NORTH ISLAND ROLLER DERBY OFFICIATING CREW
Welcome to the most important jobs in roller derby! This is a sport that simply cannot exist without officials to make the game run smoothly and we are ALWAYS looking for awesome people to become part of the community as officials. Before you decide that you’re not a good enough skater or derby knowledgeable enough, just read along for a bit; there is a place for you in derby, we promise.
There are so many ways to be involved in derby (and the awesomeness of the derby community) that don’t involve getting smashed into, or even needing to skate. Officials are coveted in the derby world and are often offered pretty sweet perks to travel to officiate games across the province.
They are well loved team members who don’t have to pay team dues and nobody is allowed to hit them. Not so bad, right?
On-skates referees (the ones in the zebra stripes) are an excellent position for retired derby skaters who want to stay involved, or those with previous skating experience or derby knowledge as they can hit the floor rolling so to speak. New skaters who find becoming a referee appealing are 100% welcome and will be supported from day one to build their skills and knowledge to get them ready for the task.
Reffing can appear a bit intimidating but remember – there’s a lot of you officials out there working together. Each ref/NSO is responsible for a specific job on the track so no single official needs to know or see everything. They work as a team with each member focusing their energy on a smaller subsection of the game. Learning to officiate doesn’t have to be an all or nothing affair.
Not sure about being on skates?
Non-skating official (or NSO) positions can be really easy to tackle, even if you have no derby knowledge. You get a front row seat to the action as part of the officials crew, making games run smoothly. Does being part of the derby community as a badass member who doesn’t have to worry about being hit sound appealing? We hope so, because we want YOU.
Officials crew is open to all genders, ages, abilities, musical tastes, shoe sizes, and cat or dog people. All you need is to want to be part of a fun, social community. We encourage you to reach out to us on socials or through our website to get more information and start your journey as a beloved member of the NIRD Officiating Crew!
FUN FACT!
A properly staffed derby game (aka ‘Bout’) requires SEVEN on-skates referees. Yup, you heard that right, SEVEN. That’s not even including the NSO’s or ‘non-skating officials’ who tackle jobs like jam timers, penalty box timers, lineup/penalty trackers, scoreboard operators and so forth. Sounds complicated, right? Well, it is, but each position works together to make the magic happen and it’s easy to start small and tackle a single, simple position to start.
SKATING OFFICIALS:
Head Ref (HR)
Jammer Ref (2 per game)
Back Pack Ref
Front Pack Ref
Outside Pack Refs (3 per game)
NON-SKATING OFFICIALS (NSO’s)
Head NSO
Jam timer (JT)
Penalty Tracker (PT) one or two per game
Whiteboard (IWB) one per game
Penalty Wrangler (PW) optional, one per game
Penalty Box Manager (PBM)
Penalty Box Timers (PBT) two per game
Scorekeepers (SK) two per game
Scoreboard operator (SO or SB)
Line Trackers (LT) two per game
Announcer
Want to learn more?
DETAILED LISTS