“That
was a bad call.”
You can
not go to a scrimmage or a bout without hearing those words come out of someone’s
mouth.
Today I
would like to talk about why I feel every derby skater should ref at least
once. Just once. (More would be better.) On the soap box today. /cough
Refs
are not punching bags. They work really hard to learn rules, learn to skate,
breathe with a whistle in their mouth without making noise (DO NOT SNEEZE).
They get very little recognition, yet are on their feet the most during the
bout.
I know
at times people feel the refs are biased. “Why aren’t they giving penalties to the
other team?” “Why are they picking on me?” I promise you that this is not the
case. Refs can only call what they see.
Even with
the freshest of eyes the refs are looking at 20 skates, 20 hands, 20 forearms, and 20 elbows (assuming full
pack). This doesn’t even cover things like shoulders into face, railroading,
out of bounds, out of play, the list goes on. The refs are not looking at you. They are looking with soft eyes for
illegal maneuvers. I don’t look at certain people because they are notorious
for elbowing others. I look at the elbow and see who it’s attached to—it might
be you…again.
To
fully understand what a ref sees, or doesn’t see, you should really check it
out for yourself. You’re not looking for your favorite skaters; you’re not
watching your favorite team. You’re looking at 10 different skaters all doing
their own thing, and trying to make sure everything is executed in a proper
manner. I’m sorry I did not see Skater A touch Opposing Skater B—my eyes were
at the back of the pack (several feet away) for that millisecond.
Penalties happen in a split second. I’m
not saying that you can get away with penalties, or that you should try to get
away with them. I’m also not justifying a blatant no call for an elbow to the
face. I just want there to be some understanding. I’m not picking on you or
your team. I’m not blatantly shrugging off penalties by certain players. I only
call what I see (No, I’m not blind).
It's not fun to feel like this after a scrimmage/bout:
(Photo from weebls-stuff Kenya Believe It video. Totally hilarious.)
As
Trixie Horror once said, if you’re upset about a penalty that you don’t think
you should have gotten, just remember all those other times you SHOULD have
gotten a penalty and didn’t.
If you
have some suggestions about how to make it better, that’s awesome! I would
implore you to make sure you’ve thought about them rationally—not in a
penalty-induced rage. Think about the logistics of reffing, and how hard it
actually is. If you think you can do lots to better the ref crew, strap on your
skates and put those stripes on!
Until
such time though, I strongly urge you to try it just once to see what it’s
like. Or even if you’re not on the ref crew—watch a scrimmage as if you were a
ref. It’s not about picking on certain players or favoring teams, it’s about reffing a fluid and consistent bout from
start to finish.
Put on
zee stripes. Enjoy the zebra jokes. Appreciate the zeebs. Come at the game with a different
perspective. Hell…it might even make
you a better skater.
Stripey-Stripes
and Happy Skating!
Bitter
Sweets <3
Looking all official and stuff. I point at people sometimes.
(Photo by Kate Wood Raclin)
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