Scottish Roller Derby Blog (Posts about british championships)

National Tournaments fall to COVID19

SRD — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 10:00:00 GMT

Hopefully the last of our COVID-19 updates that's negative.

Over the last few days, a number of National Tournaments, and pseudo-National-Tournaments (like Australia's Great Southern Slam) have been postponing or cancelling their competitive seasons.

The biggest National Tournaments in the Roller Derby community, the Championnat de France and British Championships, announced their cancellation of the current competitive seasons on the 1st April and today, respectively.

In terms of France, this was an easier decision to make slightly earlier - their competitive season runs from late-Autumn to early Summer, rather than within the same year, so the current pandemic restrictions cover almost all of their remaining season. Their announcement was made via the MyRollerDerby Facebook account, here:

https://www.facebook.com/Myrollerderby/photos/a.877129749133391/1447453628767664/?type=3

For British Champs, this will have been a more nuanced decision, as their season only started 2020, but it's clear that with the lost of months of competitive time, and the fact that inevitably, their competitors will be out of peak training (and potentially out of pocket) for some time after restrictions are loosened, it was the only reasonable decision. (Two weeks ago, BC and UKRDA were actively working to try to salvage some of the season, but it is clearly impossible at this stage, due to the increasingly obvious duration of the disruption.)

British Championships will restart in 2021, with a brand new season.

The announcement from British Champs can be found here:

https://www.britishchamps.com/2020/2020-season-announcement/

In Australia, the Great Southern Slam - the largest Roller Derby tournament in the world - is also being affected, as we mentioned above. Avoiding calling it a "cancellation", TGSS are instead "postponing" to 2021.

The announcement for TGSS's new date was made here (with the announcement of the original 2020 event not happening being a week previous):

https://www.facebook.com/greatsouthernslam/photos/a.279323135499330/2803312556433696/?type=3

Weekend Highlights: 21 September 2019

aoanla — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 13:30:00 GMT

Even though it's the "post-season" still, officially, it's the pre-season in France and other parts of Europe (and the season is still ongoing in Germany), whilst current season is just closing in Australia's state-level tournaments, so this is a busy weekend. Queensland's state tournament has its Grand Final this Saturday; as does British Championships, with their Playoffs deciding the winners in both divisions. There are several leagues celebrating reaching their 1st decade of existence in various ways, an exciting bootcamp in Cancùn, Mexico, and a lot of roller derby in Argentina.

The rules are, as usual: highlights limited to 1 event per country, with an "extra" event allowed for a different kind of fixture (so, 1 tournament and 1 bootcamp), or if they involve Scottish leagues (since we are the Scottish Roller Derby Blog). Other notability might also allow the extra event - great posters, notable teams, etc. (League birthdays may count as "special" enough, at our discretion ;) )

We've bent the rules a bit this time, because it's important to highlight derby in regions which need more attention, and because it's quiet enough that we have the space.

In a bid to make this list as useful as possible, we've avoided links to Facebook except where noted. (Links to Teams are to non-Facebook resources - Instagram, or actual team pages - we'd strongly recommend that Teams get themselves an actual webpage [we can help host one if you need help]).

Locations are roughly organised East-West (with things before the weekend out sequence at the start).

Weekend Highlights: 29 June 2019

aoanla — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 19:40:00 GMT

This weekend's highlights are back to our two update format.

We've broken our rule slightly for Germany this weekend, as it's important not to miss the Mine Monsters' birthday game, but also it's a good weekend for the German Bundesliga in Erfurt. And as usual there's so much stuff in France, we're giving them two entries for two two-day events...

There's also two firsts this weekend; the first ever Tasmanian Tournament kicks off in Australia, and the first ever Norwegian National Tournament (and Championship) is this weekend in Sadnes!

Locations are roughly organised East-West (with things before the weekend out sequence at the start).

BCR Host the final game day of Champs Tier 2 North

despicablev — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 11:40:00 GMT

Bairn City Rollers started off their 2019 and their champs campaign in the best way possible (you can read more about that here) . Their two wins in their first two Champs games saw them sit third in their group with six points despite having played one less game than the two teams above them, who had played three each. Their next two games came against those two teams: first they took on North Wales Mens and then T&F: Inglorious B*Stars. Both opponents took the wins in very hard fought games ending their 2019 Champs season 1st and 2nd in the group, 2 weeks ago.

Whilst those two teams have finished their champs season, the other teams in the group still have one more game and each team still has everything to play for. The last game day of Tier 2 North takes place on Scottish ground, with BCR hosting this fantastic battle at Grangemouth Sports Complex on the 29th of June.

This double header could not have been set up more perfectly for the final set of games, as each match is a decider and will see the teams involved fighting for their final position against their opponent. Hosts BCR will be taking on The Inhuman League, with the winner of that game finishing 3rd in the group and the loser coming 4th. Whilst the other game will see Knights of Oldham play Teesside Skate Invaders, with the loser unfortunately ending up with the wooden spoon for the tier, and facing potential relegation.

Both games are shaping up to be quite a close battle as by their results so far each are evenly matched. So every team will be pulling out all the stops to get that final win in this years champs competition to finish above their opponents.

Doors are at 1.15pm and tickets are only £5 on the door, find out more and keep up to date on the Facebook event page https://en-gb.facebook.com/events/2402082363156371/

Dundee Roller Derby - Midseason and Mansfield

wearethedrd — Tue, 21 May 2019 09:00:00 GMT

With home games in Dundee coming few this season, DRDs Bonnie Colliders have only hosted Auld Reekie Roller Derby's C team, ASTROs last month. The two sides had played each other back in 2016, with 2 wins for Colliders to ASTRO's 1. However the inherent nature of constantly altering B/C teams rosters led to this match up being two brand new teams facing each other.

