Vital information for tournament directors:
ABC is not affiliated with USQ, MLQ or IQA. That means you are under no obligation to make your tournament ABC-compliant. Choosing to declare your tournament ABC-compliant has the following pros and cons:
- Has the potential to increase public confidence in referee quality.
- Increases tournament cost (by a maximum of up to 60% though Silver ABC cost increase is minimal).
- Contributes to visibility and use of ABC system, encouraging participation and elevating quality of assistant referees in quidditch community.
- Having to field questions about what “ABC-compliant” means (don’t worry, it will all be explained on this website).
To make your tournament ABC-compliant, take the following steps:
- Contact ABC to notify us you will be using the system for your tournament. Include the tournament date and provide a google drive email address to receive the table of ABC referees.
- Announce your compensation package prior to the tournament day, especially if it deviates from the guidelines provided.
- Run your tournament as normal. Remind your field managers and head referees that assistant referee compensation depends on completed and accurate score sheets.
- After the tournament, collect the score sheets. Review the names of the assistant referees and cross-reference each with the searchable list you receive from the ABC database.
- Compensate your assistant referees appropriately.
**NOTE: It may be tempting to hold the raffle at the tournament day itself, so as to save on mailing fees. This requires advance planning, as each assistant referee must be checked off and have their name put into a hat based on the score sheets. It is possible to perform the raffle on the honor system, but ABC cannot be held liable for any dishonesty that is injected into the raffle through this system. It is strongly recommended if this will be attempted that a field manager or other dependable volunteer collect this data throughout the course of the day to execute it properly.
Standard compensation package is as follows:
- Silver ABC: entered into a raffle for tournament merchandise and/or gift cards (suggested value $10). Recommend one prize per ~8-10 games held.
- Gold ABC: $10 payment for refereeing at least 3 games.
- Platinum ABC: $5 payment per game worked.
Remember that Gold and Platinum ABC require field certification and thus are expected to be highly competent referees. Also consider compensating your ABC proctors and providing them a timeslot for simulations to field test Gold and Platinum ABC candidates, especially since your ABC Proctors are likely not free during any actual game slots to proctor ABC field tests.