Roller Derby Nations Committee 2019 -Regional Representative Nominations open!

Perhaps most people associate the Roller Derby World Cups with the Roller Derby World Cup committee, the small organisation which has been running and organising the events since 2011 (although its membership has changed over the years).

Since 2015, however, the National Teams competing at each World Cup have also been represented by their own organisation, the Roller Derby Nations Committee .

The 2018 Roller Derby World Cup was a product of both organisations working together, for the first time; the RDNC providing valuable direction to the planning for that event from the very start (as the teams were involved in the evaluation process for host nations, as well as voting on the structural considerations for the event). The RDNC also exists to help new National Teams to get their foothold, via the Emerging Nations process.

Whilst the Roller Derby Nations Committee has representatives from all eligible Nations, it also has an executive - the Regional Representatives and Global Chair - who progress the business of the Committee, and do the work of liaising with the RDWC, and other International Roller Derby governing bodies, like the WFTDA.

For much of 2019, several of those Regional Chair positions have been empty; and with many of the National Teams also having been quiescent, or in the process of reforming, it has not been possible to democratically replace them. Whilst the RDNC, in concert with the RDWC, has managed to progress work - in improving and formalising the meaning of a “National Team” to reflect modern political concerns; and in modelling and developing solutions for the next World Cup itself - it cannot work as effectively without a complete executive.

However, with a quorate set of National Team Representatives now in place, it is possible to start the election process for new Regional Representatives.

The positions up for election in this cycle (to be voted on by the Nations represented by each region) are:

North America Regional Representative [representing: Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Team Indigenous, USA, West Indies.]

South and Central America Regional Representative [representing: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica.]

Southern and Central Europe Regional Representative [representing: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland]

Northern Europe Regional Representative [representing: Denmark, England, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Wales]

(Currently filled are the positions of Emerging Nations Regional Representative [Jammit Janet | Janet Vincent], Pacific-Indian Ocean Regional Representative [ShortStop | Christine Murray], and the Global Chair [Booty Queen | Michelle Dosson])

Whilst the allocations of nations between the Representatives are currently uneven, one of the first actions of the new committee will be to address this. (The imbalance is the result of a large number of Emerging Nations graduating via the 2018 World Cup, and there not having been a quorate committee to action changes to the remits of the Representatives since.)

Application to the Executive is via nomination. Anyone may nominate a candidate for any of the posts, by emailing the RDNC executive ( RollerDerbyNationsCommittee@gmail.com ), stating the legal (or commonly used, non-Derby) name, the current region they reside in, and the specific post they are being nominated for. You may nominate yourself, as well as being nominated by others. The closing date for nominations is:

end of day, Sunday 20th October

On close of nomination, nominees will all be offered the chance to decline their nomination, if they didn't self-nominate. If they accept, they will have a few days to prepare a statement of intent; and they will also be invited to the RDNC Podio group to be questioned by the National Representatives. At the end of this process, the Nations will vote, via their Representatives, on each position.

Full details are available on the RDNC Facebook, here: https://www.facebook.com/RollerDerbyNationsCommittee/posts/2458998574382903

We strongly encourage the community to engage with this process, as it really is essential to bring you the next World Cup in good time, and with the best interests of the Nations represented.