Background

Murder city roller girls came down to Hobart for their first ever inter league bout to play our local Convict City Rollers. Although its their first bout as a team they have been playing with Adelaide roller derby in training which should be helping them along.

About the bout

I think the convicts got off a bit lightly in their season opener (this game), coming up against a team that was really quite disorganised on the track.

The Homicidolls had a couple of stand out players, but by and large they didn't really work as a team. To compound that, they didn't hid hard, they struggled to hold back the Convicts jammers (most of the time) and they didn't control the pack.

Unfortunately for the Homicidolls, they suffered the same problem as any other away team: You can't be sure your best skaters go. Its a fact of life that with these leagues being amateur only (and in MCRGs case still starting out) there isn't a lot of money to go into things like travel.

Scores

Photos

If you want to have a look at some pictures have a look at these by Chris Neugebauer.

The problem

In our current set up (and this may be a problem generic to derby leagues everywhere) there is a clear distinction between those who play and those who referee. While the referees can train with the skaters on skills they are not allowed to be bouting or scrimmaging skaters. This seems unfair as willingness to referee shouldn't be a hindrance to someones ability to play.

My solution

I'm proposing that everyone who passes their fresh meat trains as a referee as well as their contact and footwork skills. Skaters should have to referee in all positions (over time), but could probably be moved between them as they gain experience and skills in refereeing.

Ideally, certain referee skills would have to be passed with every level of skating skills passed, so as people go up through the ranks they become better at refereeing as well.

I feel this would help the skaters develop a better appreciation for what the referees do, especially at the travel team level. (I'd go so far as to say you should be required to pass a certain set of refereeing skills to make the travel team, but I don't see myself getting support there).

Now, this might seem a bit unfair - after all, its not a skill they will use on the track - but I argue that it will encourage a better understanding of the game by all involved. You HAVE to know the rules if you are going to play and you SHOULD know the referee hand signals. If you know them as a player why not be able to apply them too? It has several benefits on the league as a whole too. The up and coming skaters are no longer there to just watch the most senior players - probably the travel team - as they scrimmage. They are there to help them along, and learn from what they do. Not only that, they are gaining skills which can help the league support itself and improve the skills of its officiating too.

Conclusion

If the leagues (Convict city rollers in my case) had a culture that -everyone- has to referee from time to time, and everyone was trained to referee, then a couple of the players could be helping out as officials instead of training on the track. This would still count as training and would count towards any attendance requirements the league puts down.