What Sport is the Most Difficult to Officiate?

Been thinking about this for a little bit, I lean towards Hockey, followed closely by Basketball.

Rugby.

Rugby, cause I don’t think anyone actually understands the rules.

I’m going out on a limb here and saying bodybuilding…

Naw, not bodybuilding. They have a lot of time to judge each contestant, and there is no way to cheat. Look at something like hockey where there could be 5 different people breaking the rules at once, and the rules themselves are routinely allowed to be broken to make the game more interesting.

[quote]miroku333 wrote:
I’m going out on a limb here and saying bodybuilding…[/quote]

Is that a sport?

J/K

[quote]Thomas Gabriel wrote:
Naw, not bodybuilding… there is no way to cheat. [/quote]

Oh really?

[quote]Thomas Gabriel wrote:
Naw, not bodybuilding. They have a lot of time to judge each contestant, and there is no way to cheat. Look at something like hockey where there could be 5 different people breaking the rules at once, and the rules themselves are routinely allowed to be broken to make the game more interesting. [/quote]

my thoughts were more on the subjectivity of the rulings in bodybuilding, versus the time given to make a decision, or rapidity of movement.

[quote]saroachman wrote:
Thomas Gabriel wrote:
Naw, not bodybuilding… there is no way to cheat.

Oh really?[/quote]

You’re not really starting the argument I think you are, are you?

Officiating American Football at a high level is very difficult. 90% of the calls are more or less straight forward but there are some really obscure ones that pop up from time to time

how the hell is bodybuilding a sport?
And I don’t want to hear how tough it is. Just because something is tough doesn’t make it a sport.

I think baseball would be the hardest. I’d like to see anyone here hit a 100 mph fast ball or 90 mph curveball.

Basketball? are you kidding me?

[quote]matsm21 wrote:
saroachman wrote:
Thomas Gabriel wrote:
Naw, not bodybuilding… there is no way to cheat.

Oh really?

You’re not really starting the argument I think you are, are you?[/quote]

Hopefully he means a natty comp with enhanced competitors.

[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
Officiating American Football at a high level is very difficult. 90% of the calls are more or less straight forward but there are some really obscure ones that pop up from time to time[/quote]

I think it is safe to say that at a high level, officiating anything is very difficult. Every sport is likely to have a situation that is near impossible to determine. So, it’s really a question about what sport has the most frequent of such situations.

[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
Officiating American Football at a high level is very difficult. 90% of the calls are more or less straight forward but there are some really obscure ones that pop up from time to time[/quote]

They have instant replay. And there are a lot of guys watching the action. Despite all of this they still miss blatant holding vs. James Harrison at least 3x a game.

If anyone here has ever lifted in the IPA then you would think that judging squat depth is the most difficult thing on the planet.

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
how the hell is bodybuilding a sport?
And I don’t want to hear how tough it is. Just because something is tough doesn’t make it a sport.

I think baseball would be the hardest. I’d like to see anyone here hit a 100 mph fast ball or 90 mph curveball.

Basketball? are you kidding me?[/quote]

Firstly, Whether or not someone here can hit a baseball has nothing to do with how difficult a sport is to officiate.

Secondly, The difference between a clean block and a foul, or a legal dribble and a walk or a carry, or goal-tending can be measured in fractions of a second, these situations happen hundreds, if not thousands of times in a given game.

Compound that with the amount of visual distraction and clutter of the 10 players bumping bodies in the post, and there is a lot of information for the Officials to take in, process, and judge. The only thing that relieves some of that is the fact that there are 3 officials. While you may not agree that it is the most difficult sport to officiate, I can’t believe you’d think it is easy by any stretch of the imagination.

Baseball is certainly a very difficult sport to officiate, seeing as how the fastest pitches can hardly even been seen by the naked eye. But, on the other hand, there are numerous officials on the field, and they have ample time to prepare for each call, with less clutter and confusion than a Hockey match or a Basketball game. Additionally, haven’t they started using instant replay?

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
how the hell is bodybuilding a sport?
And I don’t want to hear how tough it is. Just because something is tough doesn’t make it a sport.

I think baseball would be the hardest. I’d like to see anyone here hit a 100 mph fast ball or 90 mph curveball.

Basketball? are you kidding me?[/quote]

officiate, not to play. either way, baseball is not the hardest sport to play.

To officiate, I might have to go against my hockey roots and say basketball.

[quote]Malevolence wrote:
jehovasfitness wrote:

Baseball is certainly a very difficult sport to officiate, seeing as how the fastest pitches can hardly even been seen by the naked eye. But, on the other hand, there are numerous officials on the field, and they have ample time to prepare for each call, with less clutter and confusion than a Hockey match or a Basketball game. Additionally, haven’t they started using instant replay?

[/quote]

baseball is by far on the “easier” spectrum of this topic. What do you mean you can’t see the pitches? So people are just swinging at…nothing? I’m just saying.

Toss up between Rugby (30 players, 1 Ref most of the time) and Cricket - Ball moves pretty much as fast as Baseball but on a path at a greater angle to the officials eye-line, bounces and you have to judge not only where the ball goes and what it hits, but also where it woudl haev gone, ahd it not hit the batsman’s body…

Oh, and you’ve got to keep an eye on the bowler’s feet as he releases the ball at up to 85mph at club level - for international make that 95, then pick up the ball as soon as possible.

beer pong.

I’d say hockey has to be up there, considering it is one of the fastest team sports out there. But these days, the refs play a lesser part than they used to with all those ‘gonna take a look upstairs’ things.