Roller Derby at NASS Music/Sport Festival

The first time Roller Derby will be played in a UK festival, two teams made of skaters from different UK teams will go head to head in the Battle Of Pastings!

Roller derby activities will be available all weekend, but the big bout takes place on Saturday-don’t miss it!

Check out the NASSfest site for more details http://www.relentlessnass.com/news.php?mode=news_detail&t_id=33

Slow Evolution of International Derby

Bar a few months last year, I realised that I’ve been skating in England for over a year.  My league had been bouting away games here and there in that time, but we have only just launched our first home inter-league season here in London.

The evolution of derby abroad seems a bit slower then that of American counterparts, for many different factors. Venues are hard to secure, the sport is new so no one has herd of it, and training is done with no previous experience, just a lot of internet research.

England, compared to my homeland of Canada, is a small country. A small country with a hell of a lot of people. A Lot of people who don’t play hockey.  So normal venues I’m used to (hockey arenas in the summer) just aren’t available here. Big, open, skateable areas are either non existent or extravagantly expensive. Due to the cramming of millions of people in a small place, buildings are built with the idea of conserving space. In a country where their major sport is played on grass, there is just no need for many places that would be ideal for derby…cause you just can’t skate on a football pitch! I hear about many leagues internationally having problems finding appropriate areas to house their practices and bouts, which will definitely hinder your growth as a league and expend a lot of energy, stress and phone credit.

Once you find a home, you need skaters! Leagues, American or not, go through the growing pains of begging their friends, family and co-workers to join this amazing sport, and some staying or leaving. Recruitment outside a social circle rarely takes off until after a first public bout. However in America you have many leagues making both local and nationwide media coverage, everything from music videos, commercial adverts, talk shows, game shows to your traditional news media forms. The media is intrigued by an old sport making a new comeback. People hear about it and they want to join, and they will actively seek out their local league.  However in places like England or Germany, the sport never existed here. It’s completely new, and that can be a disadvantage to creating initial interest. The sport has to build its own following from scratch, which can be a longer process.

Then we have training. In Canada and America it’s usually not a very far drive to a well experienced league. Training and coaching tips are shared, bootcamps are well attended and it snowballs to improve athleticism at a rapid pace. Overseas you will have the chance that maybe an experienced player will be vacationing and want to come visit your league. My league has been going for two years, and when they started they had to not only learn to skate and play the game, but also teach others to do the same. To women who are neither coaches or technically trained athletes, it was a daunting task. Now two years down the line we have honed and defined many skills in teaching fresh meat, and the pace that they learn things now is much faster then fresh meat who learned a year ago. Leagues receiving training help from experienced skaters grow and evolve far more quickly, and it seems only one in Europe has had much help and has far surpassed other leagues.

There are many things that hinder and slow the development of the sport abroad, besides venues, publicity, and training, small cultural factors may also play a part…for example in Canada skating (though mostly on ice) is a national past time. Not so much here. Language barriers may be stopping non-english speaking countries from learning the rules, or about the sport at all. Germany and French Canada seem to be the only ones, but I know that many members of leagues in both those countries speak English.

Nevertheless, derby always seems to persevere. It may take a couple more years for the sport to grow here, for leagues to be large enough to have full intra league seasons. We may have to practice in small venues. And we may have to find new and exciting ways to catch the media’s eye, but we will do it. This year saw my league’s first season, Europes first tournament, and new leagues popping up all over the world every day.  Next step: World Wide Derby Domination!!!!

Oh, an American leagues…feel free to spread your knowledge to your international sisters by paying us a visit!

Roll Britannia Venue Announced!

Time is now to book your hotels, Euro Tournament Roll Britannia has announced the venue as- Earl’s Court!

Plus, they are now opening registration to an additional 4 teams!

