How long have you been associated with parachuting and how did you come to start judging?
36 years. It was the result of a plea from Charlie Shea-Simmons about 1975. I was heavily involved in other sports at the time which, together with the responsibility of my family, meant that I could not spend the time needed to progress as a jumper. Naively thinking that this was an easy way to put something into a sport I loved so much and assured that judging would take up much less time, that's how I started. How totally wrong I was!

Roger Flinn in red

Why?
It took up far more time than I had originally anticipated. The demand for judges began to increase very rapidly as competitive parachuting increased. Remember that in 1975 Formation Skydiving, or RW as we knew it then, was still in its infancy. Canopy Formation and Paraski had not been invented and such ideas as Freestyle, Skysurfing and Freeflying were the mere dreams of the crazy.

There were also other reasons why I was wrong about the time that would be required. In the very early days of competition, judges tended to be drawn from the wives, husbands and friends of jumpers. Their skills were not high and the interest in doing a proper job frequently missing. I soon realised how often we, the judges, were letting the competitors down. Our National Championships select some very talented and important people - British Champions. In reaching this enviable position they have spent much money on equipment and training and also a great deal of time and patience developing their skills. Is it right that when they reach the Nationals they should be adjudicated by those far less able as judges than they are as competitors? The answer must be no. Judges at this level should show all of the dedication and skill of the competitor.

What levels or grades of judge are there?
There are two recognised grades of judge; the national judge and the international or FAI judge. The standards of both vary from country to country, though the criteria necessary to become an FAI judge are laid down in the Sporting Code. In the UK it has been a deliberate policy to make the two grades as close as possible. National judges should never feel like lesser mortals.

Why the need for these grades?
If we have an internationally respected sport (ours is recognised by the International Olympic Committee), then it is necessary to have internationally respected judges and competitors alike. In addition there are very many world, continental and national records being attempted every day. There will be an attempt on the World's Largest Formation Record later this year in Russia. Such records have to be verified for the Guinness Book of Records or for official FAI World Records. This is an important job for the FAI judge, probably their main task after judging national competitions.

How would someone start to become a judge and how would they progress?
Volunteer and be persistent. It may seem trite to say so, but unless someone knows of your interest and keeps being pressurised, you may soon think you are walking down a blind alley. Generally, anyone wishing to become a judge is invited to one of the smaller competitions held around the country to experience first hand what it is all about. Unfortunately there are currently no funds to support trainee judges with their travel and accommodation. However, an enterprising individual can usually arrange to share transport with another judge or competitor. Progression is not always as simple as you would hope. If the trainee is lucky and works with a judge who is willing to spend time explaining rules and techniques, then all well and good. The majority of the senior British judges are very willing to act in this capacity, although in some competitions, where judges are short in number, it is impracticable by the pressures of time. The BPA has tried to run formal training courses for both experienced and novice judges but has been disappointed by the response.

How are judges evaluated at international level?
Anyone wishing to take part in the judging of a world competition must have proved to the IPC that they are current and absolutely conversant with the job. If you have not judged at the top level in the last two years you must pass a formal evaluation at the start of the meet. This is done through test video tapes supplied by the IPC Judges Committee. The candidate's results are compared with an 'approved score' for that tape, obtained by an experienced panel of judges.

The Judges Committee of IPC has recently been accused of trying to create an elite corps of judges. Is this the case?
They unashamedly admit they have. They want to see the best. It is however part of a wider plan to improve the standard of judges at all levels. The committee wishes to build a library of high standard training material which can be used throughout the world.

Is the management of the judges good in the UK?
Not really. The main problem has always been one of communication. Rules would be produced for competitions which the judges were supposed to apply, but the judges were often not shown them. Rules were made which had many loopholes, which would have been discovered if there had been some consultation with the judges. I think these are now problems of the past, as have been the occasional petty personality problems. Judges have always come under the umbrella of the Competitions Committee. For years this committee has been dominated by competitors, who have rightly felt aggrieved to find that 90% of agenda items are ostensibly judging matters. Most other countries have an independent Judges Committee, as has IPC. Perhaps I am being revolutionary, but I think it is high time that we did the same. It is particularly important that vital areas such as the criteria necessary to become a National Judge are universally agreed and written down. This is not the case now despite what some may say.

What reward do you get from judging?
There are the obvious delights of visiting strange, far-flung places when you judge internationally, and the pleasure of mixing with skydivers from other countries. My greatest reward is satisfaction. - from a successful job and also from training other judges. It is not all roses; on the way you will be very dissatisfied, and frequently wish to chuck the whole thing in!

