.
although that foul is commited in the defensive half and the nature of the toppling is still up to debate , wich penalty will you enforce ?
because now lets compare reffing outcomes : in a traditional way , it could have been 2 results
a ) topple happen. fouled team is first to retrieve the ball and enjoy a traditionl advantage call + the fact that the defensive player who toppled has to circle back from tap out ( tap out is often disregarded as a balacong mechanism but it actually create great opportunities, as well as a bench swap) so the team potentially gets a free 2v2 ( wich is awesome bonus )
b) topple happen. the defensive team is first on the ball and the ref whistle a stoppage of play > ball turn over. the fouled team does not suffer a potential -1 defense play on them
so how canceling advantage balance these situations ? can we forsee a lot of frustrated players being robbed from a juicy recovery ? what does the advantage cancel brings to the game really ?