Apparently derby isn't a proper sport, still

So last night, the awards ceremony for the best female athletes in Australia took place in Canberra. I remember voting for this: basically, there was a poll open to the public to name the best athletes (across any sport) in Australia, in an attempt to boost the profile of women in sport.

The top 25, and an article about it, is here. There are a lot of good athletes--Australia does have a very strong sporting presence--but what is notable is that ShortStop (who was voted MVP of Team Australia at the Roller Derby World Championships last year) won the popular vote, but didn't even make the top 25. Her name is in the "and here are the other people who got voted on" bit at the bottom of the article.

Shorty at Blood and Thunder, with the other MVPs

Of course, the women who did make the top 25 are fantastic athletes--they are world champions, Olympians, superstars in their own right. I think that they certainly deserve to be up there. But what pisses me off is that Sports Hydrant, the organizers of the event, put this to a vote, and then "moderated" the result. I also like how the reporter for the article describes the potential result that a derby girl could have won the popular vote as "alarming". Really? What's the point of asking the public to vote, if you don't care about the result they will give you?

What this suggests to me is that roller derby is still not seen as a legitimate sport. Even though it's clearly really popular (and certainly more so than, say, shooting paralympics which made the list), there's still something it is lacking before it will be recognized as a sport in its own right. I have no other explanation for why such moderation had to take place, but then I wouldn't know what was going through the minds of the organizers.

Consulting other halls of fame and sporting records (as the organizers did) disadvantages roller derby, which does not have an Olympic presence (most of the other sports listed do), or at least have a well-established championship. Blood and Thunder--the roller derby world championship--is only a year old. Of course, the current reincarnation of sport itself is also relatively new. But it is a sport. It demands just as much athleticism, strength and strategy as any other sport on that list. What else needs to be done to show that it is a legitimate sport, and not just some random passing fad?

I honestly don't know what justifies taking Shorty off the list. CRDL is the most successful sports team to come out of the Australian Capital Territory. Team Australia got congratulated in parliament by the Prime Minister for their performance at Blood and Thunder. I also don't see the point in trying to boost the profile of women athletes if you take one of the most popular sports that there is for women, and publicly strike down one of its most successful players from a list of the top female athletes in the country, in the one sport that has been primarily developed by women, for women. I think it's extremely disappointing that this happened, but in a way I'm not surprised that it has. I just don't know what else needs to be done for derby to get the recognition that it should have.

Update: Okay, according to this article, it's the fact that people wear fishnets and have derby names that makes it not a sport. Really? Try telling a boxer that boxing is not a real sport because they wear little silk shorts or have nicknames for when they are in the ring.