Why?
Competitors sometimes make mistakes, and understandably, rather than blame themselves they search for a scapegoat. The first element to be blamed is invariably the judging in one aspect or another. Fortunately judges tend to have rather broad shoulders, but it can be soul-destroying when you have given up your only holiday for a competition, to have mud thrown at you. Mind you, judges are not always guiltless and the one thing they should always be willing to do is to admit any mistakes and ensure that they are corrected if possible!

Do judges ever get it wrong?
Frankly, that is a silly question. Of course they do, more often than they like to admit. You should remember that the judges are only interpreting rules - rules which have rarely had any input from the judging community when they were made. A classic example is the present version of the FS rules. I have almost wept on reviewing the results of the latest World Championships and seeing the disservice that has been done to competitors. Often, careful viewing has shown that the competitors were right and had been penalised unnecessarily.

Judges do not get the opportunity of reviewing dives repeatedly as the competitors do. They have to make a decision after two, or maybe now three, viewings at normal speed - no slow motion or freeze frame. There are very few judges in the world who are entirely happy with the present situation in FS, but we are only applying rules produced with more thought to finance and media than to the ethics of the situation.

Judges do get it wrong. They are only human. I respect the judge who admits the error instead of desperately trying to cover up the mistake. One gains the respect of the competitors as I know to my pleasure following mistakes in our Nationals.
Too often though, one hears cries from competitors which finish up as protests. In my opinion, if a genuine mistake has been made the step of formally making a protest should never be reached and the situation remedied immediately. Unfortunately the rules are rarely comprehensive enough to avoid this and sometimes the only legal way to remedy a mistake is through the protest process. 

What is a protest? When and by whom should it be made?
A protest can only be made where there has been an apparent breach of the rules or some technical aspect of the competition. Some decisions of the Chief Judge cannot be protested but these are decisions which are more likely to affect all competitors rather than a single team or individual. Scores cannot be protested but the technical conditions under which the score was made can, if breached, be the subject of a protest.

You have to be careful now as there is a rule which firmly states that if the technical mishaps cannot affect the result they should not be considered. I cite the classic example in Vichy 1984. On his final accuracy jump the leading competitor made an error and dropped a big score. His delegation immediately hunted around for some technical excuse. They found that the power supply to the recording anemometer had been interrupted and the mechanical drum had ceased to rotate. The pen connected to the anemometer itself was still working and clearly showed that during the period in question the wind had never even approached the limit of 7m/s.

Nevertheless, following a protest a rejump was given and he regained the lead. That protest would not have been successful now. All protests must clearly state the Sporting Code or competition rule which has been broken, must be handed to the Chief Judge within two hours of the knowledge of the grounds for protest, and signed by the competitor. Most protests arise from mistakes made by the competitor. It is incongruous that to remedy their mistake they should seek to blame equipment or others. Even so it is the undoubted aim of all judges to avoid protests being presented preferably by pre-empting the situation.

Do judges get paid?
Unfortunately no, or not yet. Recently, I was the first judge to be officially paid - $150 a day for judging the very heavily sponsored Extreme Games last year. The BPA pays travel and subsistence for two judges to attend regional competitions. Two judges are rarely sufficient to do a successful job, particularly if there are trainees present wanting to learn. I am delighted to hear that the BPA has now increased this to six judges at the three regional competitions. The Nationals are administered by private arrangement and the drop zone concerned will cover the expenses of the judges. It does mean that the organiser, with limited funds at their disposal, cannot support a team of judges such as would be required for an international event. If you judge at a World Championships you still have to fund yourself to get there, though once there your accommodation will be found.

How many positions have you held in world and international competitions?
Over the last 17 years I have been delighted to judge at 24 international competitions, including 13 World Championships. These have been held in venues as diverse as France, China, Cuba, Spain and the USA. The events have spanned all the skydiving disciplines, including the exciting new areas of freeflying and skysurfing.

Do other British judges envy your being involved so much in world events?
I am sure that there has on occasion been an element of jealousy involved when it looked as though I was being given all the good jobs. I am certain that many of them are just as capable if not more so. In fact, I have only been selected as British judge on three occasions. On all other occasions it has been either because the organiser or IPC made the invitation directly or because I was willing to fund myself.

How many more times will you be Chief Judge at a World Championship?
It seems that the same judges have monopolised World Championships for many years. After the World Meet in Hungary this year, I intend to let someone else have a go. This does not mean however that I intend to stop judging! It is a drug - almost, but not quite, like jumping.

Dr Roger Flinn was talking to Lesley Gale

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