Zebra Love

The zebra was one of my favourite animals when I was a kid. It was like a horse, but with a cooler paint job. Today, the zebras I interact with are human ones - the fine referees of roller derby. Assuming you're not playing renegade derby, you need refs if you want to play the game. And derby is a damn complicated game.

Some of my favourite leagues, like Terminal City, list their refs as a kind of team all their own. When it comes down to it, refs have to pass their own skills testing, they have to know WFTDA rules inside and out and they have to deal with derby girls. It's not glamourous, but it is pretty bad-ass. As the Montreal Roller Derby Referees' page says, "No pain and no glory, not vain nor scary, just a simple concoction: Respect, rules and execution." Our zebras are part of what makes the derby machine run. They tell you that you're the lead jammer, they send you and your booty-shorts to the penalty seat.

When I first started practicing, I was struck by the seeming fact that refs were almost always male. Women's derby has two particular roles men can play, namely referees and coaches. At first, it irked me that these positions of authority were held by guys. Couldn't women ref? Couldn't women coach? Wasn't patriarchy one of the things we went to derby to escape, at least for the duration of a two-minute jam? It bothered me that a sport I identified as feminist just seemed to reinscribe tired gender stereotypes by having the women in fishnets and the men in positions of power. I've since learned that lots of women do both of these things, but the majority of women prefer to skate because that's what they came for. Skating is the sexy part. Reffing is a different kind of hard.

My league has several refs we know and love and these range from home-grown officials to volunteers we've borrowed from other leagues. My refs have taught me how to manage the penalty box and my refs have shown me how to handle my gear better. Referees are crucial resources for players, especially new ones, to learn about the game, their gear, and skating technique. So, in short, I say show your zebras some love today and ask them a question. These folks know their stuff.