Signing Timesheets and Arbitrations

[JFlowers]

Reading a current thread about checking timers and timesheets caused an incident I witnessed while working as general staff at a recent major match to resurface.

A shooter was unhappy about a procedural called against him. The shooter refused to sign the scoresheet because "if he signed it he was accepting it and could not protest it". Since he was the next to last shooter on the stage, by the time this discussion was held, the squad was leaving and the shooter left with them.

The RM was called, the situation explained. The RM put a note on the scoresheet and timed it and told us to turn it in as-is.

My question is .... Was the shooter correct? Could the shooter have protested the procedural even after signing the scoresheet? Or by signing it was the shooter accepting it as is and lose the ability?

[Yoda]

JFlowers,

the shooter was correct. By signing the scoresheet it becomes a definitive document, which cannot be protested afterwards by the competitor.

IPSC 9.7.4 A score sheet signed by both a competitor and a Range Officer is conclusive evidence that the course of fire has been completed, and that the time, scores and penalties recorded on the score sheet, are accurate and uncontested. The signed score sheet is deemed to be a definitive document and, with the exception of the mutual consent of the competitor and the signatory Range Officer, or due to an arbitration decision, the score sheet will only be changed to correct arithmetical errors or to add procedural penalties under Rule 8.6.2.

By acting as he did he gave the RM the chance to overview what happened and eventually correct the applied Procedure Penalties.

[Vince Pinto]

JF,

My old mate Kees is 95% correct - the rule he quoted still allows for an appeal to Arbitration, because a Procedural Penalty does not necessarily fall within the scope of Rule 9.6.6. (e.g. if it's a procedural issued for failing to comply with a stage procedure, or in respect of a breach of Rule 8.7.4, Rule 10.2.6 etc.).

In any case, the following rule should also be helpful:

9.7.3 Should a competitor refuse to sign or initial a score sheet, for any reason, the matter must be referred to the Range Master. If the Range Master is satisfied that the course of fire has been conducted and scored correctly the unsigned score sheet will be submitted as normal for inclusion in the match scores.