First, what is it actually called? You know, the person that stands between the two opponents in a Pokemon battle, announcing the rules and saying when one Pokemon has fainted. Is there an official name, referee or judge? I prefer to call them referees for some reason. Anyway, I don't think they've been discussed much. I have several points and questions for discussion. Feel free to share your thoughts.

Does part of the required knowledge for being a trainer include how to be a referee? I ask this because we've seen trainers be refs before, most notably Brock, who IIRC has even reffed a couple of Ash's Gym battles. Hence, my theory that for Gym battles, the Pokemon League prefers that a league-appointed ref (the guy/girl with the yellow armband with the Pokeball logo) be there, but a trainer can do it if an official ref is not present. Maybe Brock had good enough credentials as a former Gym Leader to be allowed to ref those Gym battles?

That also brings up another question: Have we ever seen Ash or Misty ref a match? Misty may have done so in the past...I have a theory that one of the ways her sisters mistreated her that caused her to run away from the gym was that they made her ref their gym battles all the time, when what she really wanted to do was battle as the Gym Leader/Gym Trainer herself.