Roller Blitz Old Skool Roller Disco in Birmingham, UK

 

The UK has a thriving roller disco scene and now Birmingham is about to revitalise the beloved roller disco locally and polish it to a mirror-ball shine. The Roller Blitz event promises to bring the joy of eight on the floor to a new audience, showcase Britain’s VIP jam skaters, and give the rest of us an excuse to dust of our skates for a groovy alternative way to fitness. 

The floor has bags of room for everyone, there will be games and a raffle. Besides, there’s little else this fun that donates a portion of the profits to Cancer UK. Set your supersonic sights on B4 7ES and come skate with us!
www.myspace.com/rollerblitz

 

Scandinavian update!

Since the last update things have actually moved forward. We finally found an indoor place to skate! A hockey rink that is without ice during a few summer months. So there finally have been some real practicing over here! And there is some real progress too! Once out there skating, everyone is learning new stuff all the time. And all those months just thinking about it feels like they never happened. So now we are looking for recruits, and many of them since we still are quite a small group of skaters and refs trying to make this work. And we really have to make things work! The first bout with an all swedish team ever will probably take place early next year. There are still things to work out so that is all I can say right now. But this means the Stockholm skaters really have to work hard so they can put up a fight!

If things are looking brighter in the real world, the same goes for the virtual one. Stockholm Rollerderby(in swedish, it is rollerderby not roller derby) have finally got the website up and with a neat domain! Rollerderby.se is all ours! It is still in beta and only in swedish, but it will grow in the near future. And hopefully it will also be translated into english too. While you wait for that you can always check out the web board that also have been opened up for the public. Log in and get a username!

Well that’s it for now. I’ll post more as things progress over here.

London Brawling vs Irn Bruisers video interview

Lesbilicious magazine caught some of the derby action in London England, and asked them some fun and silly questions:

Update from Australia (at least southern Australia!)

Greetings and salutations from Melbourne!

I’ve now been back on Australian shores for a fortnight having returned from my sojourn across SE Asia and I’ll tell you this much, the past two weeks have been a flurry of activity, whatwith catching up with what’s been going on in our league but in roller derby in general.  I will report that I did not stumble across any fledging leagues in Singapore. Not that I was looking… hard. 

Anyway, I’ve been slack with keeping you up to date with Australian roller derby so enough chitchat, let’s get started…

I might tackle this chronologically and briefly.  Two weeks in derby can sometimes be a lifetime!

Disclaimer: I apologise if this news is Victorian heavy but I am a VRDLer through and through and haven’t had a chance to hook up a State rep to fill me in with their news yet.

February 16th saw the season opener bout for the Victorian Roller Derby League with the Dead Ringer Rosies vs. the Toxic Avengers at ‘Love Hurts’.  By all accounts - and trust me, I think I got recaps from nearly every bouting skater and official - it was a tightly contested bout with the Dead Ringer Rosies pulling away in the last 3/4 of the bout to defeat the Avengers 108 to 88.  The refs had their work cut out for them but not as much as the penalty ref! (Big thank you to Hot Lips from Sydney Roller Derby who posted the clip from our VRDL bout.)

The following weekend saw history being made with the inaugural Skate of Origin… Adelaide vs. Melbourne… state vs. state… you get the picture.

With a crowd of 1000+ quickly filling the Jubilee Pavilion at the Adelaide Showgrounds, this bout was always going to be a fight to the finish. Jam after jam saw the lead change, skaters were digging in and hitting hard but with seconds left in the bout, VRDL snatched victory from ADRD’s hands, 86 to 83.

ADRD put on one spectacular show and we thank them for the opportunity and challenge!

Another special thank you goes out to the members of the Sun State Roller Girls for representing at the Skate of Origin! Seeing the Brisbane contingent was definitely one of my highlights from Adelaide… To think that a year ago, Brisbane was putting on their very first demo! (Evil Doll, you rock my world!)

On another note, I would just like to mention that it has now been just over a year since a group of strangers with skates decided to throw all caution to the wind and form the Victorian Roller Derby League. The past week has been full of reminiscing and good times and every day I am grateful that I am part of such a wonderful sport with such a wonderful community - locally, nationally and internationally.  *le sigh*

For a touch of housekeeping, our new website is up and running and you can find links to photos from the abovementioned bouts on the righthand menu. 

That’s all…

toxic judy xx

Update on Stockholm RD

So here is a short update of what is going on in the Scandinavian Roller Derby Scene. Well, unfortunately i must report that there is not much happening here. Still only one league, StockholmRollerderby(STRD), but there is some interest in Gothenburg and we have heard about a few girls in Skåne(down south in Sweden) who wants to get stuff going, but no real signs of life in any of those areas yet. But we hope that it is just a matter of time before we hear about the first leagues in those areas too.

Here in Stockholm it is way too silent. The reason is of course the lack of a place to skate. Even though we have the warmest winter I can remember we can still not skate outdoors since it is raining all the time, and I think it would be easier to turn Maggie Thatcher into a teddy bear than to find an indoor place to skate in Stockholm. We are at the moment trying out a couple of parking garages in classic guerrilla style, while we keep on searching.

On the happier side of things is that we will be sending three skaters and two refs to LondonRollergirls boot-campin February. Hopefully we will gain alot from this, not just the practice, but contacts, new perspectives and ideas is also what we hope to gain.

I recently found out that there is a rumour going out there that our beloved sport risks being outlawed in Sweden. I find it very hard to think there is any truth in this rumour. Swedish legislators are looking into different kinds of full-contact sports at the moment, but only professional ones Ultimate Fighting, K2and such. Since roller derby only have amateurs playing and the level of violence only is at the same level as ice-hockey, it would be very hard to outlaw it.

Holy Hooligan 
Stockholm Roller Derby

For more info and going-ons about STRD, and also in Swedish, please check out the Rollerderby Scandinaviablog!

And in the other corner…

Hi there, Toxic Judy from the Victorian Roller Derby League (Melbourne, VIC, Australia) signing in to introduce myself.

I’m here to keep you up to date with not only what’s going on in our neck of the woods but touching base with our sister leagues in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and all around Australia.

Unfortunately, I’m heading off to Cambodia tomorrow so I won’t be blogging for the next 4 weeks but when I return, look for our Valentine’s Day ‘Love Hurts’ bout recap to be held on Saturday, 16th February, as well as news from the forefront as the VRDL takes on the fine Adeladies at the Inaugural Skate of Origin on 23rd February (see previous post).

So until then, peace, love and bearings…

Toxic Judy, Victorian Roller Derby League

http://vrdl.wordpress.com

hi hi hi

Hey there! This is Georgia W Tush from Montreal Roller Derby, Quebec, Canada! I’m going to try and keep you updated with all the exciting news from Canada, and especially Eastern Canada. MTLRD is extra wicked, because we’re the first completely bilingual league! Many of our ladies speak french, and our bouts are both english and french. So next time you see one of us, try asking “voulez-vous choucher avec moi?”, and see what happens. ** Actually, I don’t think people use that phrase here, but try it just for fun. Most of our Eastern leagues are in our off season for now, so there might not be too much action in these parts for a while. **I am not responsible for any punches to the face Cheers for never ending beers, Georgia W Tushhttp://www.mtlrollerderby.comhttp://www.derbyluv.com