The Wholly Trinity

The Wholly Trinity

        The ninety-pound jammer – maybe her name is Bugsy – rounds the corner and darts toward an opening on the line.  At the last moment the blocker – Wind Shield I think her name is? – steps over to close it. SPLAT!! as Bugsy slams Wind Shield from behind.  I draw in a lungful of air as I bring my whistle up, thinking “That’s a …….” … The whistle drops and lungs soundlessly deflate as I finish the thought.  “…..no impact.”  Wind Shield has a feral grin on her face, but her skates roll right along as if Bugsy was in another state.  “Can’t you SEE that back-block? Really?” screams an indignant voice from the crowd.  I sure did see it (it looked kinda painful for Bugsy in fact), but 2/3 of a foul is not a call.
        Later on in the same bout, I turn from reporting a call to the outside white-board NSO to see a jammer flying sideways in the air and landing heavily.  She’s twenty-five feet in front of the pack and the only skater near her is the opposing pivot, who is turning back to return to the pack as she watches the jammer hop up.  I keep my eyes on the action.  Another shout from the crowd, maybe the same voice, “Are you SERIOUS?  Did nobody see that??”  I feel for the shouter’s frustration – I have a very strong suspicion the pivot just got away with an Out of Play Major --  but I make no call.  I don’t have The Wholly Trinity.
        Initiation.  Action.  Effect.  All I ask, my very first head ref told us, is that if I get questioned on this call you can tell me what was going on when it started, what happened, and what the outcome was.  The Trinity has been preached at every ref briefing I’ve been to since, and I am a confirmed believer.  If you don’t have all three, you don’t make the call.
        I know it means the refs make less calls, and skaters get away with things that madden their opponents.  Yeah, I see that front wall holding on to each other, but the jammer is hunkered down hiding behind them and I can’t see where she is to know she’s being impeded. The jammer complains that they’re linking elbows in the middle of the pack so she can’t get through and I believe her … but I also can’t see it among the shifting horde of bodies.  Good old Bugsy made a major, top quality hit smack on Wind Shield’s backside, and I don’t blame Wind Shield for getting tired of that as it happens again and again over the course of the bout; but as Wind Shield’s rolling along undisturbed, it’s a No Impact back block.  Yes, some players make intentional use of it, knowing what’s hard to see and taking advantage when they’re shielded inside the pack.  One blocker even admitted she scouted the blind spots in a venue with pillars blocking the ref lane’s line of sight and systematically used her elbows just in the blind spots.  All I can do is keep my eyes peeled, and hope I catch enough of those sneaky moves to make the players judge them to be too expensive.  And of course, be glad that if somebody’s going to be that mean-spirited, she’s playing derby against tough women who can stand up for themselves instead of being off kicking helpless puppies somewhere.
        Really though, would we want it any other way?  I remember how indignant it made me when a jammer slammed me from behind (I am a rostered skater on my own team, and ref for others as needs and availability match up) so I plowed into the blocker in front of me.  The opposing blocker and I went down in a heap, the slippery agile jammer danced away, and I got sent to the box for a major back block:  Oh, the injustice of it all! 
        Derby is chaos.  The zeebs are never going to catch it all, and missing potential calls is better than making unjust ones, so long as safety isn’t compromised.  Therefore I remain a disciple of the gospel:  Initiation, Action, and Effect; or no call.