Annoying referee

Recently, I was in a match and I had this annoying referee talking to me during the match. He would call a shido accompanied by a critique with a smirk on his face. Like he would call shido followed by “hey, you are not doing anything”. Then, another shido followed by “you need to work of your gripping”. I don’t remember the last disconcerting comment but I only remember that I felt like calling a shido back on him and tell him “shut up!!”. I had never seen that happening in my many decades competing in tournaments in many countries. Is this an accepted practice in competition? Should I have complained to the tournament director? I did not feel like making a big issue but I felt very uncomfortable and felt that this referee was unfit to officiate in competitions.

DrJudo wrote:Recently, I was in a match and I had this annoying referee talking to me during the match. He would call a shido accompanied by a critique with a smirk on his face. Like he would call shido followed by “hey, you are not doing anything”. Then, another shido followed by “you need to work of your gripping”. I don’t remember the last disconcerting comment but I only remember that I felt like calling a shido back on him and tell him “shut up!!”. I had never seen that happening in my many decades competing in tournaments in many countries. Is this an accepted practice in competition?

No, certainly not in adults.

DrJudo wrote:Should I have complained to the tournament director? I did not feel like making a big issue but I felt very uncomfortable and felt that this referee was unfit to officiate in competitions.

Not yourself as the ref might develop a grudge against you that could haunt you in future. If your coach was there, best would be for your coach to first approach the ref directly and bring it up. If the ref. would react in a defensive of condenscending way, then approach the Head Referee. The tournament director in most countries does not have any authority over referees and may well not be a referee or not even a judoka himself.

DrJudo wrote:Recently, I was in a match and I had this annoying referee talking to me during the match. He would call a shido accompanied by a critique with a smirk on his face. Like he would call shido followed by “hey, you are not doing anything”. Then, another shido followed by “you need to work of your gripping”. I don’t remember the last disconcerting comment but I only remember that I felt like calling a shido back on him and tell him “shut up!!”. I had never seen that happening in my many decades competing in tournaments in many countries. Is this an accepted practice in competition? Should I have complained to the tournament director? I did not feel like making a big issue but I felt very uncomfortable and felt that this referee was unfit to officiate in competitions.

No, it's not right.  How old are you?  What rank black belt are you?  How do these compare to the referee?

If you have "many decades" of competition, then you might be "senior" to the referee.  IMHO sometimes we old guys should put our junior members in their place.  It's an old argument, but grade and age SHOULD supersede referee credential ... the only possible comment in such a situation ... and even then it's probably out of place ... is "shido ... sorry sensei."

Then again, what the referee says in a match MUST be the final answer.

You could ... for example ... just walk to the edge of the mat and leave ... in the middle of the match after bowing to your opponent and at mat's edge of course.

After the competition was over, I thought in retrospect how improper the referee's conduct had been. I really don't care much whether he develops a grudge against me in future tournaments, but that will not happen because I would not overstep my bounds as an athlete. I really go to these tournaments to enjoy myself and meet with good friends. I have been practicing judo for over 40 years, and most likely the referee was in diapers when I was already Shodan. If I go to a tournament as a coach and see him again, I will feel free to call his attention if he does it again with someone else.