I am an archer, a Boga Fyrd, and a C&T fighter. I have been an armored fighter in years past. Armored combat is at the very foundation of the SCA, and is the First Peerage. Non-armored combat is not the same thing, not on the same plane historically either in the SCA or in the real world. Among non-armored martial arts, there is no valid reason for elevating rapier above archery and equestrian. They should all be elevated equally, as they earn that right. 

Mathurin