 Totally Legal: YES  invisible sharpie: NO  Tape: NO  Number too small: NO  Safety pins holding it on: NO  Secure glitter: YES  Giant glitter & jewels: NO  Jewels: NO  different outfits but all gold: YES  number too small: NO  Jerseys different but all pretty much the same color: YES-ish (better if all dark or all light) |
RollerCon Officials are generally really super cool about uniforms. They try to be flexible so that your team theme can be super extra awesome. But with that comes a requirement from you. Your weirdo uniforms make it harder for Officials to do their job, so you must be cool, too. Your silly uniform is likely to create missed calls. Deal with that gracefully! Or else!
General On-Track Uniform Rules:
- Your jersey must match the roster color (including the shade; ie if its royal blue you may not wear light blue or navy blue).
- One team is “dark” and the other is “light,” like for real. Not just different colors. Not grass green vs royal blue. Maybe baby blue vs forest green, instead! Get an explanation why below.
- You must have a 6″ or larger number permanently on the back. The same number must also be visible to the officials on your arm and anywhere else they can see.
- “Permanently” means its heat-pressed, ironed on, sewn, painted or markered-on legibly. Sagging, taped-on numbers will not be accepted. Safety pins are prohibited; they are a hazard to other players. Numbers written or painted MUST BE LEGIBLE. Use wide markers, not pointy sharpies!
- You may play in someone else’s number or jersey as long as your number matches every number the officials can see on your uniform and body. What that means is that if your shirt has a number “1,” numbers on your helmet, armbands or otherwise MUST also be “1.” If you are playing in someone else’s jersey, you may tape over the number on your helmet and put the shirt number on your arm in sharpie.
Please note: if you’re wearing someone else’s number, please inform the stats person so that if there is an emergency they can identify you to the Medics.
- Full safety gear is required of all humans wearing skates on our roller derby tracks at all times. Skates on last, off first. Gear up before entering the track.
GENERAL
Trip hazards: no. NO. Our Officials, Medics and Safety Staff have sole discretion about weirdo items including but not limited to the ones below. If they say your uniform or costume items are not allowed on the track, you may remove the items or choose not to play.
Nudity
Short version: sorry, no. Our Expo contract forbids nudity, including topless humans (all humans). This is new in 2023 and we are bummed about it. There’s a thread in the FB challenges group where you can complain: facebook.com/groups/rcchallengeforum
Different Color Uniforms for the Same Team Members
No.
Really, no. No matter how fun your idea sounds: no. Every year you ask us (“but we all want to wear different snuggies / animal jammies / Sportsball team jerseys / animal prints, etc…”) and the answer is that if all your different things are the same shade (dark or light) and color (all animal prints in similar shades of yellow, for example) then it is probably okay. But if your team is all wearing something *actually* different, that’s not a team! That’s a party and it sounds super fun but we don’t want to ask our officials to try to make sense of it while you’re bashing into each other. Matching pinnies over your unmatching things works as long as the pinnies conform to the uniform rules.
Body Paint
Sure, why not! Please make sure it matches the team jersey color on the roster and your number is high contrast and 6″ or larger. Please wear paint that dries. Please do not wear paint that rubs off on other humans when you sweat.
Pasties & similar glued-on items:
First off, we love pasties, but glued-on bodywear items are a bad idea when you’re sweaty and hitting people! Captains should discourage their use on the track during games. ALL ITEMS GLUED-ON MUST BE 100% SECURE (which is probably impossible when you’re sweating and rubbing on other people; see what we did there?). Trip hazards – and potential trip hazards – are prohibited. Officials and medics may require a skater secure or remove items at their sole discretion. Skater must follow their directions or stop playing.
Body Glitter & Jewels
Small-grain bodywear glitter secured with glue or paint that dries (not oil) and has zero potential to be a trip hazard is fine. Big glitter, body jewels, anything that can peel or pop off: NO. Save the big bling for PM parties. It is prohibited on our tracks.
Micro LED Lights
Officials & Medics have provisionally approved the limited use of shatterproof micro-LED lights embedded in epoxy (not glass). We reserve the right to change our minds.
Exceptions
Really, your weird uniform idea isn’t covered here? Okay. We say no to safety issues, so if its iffy, make your case via email to rollercon@gmail.com.
Why dark vs light?
1:12 people with XY chromosomes have some form of color blindness, and that is a LOT of people. That’s why we ask you to choose high-contrast combo colors for team jerseys, the appearance of your number on your jersey, your helmet panties, etc. High contrast doesn’t just mean two different colors – it means one color is “dark” and one “light,” so that they can easily be told apart for everyone. This is also why we discourage combos like blue / green (hard for anyone to tell apart in a jam) or red / green (the MOST common color blindness combo) unless one of the shades is very light and the other is very dark.
Find out if you have any color blindness:
http://enchroma.com/test/instructions/
Get info about color blindness, including a simulator that shows what it can look like: http://www.colourblindawareness.org/
RollerCon Photos by Hnotk Designs, Tristan King, and many other RollerCon photographers. Used by permission, although some of them pre-date decent record-keeping on our part (ie we didn’t know to save the files with the photog name in 2005. Sorry!) |
