Game Journal - 6.14.08

Dairyland Dolls at WCR All-Stars

Incident - During a markedly physical bout, the Dairyland Dolls jammer, who was fully out of bounds, was blocked into a wall, hard. While the offending blocker was immediately called to the box for the foul, it was just as clear that just as quickly the Madison team felt they needed to take the law into their own hands. Almost immediately a Madison blocker took a knee and dragged her back leg in the path of the Chicago jammer, in what clearly seemed to be an attempted trip. The Chicago player simply stepped over the Madison player's leg and easily broke the pack, though upon further reflection it became clear to me that I should have ejected the Madison player for the attempt, and failing to do so might have allowed for what turned out to be a more violent or physical game from that point on.

Comments - The largest problem in this scenario is that we were reffing the game under a new ruleset. New to both teams and to the ref crew. Personally, I had only had a week to dedicate to focus on learning the differences, which I spent more making sure other refs and skaters knew those changes than I did on my own knowledge. I need to remember to not rest on past knowledge and since this bout have been regularly reviewing the rules to keep up on them, even the less discussed portions of the rules.

On the upside of this my intrinsic understanding of how big plays can effect player's and fans attitude seems to be developing well, and while I didn't anticipate the illegal play, I knew to quickly refocus on the pack once the penalty was issued and be ready for whatever might come.

Game Journal - 6.7.08

Fort Wayne Bomb Squad vs. Arch Rival Rollergirls

Issue - The game venue was extremely hot and humid. As such, fuses were very short, even at the start of the game. While things didn't get entirely out of hand, there were several incidents involving shouting, mostly at me and other referees by team coaches.

Comments - A I've mentioned, things were not totally out of hand, but they were close and could have been if something had gone wrong. I think that was a combination of a few things, but all things I should have been able to manage (other than the weather). I should have done more, we as officials in general need to do more, to ease tensions. We too often (and myself especially) get overly defensive too quickly. These coaches were doing their job, if maybe a little aggressively, but if I had a problem with it I should have settled things down then, instead of responding in kind. It's entirely possible only I noticed my own anger, which would be good.

Game Journal - 5.31.08

Denver Roller Dolls at Dairyland Dolls

Incident - We began having jammer referees reffing for their respective home teams. When Madison's jammer cleared the pack, the second to do so, she was declared lead. The Denver jammer ref then said as he passed me "No,she's not lead!", without any reason for it (to be fair, it's not a lot of time). I assumed he'd seen the Madison jammer foul, and decided I'd defer to Madison's jammer referee to make that call, I hadn't watched her entire pass. After the jam ended I called a timeout and found out Denver's jammer ref had already called lead at the time, and that's why he was saying Madison did not, should not, have lead.

Comment - While I blame myself, as dedicated head referee, for this mistake, I cannot help but feel that I am only partly responsible. Obviously more information would have cleared this problem up, numerous mistakes were made in this jam. But, clearly, this is ultimately about communication, something we can easily work on in a home league setting, but which we get little time to work on or fix during inter-league bouts. Further effort and focus should be made to establish better communication guidelines.

Game Journal - 5.10.08

Incident 1 - During the consolation bout, the pack repeatedly became extremely spread out or split. While I kept a handle on that, it left me unable to watch for what should have been obvious penalties, like entering at the front of the pack.

Comments - All I can do is continue to work on my awareness, so I can call pack problems while observing other fouls, or at least be mindful when calling pack situations to check repeatedly for other penalties.

Game Journal - 4.19.08

Dairyland Dolls at Grave Danger

Incident - Due to Seattle's penalty system, I pack reffed Madison in the first half and reffed the Grave Danger in the second half. While my reffing was consistent throughout, I still walked away feeling like I had influenced the outcome of the game.

Comment - I know, academically at the time, and totally now, that I did everything fine in this situation. I discussed calling with their referees before hand to get a handle on the system. During the second period I told the head ref that I was calling a lot of seemingly unexpected penalties, and gave him the option of whether or not to say anything, which he decided not to. But I probably could have mentioned it myself (though, that would arguably have been overstepping my bounds). I suppose I'm still acclimating myself to not always being head ref. I am glad that I at least did not let the skater's reactions convince me to change my reffing, or let any concern I might have had from distracting me from making calls.

Game Journal - 4.12.08

Incident 1 - During the jam a skater earned her third major penalty of the period. Between jams this was discovered and we ejected that skater. First I informed her, then followed up that she had to leave the track entirely. I found someone to serve out the rest of her penalty and restarted play.

Comments - I should have made a greater effort to explain to both teams and to the other referees why she was leaving the track. While I did notify everyone I needed to notify, there were other people who would have been well served by being informed.

Incident 2 - A skater was apparently called out for a major by a jammer referee at the back of the pack and instead of skating to the penalty box, simply slowed down for a lap, then rejoined play. Worse, when a member of the other team asked a referee about it, the concern was ignored.

Comments - As the head referee for the bout, I feel these break downs in systems are ultimately my fault. Some of us are rushing through processes or ignoring problems in the name of returning to play, despite the advantage these actions might grant by our carelessness.

Game Journal - 3.22.08 and Men's Derby

VV/QS and UR/RD

Incident 1 - Towards the end of the second period in a close game, a score discrepancy was found from the previous jam. I brought the jam ref and score keeper together, they agreed that the score board was wrong. At this point I sent the score keeper to go update the scoreboard and stats table, waited for her to return, and then started the next jam. Apparently it was half way through this jam before the score was actually updated.

Comments - I should have at least made sure the score got changed before we started, but really should’ve done the notifying myself. I also should have made doubly sure that the team captains knew what was going on, which I thought I did, but may have forgotten to do because it was so easy a change (no one disagreed).

Incident 2 - A vital piece of our safety system was apparently missing for the whole first period. I was not notified of it’s absence until the end of the first period.

Comments - While ensuring this was and is not my job, overall safety is. I will be sure that I check before each bout, regardless of who’s job it is to do so, to make sure we never have a repeat of this incident.

Men’s Derby Supplement! From ten minute expo bout on 3.29.08 featuring the New York Shock Exchange and the Midwest Men’s Roller Derby

Incident 1 - After the first jam ended I stopped paying attention and just started going back to my starting spot. As such I missed seeing a skater go down, as did everyone else.

Comments - While this was no one’s fault (the fall), and it was noticed that it had happened (simply, no one actually SAW it happen), it could have been much worse. It could have been a late hit, or someone falling where it wasn’t obvious. I need to remember that I should always be paying attention, there is always something that could happen, even before and after a bout, much less a jam.