Press Release:
Roll Britannia Venue Announced!
After a very nervous few weeks, where all of us here at Roll Britannia had our fingers crossed, we are excited to announce that we have secured our first choice venue. Roll Britannia will be held….wait for it…at Earls Court! (Brompton Hall to be exact).

Registration open for additional Team.

The extra good news is that we can now extend the tournament to include 12 teams! So, if you missed out on registering the first time, or weren’t sure about participating and now think your team will be ready — please email us rollbritannia@londonrollergirls.com for a copy of the application form. Remember – mixed teams can take part, so if you think you have half a team ready,  post on the Roll Britannia forum on our website http://forum.londonrollergirls.com/viewforum.php?f=51 and see if anyone else is in the same boat. The registration fee does not need to be submitted with your application – we will request it (payable within one week) when we confirm your slot.

Berlin Bombshells (currently on the waiting list) are eager to be put on the tournament roster, and while LRG does have a B Team we could enter – we would really prefer that another league is given the opportunity to participate. First come, first served for the last remaining slot in the tournament!

Roll Britanna will be played to 4.0
The WFTDA switch date is 1st June – we know many of you are already training to 4.0, please everyone else note that the tournament will be played to the new ruleset.

Ref Registration is closed.
Ref registration closed on the 30th April, and all refereeing positions have now been filled. There are however, some Non Skating Official roles still available. If you’d like to apply for one of the NSO roles, please use the Officials/NSO Application form downloadable from the website, and fill out as appropriate.

Announcer Registration now open.
An announcer registration form is available to download from the Roll Britannia Website.

Upcoming Important dates:
Deadline for Announcer Applications: 31st May 2009
Deadline for Submission of Team Roster: 5th June 2009
Deadline for Submission of Roster Changes: 19th June 2009

Tournament Accomodation

We are in negotiations with a number of hotels and hostels, stay tuned for information.

Results ‎From Canada’s Beast of the East 2009

April 25th saw 16 Eastern Canadian Teams battle it out in the second year of Beast Of The East. Last year the Hamilton Harlots from Hammer City Rollergirls take the title. This year Montreal was determined to keep the prize on their home turf.

Teams from Hammer City Roller Girls (Harlots, Death Row Dames), Toronto Roller Derby (Chicks Ahoy, Smoke City Betties, Gore Gore Rollergirls, Bay Street Bruisers, Death Track Dolls), London (Thames Fatales), Tri City Rollergirls (Venus Fly Tramps, Vicious Dishes), Ottawa Roller Girls (Capital Carnage), Rideau Valley (Slaughter Daughters), GTA Rollergirls (Derby Debutantes) and of course Montreal (La Racaille, Les Contrabanditas, Les Filles du Roi) took to the track in a tiring 28 bouts (20 min bouts) over two days.

A great game-by-game play can be found at the wonderful Derby News Network

I wish I was there to see this contest. Some newer leagues (GTA Rollergirls, both Ottawa Teams, Tri City Rollergirls-all have been going for only about a year or so) were going head to head with some leagues who’ve been around 3 years or more. Some surpises in store though where previous Tri City winners Venus Fly Tramps were taken out by the less experienced Slaughter Daughters in a 34 point gap. Slaughter Daughters also went on to eliminate another experienced team-the Thames Fatales. Whilst the Vicious Dishes beat the Bay Street Bruisers, a team who has been running for over 3 years.

I was glad to see the Smoke City Betties power their way to the semi-finals. Since I’ve left canada they have clearly improved. They were playing in the tournament with their leagues two previous championship winners (Gore Gores, Chicks Ahoy) but only they made it as far as they did. Could we have a new TORD championship team this year?

The Championship bout saw two home teams from Montreal face off against each other, La Racaille and Les Contrabanditas. A really tight game, but La Racaille came out on top to be crowned BEAST OF THE EAST CHAMPIONS!!!!

Congrats to all that participated and gave their all!

Results ‎(Beast of the East 2009)‎

Photos by the talented Derek Lang of Bagelhot.com