I agree. Stalling is a perennial problem. When we have a coach come to our officials' meetings, that is always a topic. There is little consistency. I think a lot of officials make the easy stalling calls when it doesn't matter and try to avoid them in a close match because of the fall-out from the "judgment" call.

The call that always bugs me is where the kids come to their feet in the rear-standing position. After a few seconds you'll hear someone shout "he has to return him!" (which is not the rule) and then the official calls stalling on the offensive wrestler. That is incorrect. The rule says you must make an effort to return, not that you must return him. So if the kid is working to get back to the mat that's not stalling, even if it goes on for a while. There used to be a five second rule...many years ago...and that seems to be what some still use. If the two kids where really working hard you could have the entire period play out in that position without a legitimate stall call...but you'll rarely see an official let that go for more than about 10 seconds, and even if the defensive kid is the just bracing and preventing the return, the offensive wrestler gets dinged because of the misperception that there is an obligation to return him rather than simply to make an honest effort. It's not a big deal, but its one of those situations that repeatedly comes up (like "free move!" on locked hands) that has not supported by the rule but gets called.

There is no authority for one official to remove another official. The host administration can always pull the plug on you, I suppose. There's also no "head official" in the rule book.