Shiv #165 (Colliders Co-Captain)

Shiv #165 (Colliders Co-Captain): “The ASTROs game was a tough season opener for us and even though we lost we had a fantastic time out on track! We learned a lot about how we work together as a team and it gave us some areas to focus our training on going forward”

A closely fought game, with the new Colliders being led by Shiv #165 and Macfarlane #606, showed a settling in period for the new Dundee roster with the ASTROs side taking the win [221 v 166]. With a month of training and working together under their belt the Colliders are looking forward to hosting Mansfield Roller derby on the 25th May at the DISC in Dundee!

Macfarlane #606 (Colliders Co-Captain): “Playing against the Astros was a good way to start our season. We knew they would be a challenge but we learned a lot from it.”
Shiv #165: “We’re going into the Mansfield game with a fourteen skater roster which is pretty much unheard of for Dundee! We’ve been working so hard at training and I’m hoping that we see all that hard work come together in the game.”

A previous match up, again back in 2016, saw the Colliders take on Mansfield B to a 275 v 75 victory. What will 2019 Collider roster have to offer on the against the Mansfield A side? Will Mansfield return South triumphant?

Macfarlane #606 (Colliders Co-Captain)

Macfarlane #606: “We are looking forward to the game this weekend. We've had plenty of time to train together for this game and we are really feeling the benefit of this.”

With this single header opening its doors at 2:50, and the action starting at 3pm, you are ensured some fantastic derby! For more information on the upcoming event, visit the facebook page!

Date: 25/05/2019

Where: Dundee DISC

Time: 2:50pm

Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/881902268809143/

A Positive Start to 2019 for BCR

despicablev — Fri, 03 May 2019 11:00:00 GMT

2018 was a mixed year for Bairn City Rollers. Whilst some members of the league were busy; the league not as much. Although BCR had members involved in the Men’s Roller Derby World Cup covering Power of Scotland, Wales and Italy squads (read more about that here), each of their three teams at BCR (Women’s, OTA & Men’s) only managed 1 game each in the whole year.

Like many other leagues up and down the country, BCR saw quite a few members retire from Derby after years of involvement and even a couple move on to other leagues. With numbers shrinking, BCR looked towards recruitment and, after a positive meeting with GMRD, the two leagues decided to pool resources and started sharing one training session a week. This helped both leagues save on hall costs, whilst at the same time helping with numbers at training, allowing them to run better and more complex drills.

During those difficult times BCR were always looking forward and, with 2019 in mind, they decided to enter into British Champs for the second time, having previously competed in 2017. Unlike their previous entry to Champs as the Skelpies, this time around BCR decided to enter the OTA team. Again they find themselves in the MRDA-Tier 2 North, but this time as the only OTA team in the tier.

So far, BCR have already played their first two of five games in Champs. On February 9th they travelled down to Manchester to take on Knights of Oldham at the Thunderdome. After an early rise for most of the team to travel down they took the win, 209 to 108.

Fast forward to April 20th and again they were on the road down South, but this time to Middlesbrough to take on Teesside Skate Invaders (TSI). The last time BCR were in Champs, as the Skelpies, their last game of the tier was against TSI, where BCR lost by 20 points. This time around however BCR’s OTA took the win, 180 to 136.

Bairn City Rollers OTA Roster [Photo: Bairn City Rollers]

Next week, they will be road tripping to Newcastle to play current tier #1, North Wales Roller Derby Men's. Then, in June, they have a trip away to Wales to play Newcastle's Tyne and Fear B, before their final game of Champs at the end of June. BCR will be hosting the final game day of the tier in a double header at Grangemouth on June 29th where they will skate against The Inhuman League.

With two wins in Champs so far, BCR OTA sit third in their group with six points despite having played one less game than the teams second and first (thanks to an unbroken set of wins). Those two wins have led to a significant increase in BCR's Flat Track Stats Global ranking. BCR OTA are now ranked 3rd in Europe and 20th overall of all OTA teams on Flat Track Stats (FTS calls this selection "Co-Ed" still).

British Champs Tier-2 MN Results Table (as of 3 May 2019) [Copyright: British Championships]

Whilst their wins in Champs have been a great start for their OTA team, BCR’s Central Belters have also started their year in winning ways. They have already gotten their first game of the year out of the way taking the win over GRD’s Maiden Grrders, 179 to 149. That means they have been unbeaten in seven consecutive games, stretching back to November 2015.

They're also starting to see their numbers increase from their recruitment drive, with new skaters and along with some transfers arriving as well. Along with those new faces, some old ones have reappeared as some retired skaters from other leagues have decided to pull their skates back on and have choose BCR to do just that.

Bairn City Rollers [Photo: Bairn City Rollers]

The good news doesn’t stop there: Bairn City Rollers have seen their skaters making it onto both Wales' and Power of Scotland's training squads for the Men’s Roller Derby World Cup 2020. There is also the possibility of a BCR member appearing on the Team Italy squad, with tryouts still taking place.

With more games penned for the rest of 2019 for their Women’s and OTA team, this year is starting to look like a good one for BCR and its members.

Their first home game of the season will be BCR’s final Champs game on the 29th of June: for more information head over to the event page here.