Would you expect screams from players on the other team, and from the spectators? Controversy is sure to happen because they will see the heavy paint on the hopper, the barrel, and his elbow. Photo by Marc Gottfried
Catching those who choose to break the rules is the core mission of every official of the world's sports. I wish I had all the answers in this department, but alas, players will keep coming up with ways to break the rules, and thwart those who will try to stop them. We are like Microsoft, swatting down the numerous and infinite attempts to break down our system, but like them we are not without weapons to fight with. Our experience in the game, as well as some new technology, will help us along in this paintball sub-competition of "Refs vs. Players." Fortunately for us refs, we know about many simple ways to cheat when playing paintball. Unfortunately, even more complex ways to cheat have entered paintball, given state of the art paintball marker technology.
Wiping hits is paintball cheating at its most fundamental. How do you catch wipers, besides obviously seeing them wipe? You must stop them from wiping in the first place! While impossible to stop completely, if you take away the opportunity to wipe in most situations, then wiping will become tougher to pull off, and essentially will happen less often. You might not be catching players in the act, but your end goal of cleaning up the game will be achieved.
A lot of wipes occur in plain daylight right in front of a ref, sometimes with a ref's partial knowledge. All refs know that we must clean spilled, unbroken paint away from bunkers. I use a rake, which seems to work well. Players see paint on the ground as an opportunity to claim a knee or leg hit came from sliding in or kneeling, and may ask you if they can wipe it or even have you do it for them. Equally important is cleaning the bunkers themselves. The infamous "it came off the bunker" argument isn't valid if the bunkers are clean. The best tool seems to be a small window squeegee that you can keep in your back pocket.
Probably the most effective method to curb wiping is to make sure that you have refs in visual contact with concealed areas. Typically, the snake is an area players slide into, and play in with much of their bodies covered by the snake bunker. The ref needs to be able to see the slide, and more importantly, the player's run into the snake. If the player takes one in the chest on the way in, then to attempt a slide wipe, he or she might do a "superman" landing, sliding the upper body in the dirt. If the player takes one on a leg, then the cheating player might opt for a feet-first slide, dragging pant legs in the dirt, and coming up curled into a crouched position. You probably won't catch these hits after the fact. You have to see them happen, and be ready to immediately pull an armband.
It's obvious that players use dirt to make hits disappear or look old. You have to use this to your advantage. In the captains' meeting, make it a point to remind the team captains that their players are responsible for cleaning up after each game, no exceptions, including when a team plays a back to back. I recommend rubbing dirt into the area that was hit, besides cleaning off the paint mark, to further signify that the hit is from a previous game. When you find a player on the field with a big juicy hit, pull him. You warned all the captains earlier; now make your point. Similarly, you should not have to make a decision of whether a paint mark is new, or a carelessly and quickly wiped hit; pull him. In this case, or in any case where you didn't actually see the player wipe, you can't assign a wiping penalty, but you can assess a "playing on with an obvious hit" penalty depending on where the hit is located.
High-Tech Cheats
This player makes a diving slide into the bunker. Refs must watch closely because a Superman slide can (but not here) be used to smear a paintball mark to help make it disappear. Photo by Skirmish.com
We refs are at a loss when battling hightech paintball cheating. Ramping, bouncing, and just plain fast markers are hard to tell apart. We have some new tools, such as radar devices with balls per second counting ability. Honestly, however, this will only catch "newbie" cheaters who aren't able to shut off their cheating modes fast enough when the ref comes by. Use your experience to listen to the markers on the field. If a marker is shooting particularly fast, focus on the sound. Does it sound human, like a player's triggering ability is making it happen, or are the shots in such close and evenly repetitious succession that only a computer or bounce could be making the marker shoot? If you are not sure, wait until after the game and quickly get the marker away from the player, and test it. Of course, we know the well-trained cheaters will have disabled the cheating mode if in fact they are using one. Shoot the marker and try to make it ramp or bounce. Test it using the counting radar, using a given number of trigger pulls such as four or five.
I have found it near impossible to catch the electronic marker cheaters. For the future, we are seeing an advanced monitoring system using a parabolic microphone and counting computer. The dish-shaped microphone (like the ones seen at football games) gathers sound from a specific area. The computer listens to the markers shooting, filters out other noise, and counts the balls per second. This is great technology since the players will not know when they are being tested. Assuming this works well, the greatest downfall is getting this technology to local events in the future, so all fields will be able to catch players with markers set to ramp, bounce, or shoot excessive balls per second.
A final thought. I've said it a million times: You absolutely must stand by your calls on the field. No argument of calls should ever take place during a game. Some players think that they can bully their way into a call reversal and that, simply put, is cheating. How many times have you seen the "pros" yell at the refs after a bunkering move, pointing wildly at the player the ref is leaving in the game? It's bully behavior, and has no place in the middle of the game. Then stand by your calls after the game concludes.
As a paintball referee, you have a difficult job. Use your experience in the sport as an asset. Learn all you can about cheating methods and behaviors, because this will prove to be your most effective tool in catching cheaters. Run your field as cleanly as possible, adopting a code of conduct that is respected by your customers. In time, you'll find that some customers police themselves, and have little respect for those who break the rules.
Marc Gottfried has been playing the sport with Total Greif Paintball Team (totalgreif.com) since 1989 and his home field is Xtreme Paintball Park, Millstadt, Illinois (xtremepaintballpark.com). Marc is a world champion Brewmaster who operates a state-of-the-art brewery/nightclub in St. Louis, Missouri (morganstreetbrewery.com).
E-mail marc@actionpursuitgames.com.
