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Protest/Appeals Process: Know Your Rules, Follow Your Rules, Use Your Rules and Own Your Sport
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Now that emotions have settled to a degree after the ABQ weekend that was a stupidity-fest we would offer some thoughts anchored by some useful facts: USATF Competition Rules are actually very clear as to the Protest/Appeals Process. Athletes, Coaches and Athlete Reps should review the USATF Competition Rules as there they will find legal standing, solutions and empowerment to the hot button issues centered around the Protest and Appeal Process. Directing fault at the USATF National Office Staff is to not understand the Competition Rules. For the USATF National Office to accept any fault or to interceed at any level in the Appeal Process is also to not understand the Competition Rules. The Men's and Women's Competition Committee Chairs are solely responsible for the integrity of the competition and as such should be held accountable for both thier actions and inactions. The USATF National Office should be held accountable for not simply educating all injured parties as to the point of authority and responsibiliy with in our rules which is the authority of the Men's and Women's Competition Committees. Finally, we all should take a moment and except some responsibility for allowing our rules to be unknown and unenforced by our governing body. If the Men's and Women's Competition Committee Chairs, Meet Referee and Jury of Appeal need to be reminded that they are 100% authorized to ensure the conduct of our championships then let's see to it that they read the Competition Rules and run the meet by those rules without fear of interference by any outside parties. If you have rules and do not follow them, what are you as an organization? We do not need observers, we do not need a new organization (we own this one so owning a different one would result in what changes ultimately?), we need to own our rules and thus our integrity... this is on us as members in a membership organization. If an existing rule is bad, change it by the rules. If a new rule is needed then craft it and create it by the rules. Who knows their voting reps for this fall's national convention where rules are made and or changed? A little homework might serve the cause. 1-A) Clearly no one else of any "flavor" is allowed/authorized into the competition process from beginning to end.
2) Throughout the Protest/Appeals Process ONLY ONE PERSON is allowed to engage the Referee or Jury of Appeals at any one stage of filing a protest or an appeal.
RULE 11 - USA Indoor Track and Field Championships 11.1 The Men's and Women's Track and Field Committees shall annually conduct the USA Open Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Men's and Women's Championships may be conducted jointly, or each Championship may be conducted separately. The Chairs of the Track and Field Committees and/or their appointed representative(s) shall be Referee(s) of the Championships. It is recommended that such Referee(s) be certified officials at the National or Master level. RULE 111 - Games Committee 111.3 - This Committee shall be responsible for the correct conduct of the meet. It shall provide a place properly laid out and measured to conform to all the requirements of these rules, the appropriate sections of the IAAF Track and Field Facilities Manual and, shall also furnish all implements and equipment necessary for the satisfactory competition of the events scheduled in the official program, and shall have jurisdiction of all matters not assigned by these rules to the Referee or other officials. They may delegate operational responsibility for some or all of these areas to a Competition Director RULE 119 - Jury of Appeal 119.4.c - The decision of the Jury of Appeal shall be final. There shall be no further right to appeal. The Jury of Appeal may, however, reconsider decisions if new conclusive evidence is presented. RULE 146 - Protests
146.3 - Protests, at the discretion of the Games Committee or the Referee, may be made orally or in writing. For National Championships, they must be made in writing. Any protest should, in the first instance, be made orally to the Referee or to the Chief Official of the event by an athlete, or by an official representative of an athlete. Such person may only protest if they are or have an athlete competing in the same round of the event to which the protest relates or are competing in a competition on which a team points score is being conducted. 146.7 - The protested performance of the athlete and any other performance achieved while competing under protest will become valid only if a subsequent decision to that effect is made by the Referee or an appeal to the Jury of Appeal is made and is allowed. 146.9 - Where a Jury of Appeal has been established to consider appeals of decisions of the Referee as to matters which developed during the conduct of the event, appeals must be made in writing by an athlete, or by an official representative of an athlete, within 30 minutes of the official announcement of the amended result of an event arising from the decision made by a Referee, or of the advice being given to those making the protest, where there is no amendment of any result. In the case of long distance races, the time period shall be 24 hours. For cross country and the Professional Section of road races the time shall be 30 minutes. Such person may only appeal if they are or have an athlete competing in the same round of the event to which the appeal relates or are competing in a competition on which a team points score is being conducted. NOTE: The relevant Referee shall, after making a decision on a protest, immediately
inform the Competition Secretary of the time of the decision. If the Referee was unable to
communicate this orally to the relevant teams/athletes, the official time of the
announcement will be that of posting the decision at the Technical Information Center.
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