September has been an awfully exciting month for the Granite City Brawlers (GCB); they became the first Scottish league to achieve MRDA membership AND won the first MRDA sanctioned game to be held in Scotland (against Nottingham's Super Smash Brollers, 209 to 190). Pretty exciting stuff!

I had a wee chat with GCB chairperson Pudz about the league application to MRDA and what this means for the future.

Can you tell me a little about the MRDA application process? 

The application process involves playing 5 games with at least one of these against an MRDA opponent and 2 letters of recommendation from an MRDA league and an MRDA recognised official. There are a few other boxes to tick and then your application is sent to MRDA for review. Once reviewed the application is put to vote by MRDA leagues and officials to decide if you are to be admitted to membership.

What made GCB decide to become MRDA affiliated?

Over the past few years we have grown naturally as a league. Starting from scratch with getting skaters through mins up to having a bouting team playing at home. We set MRDA status as one of our goals at our AGM last year as it felt like the natural progression for the club and we are delighted to present this as a completed project at our upcoming AGM.

What does MRDA membership mean for the Brawlers? What changes can we expect? Fancy riders for game day?

This means the world to Brawlers, we have put our country on the map as the first league in Scotland to achieve this status. Hopefully this means we can play a wider range of teams as opponents look for sanctioned games for ranking and tournament purposes. [Plus] A bottle of rum in the changing room after games maybe 😉

Who is your dream MRDA opponent?, let's make it happen.

I'd personally love to play an Australian MRDA team like Sydney SMASH as I love the way they play derby. We'd also love to play in a tournament like MEC [Tyne and Fear's Men's European Cup] one day, that’s the dream!

Thanks Pudz!

So I'm sure you're wondering where you can watch Scotland’s premier MRDA league play. Well get your diary out and make sure you keep 25 November free for a cheeky home game. GCB will be hosting an International Double Header where GCB will take on Team Poland, and Power of Scotland will also take on Poland.

GCB will be playing an away game on 28 October too, more details shall be announced soon.

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Granite City Brawlers are currently one of thirty clubs in Scotland competing for a Grassroots Giving Grant from Skipton Building Society. You can help them win by clicking the link

http://www.skiptongrg.co.uk/apply-for-funding/2017-shortlisted-groups/Scotland/granite-city-brawlers Congratulations GCB on making history!