Rules Regarding Skater Numbers to Change in December 2015

By the end of next year, the Rules of Flat Track Derby will no longer allow skaters' roster and jersey numbers to include alphabetic characters. WFTDA member leagues voted to approve the changes in September, but they will not go into effect until December 2015 to ensure that teams have plenty of time to adopt the changes.

Member leagues also voted to increase the minimum size for jersey numbers to 6 inches (15 cm) and added a requirement that all of the characters in the skater's roster number must be printed at the same size. Currently the minimum is 4 inches (10 cm).

These changes do not remove rule 2.7.4.6, which states:

"A skater may have small characters preceding or following their skater number on their uniform (e.g., 55mph, where 'mph' is considerably smaller than 55). These small characters are not considered part of the skater’s number and they may not inhibit the legibility of the skater’s number whatsoever. The maximum size for the small characters is 2 inches (5 cm)."

The WFTDA Rules Committee has developed a graphic to help illustrate the changes.