Good news first.
Roller Derby today is great entertainment, a serious sport with serious rules, but it's a lot more. Most of the derby skaters today, and all the skaters on all the teams in the 98 leagues that are in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) are, as the name suggests, women.
Simply stated, Roller Derby is a phenomenon of women's empowerment. It was women who loved skating that took a second look at the earlier version, born in Chicago during the depression and mostly gone after the 60s. It was women who revived and revised it, kept a lot of the spectacle, and literally wrote the book on how the game was to be played. Women formed the teams and leagues and the association, bought the uniforms, and made the arrangements for places to practice and compete.
All at their own expense, at their own risk. None of the WFTDA skaters are paid for participating. They put up with the gruelling hours of practice, and take to the track to skate, and face a danger of injuries about equivalent to football, all for love of the sport and entertainment of the fans. Including all those enthusiastic male fans who happen to be their fathers, sons, husbands, or brothers.
Women's empowerment, in a big way. I've never been the kind of guy who lies awake nights worrying about my masculine identity, so I'm for it a hundred percent. Although I'm officially a resident of Michigan, a big part of me is still a Chicagoan, devoted a hundred percent to the Windy City Rollers.
So what's the bad news?
That some leagues are playing in a way that threatens to sabotage the whole Roller Derby phenomenon. I've been told that they're not actually breaking any rules. If that's true, the rules need to be changed.
The rules are complex, and so I won't go into detail. Basically their tactics include standing on the track instead of skating, stopping when not necessary, and even skating backward. Telling you why that works would take pages; but take my word that it certainly changes the game for the worse. It puts other leagues at a disadvantage because their skaters (and fans) expect action, not inaction. If other leagues "adjust" to this style of Roller Derby the sport will lose most of its appeal. A rough comparison would be all the players on a soccer or hockey team forming a tight line standing in front of the goal.
As of now it's just a handful of western leagues that are exploiting loopholes in the rules. Fans and skaters I've talked to have several theories on why they do this, but all agree that it's bad news, and that the courageous, talented women who make up those leagues should neither need nor want to incorporate these stunts in their arsenal.
If you aren't a derby fan, I encourage you to become one. If you already love the sport, please hang in there. Enjoy watching real sportladies doing what they love, without paying exhorbitant ticket prices. You can probably meet, and have your picture taken with, some of the rollergirls. By all means, keep it family friendly, but remember, standing in the way of fast-moving Roller Derby is standing in the way of women's empowerment. When you see it happening, don't take it in silence.
In fact, you can stand up and holler right there, at the keyboard. Just hit the COMMENT button. FAST DERBY is the page on Facebook.