Welcome to the Zen of Reffing Roller Derby!¶
A training manual for referees¶
Created by Stephen “Axis of Stevil” Lorimor.
Updated by Isabelle “Blocktopus” Santos.
Maintained by Mark “Trampling Bias” Rogaski.
Tip
Bookmark this URL: https://zenref.rollerderby.fyi/
Ruleset¶
This document is updated for WFTDA’s Rules of Flat Track Roller Derby (January 1, 2023) and in the process of being updated for the current Rules of Flat Track Roller Derby (January 1, 2025).
On occasion, information is presented in light of rules discussions accessible to WFTDA member leagues via the WFTDA Community forum. No information contained in these handouts violates WFTDA’s non-disclosure agreement.
Contents¶
- Lessons
- 1. Duties, skills, and ethics
- 2. Whistles
- 3. Verbal cues and hand signals
- 4. Game concepts
- 5. Safety gear, skates, and accessories
- 6. Safety, injury, bleeding, and concussion
- 7. Referees (all positions)
- 8. Outside pack referees
- 9. Inside pack referees
- 10. Jammer referees
- 11. The head referee
- 12. The penalty box
- 13. Skater concerns and official reviews
- 14. Pack formation
- 15. Basic scoring
- 16. Advanced scoring
- 17. Introduction to penalties
- 18. Three types of penalties
- 19. Illegal target and blocking zone penalties
- 20. Illegal contact and multiplayer block penalties
- 21. Illegal positioning and illegal procedure penalties
- 22. Cutting the track and altering game flow penalties
- 23. Unsporting conduct penalties
- 24. Expulsions and fouling out
- 25. No pack situations
- 26. Assists
- 27. Clockwise play
- 28. Passing the star
- 29. Junior Derby Gameplay
- 30. Junior derby (gear checks)
- Document change summary
See also
most lessons have accompanying videos available on YouTube.
The lessons have not been updated for the current ruleset, but are still useful for new refs.
As used by¶
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Does your league use (or no longer use) this training manual? Please e-mail me so I can update this list.
About these handouts¶
These handouts were written by Stephen (“Axis of Stevil”) Lorimor. This program is his own creation and he is solely responsible for its content.
People¶
- Axis of Stevil (author)
Stevil is a self-described rules nerd, is a former WFTDA level 1 certified referee and a member of the WFTDA Rules Committee. He is dual-affiliated with both Garden State Rollergirls and Jerzey Derby Brigade. He formerly volunteered with the WFTDA Apprentice Program and served as lead writer for Roller Derby Rule of the Day on Facebook. He is also the former co-THR for the JRDA Champs and JRDA World Cup. In his downtime he’s the webmaster of Roller Derby Patches, the owner of Patches by Stevil, and admin of the Roller Derby Patches group on Facebook.
- Blocktopus (maintainer)
Blocktopus has been swallowed by an all-engulfing passion for the rules of roller derby. She is the author of tools such as the random penalty generator, roller derby inspiration and the “who’s reffing?” game.
License¶
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Special thanks¶
The knowledgeable folks at Zebra Huddle assisted me in peer reviewing many of the earlier handouts on referee procedures. I’d also like to thank the many readers who have taken the time to email their thoughts and observations on The Zen of Reffing Roller Derby. Finally, I’d also like to thank the WFTDA, MRDA, and JRDA and their volunteers for their tireless dedication to the sport of roller derby.
Feedback¶
Readers are encouraged to submit feedback, corrections, criticisms, and comments via the Github discussion page.
Reports of typos, bugs, erroneous information, and the like are always welcome. If you are familiar with Github, you can directly create an issue. You can also email an issue to the project maintainer.