Lesson #7: Referees (all positions)

by Stephen Lorimor / Axis of Stevil

Watch this lesson on YouTube

Last updated: May 22, 2018

Game-related duties

• Assist with setting up the track

• Attend pre-game and halftime officials’ meetings

• Call out penalties as observed

  • If a referee is in doubt on a call, a penalty must not be called. (5.4)

  • If intent must be inferred but is not clear, legal intent must be presumed.

• Echo jam call-off whistles / hand signals (for an exception see lesson #10)

• Call official time-outs as necessary to protect safety and proper game play

• Participate in official reviews

• Call off jams early if necessary for safety

  • Maybe call off for: minor injury, skater equipment failure, penalty that gives one side an unfair advantage, nearby emergency, spectator interference, or spills/debris on the track

  • Always call off for: injury that presents an immediate danger, technical or mechanical difficulty, venue malfunction (ie; power outage), fighting, or physical interference by anyone not in the jam (including fans on the track).

• Between jams / at the jam start

  • Communicate penalties from the prior jam with the penalty tracker as necessary

  • Watch for false starts and early/late hitting

  • Watch for too many skaters (pivots, jammers, etc.)

  • Bring major issues to the attention of the head referee

  • Provide warnings for technical infractions (too many skaters, potential false starts, missing skater numbers, etc.). Do not provide warnings after the five second pre-jam announcement.

  • (low priority) Address non-officials’ minor issues/questions/requests as time and your duties allow.

Tips and reminders

• Skaters (team staff, spectators, etc.) will aggravate you, sometimes on purpose. Any response should be professional and done within the rules.

• Referees are not coaches. Our duty is to ensure fair play, not to assist a team or individual skater.

• Referees must wear safety gear at all times while standing on skates.

  • Exception: removing one’s helmet during a national anthem.

  • Exception: safety gear that provides no medical benefit

• Only the lead jammer ref should initially call off the jam in response to a jammer’s call-off signal.

• There are ideally 2 inside pack, 2 jammer, and 3 outside pack referees.

Scope of officiating

• The scope of what we can and cannot officiate is not well defined.

  • When do we begin and end officiating during a game?

  • When do we prevent a skater from participating due to injury?

  • At what point do we bar a skater from participating due to equipment failure?

• At some point our authority ends and skaters are responsible for themselves. The line of demarcation is not clear.