WFTDA Rules questions....

redhotredneck

Since there's quite a few new skaters here, I thought that I'd start a thread where people can ask questions about rules. I know that there are hundreds of leagues in the world now, and obvisouly not all run with WFTDA rules. But since it seems that the majority of league do, I figured it would be a great place to start. I know that we have a few refs here, so please feel free to ask questions and I'm sure that we can get some answers for you. It also helps refs with their knowledge of the rules to have to answer questions too.

redhotredneck

well, since I started this thread, I'll ask a question.
Since the WFTDA regionals/nationals this fall, this is a common situation and it has caused some confusion on the part of refs and skaters alike. I'm interested in knowing how other leagues handle this situation....

Kneel down starts - so when both teams are standing at the start, after the jam start whistle goes, no one moves. After a bit, if one team has 3 skaters take a knee and then sends 1 skater forward. After that 1 skater passes 10 ft a no pack is called, the jammers whistled. Does the skater who skated forward get a penalty?

pinkyD1953

In my experience, no they shouldn't get the penalty because that skater "should" sprint back to rejoin the pack. If they fail to reform the pack then yes that skater should get the penalty.

throttler228

I expect we'll see a clarification to that in the next year. I reffed last year locally and am familiar with how this scenario was handled at regionals.

The upright skating skater is the pack is not obligated to sprint in any direction to rejoined the "downed" skaters, which is always true. She is also not the one that destructed the pack. She is obligated to attempt to rejoin the upright skating skaters immediately to avoid any out of play or failure to reform penalties.

The skaters that put a knee down are all subject to destruction of the pack penalties, likely minors which would be harder to acknowledge than majors. Usually you see this the other way around - 3 skaters skate forward past the pivot line, the one nearest the jam line puts a knee down after the whistle to time the release of the jammer, while the opposing team is on a knee at the jam line. Once "no pack" is called, the jammers are released. It's a way to avoid the rugby scrum, but not without a cost of gaining penalties.