Dundee Heads to Paris!

wearethedrd — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 09:00:08 GMT

This weekend (30th June) Dundee Roller Derby are heading out for their first international tournament!

Artwork by Lila Poppins

Paris is Burning! is hitting the streets of France's capital as hosts La Boucherie de Paris Roller Derby invite three WFTDA teams to compete in sanctioned games across the weekend. [WFTDA Rankings May 2018]

La Boucherie de Paris (aka Les Quads de Paris)[276] GO-GO Gent Roller Derby[287] London Rockin' Rollers[279] Dundee Roller Derby[225]

The Dundee side are looking strong, coming off their 373 to 144 win against Glasgow Roller Derby last month[FTS], with the Rockin' Rollers coming in at 267 to 132 against the Glasgow side earlier this month in Tier 1 British Championships[FTS]. GO-GO Gent will be looking for a close rematch having played the Rockin' Rollers in tournament earlier this year; narrowly missing the win with 201 to 155 in favour of the Rollers[FTS]. With both Dundee and the Parisian team having not played the tournament attendees previously, it looks like a fantastic weekend of derby is upon us.

Feminist Killjoy - Image courtesy Peter Troest

Representing Dundee Roller Derby, as well as Resistance Roller Derby, Feminist Killjoy will also be attending to referee hot off the heels of their involvement in the WFTDA Recognised Officiating Clinic in Marburg, hosted by Roller Derby Marburg!

The Silvery Tayzers!

Dundee are taking their 15 skater strong Silvery Tayzer roster to the city of Paris in the hopes of making a name for themselves in the European derby scene. Previously DRD have played in Copenhagen, celebrating Copenhagen Roller Derby's 5th birthday in a DRD v CRD double header[FTS]. The Parisian tournament is an excited step forward for the Dundee side in opening game avenues for WFTDA sanctions for their recent full WFTDA membership.

Event Page: Facebook

West Track Story: The Teams

aoanla — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 16:19:52 GMT

With Nantes Derby Girls' 5th edition of West Track Story coming up this weekend, we thought we'd make you a little guide to the teams competing in this WFTDA Recognised Tournament.

As the tournament is WFTDA Recognised, each bout will be Sanctioned, contributing to the teams' ranking for the important "Playoffs" rankings which decide which Division you make, if any.

As the tournament is WFTDA Recognised, WFTDA.TV is re-streaming the video - if you'd like to check the schedule in your timezone, we have a viewing guide here: https://aoanla.pythonanywhere.com/westtrackstory2017.html

Nantes Derby Girls

Hosts Nantes are one of the stronger teams in Europe - ranked 24th by Flat Track Stats. Founded in September 2010, Nantes became a member of the the FFRS (the French Roller Sports Governing Body) in 2012, and a WFTDA Apprentice in 2013, with full WFTDA membership the usual year later. Nantes have been running West Track Story since 2013, when it had just 4 teams attending; it soon grew to a 5 team event, with WFTDA "Official" status coming in 2016 for West Track Story IV.

As well as West Track Story, which they have won 4 out of 5 times, Nantes also competes in the French National Championships, in the highest ("Elite") tier.

Nantes are currently ranked #144 by WFTDA, #155 by SRDRank and #24 in Europe(FTS)

Glasgow Roller Derby

The first Roller Derby league in Scotland, GRD recently celebrated their 10th birthday, and we interviewed one of their founding members at the time. [READ MORE]. Glasgow have been full WFTDA members since 2012.

Back in 2015, Glasgow's B team attended West Track Story III, where they defeated Kallio B, but lost out to the Berlin B team and hosts Nantes narrowly, and to Amsterdam by a knife-edge (just 7 points). Glasgow Roller Derby are the only team attending with a history of competing in both Europe and Internationally. This year, it's Glasgow Roller Derby A attending, and they will be hoping to show that they're past their problems in the past year and back on track to start regaining WFTDA rank. In the past year, GRD have played none of the teams at West Track Story - although they played Gent way back in 2012, and won. Both teams have changed significantly since then, however!

Glasgow are currently ranked #195 by WFTDA, #307 by SRDRank and #51 in Europe(FTS)

GO-GO Gent Roller Derby

The first Roller Derby league in Belgium, when they founded in late 2008 as "Gent Go-Go Roller Girls", the league rebranded to its current name in 2016. We miss the cats in their old logo. GO-GO Gent have been WFTDA members since 2012.

Gent host their own WFTDA Recognised European Tournament - A Skate Odyssey - since 2013, but this is the first time they've turned up at Nantes' event. As well as competing at SKOD each year, Gent play widely across Europe - in the past year, they played Dirty River, Nantes and Antwerp, all of whom managed to pull out wins. This time, Gent will be looking to show they can win, as they rebuild their ranking from 2015.

Gent are currently ranked #150 by WFTDA, #207 by SRDRank and #33 in Europe(FTS)

Dirty River Roller Derby

Hailing from Turku, Finland, and founded in 2010, Dirty River Roller Derby are named (fairly obviously) for the locally famous state of the river Aura which passes through the city, although they changed their name from "Grrrls" to "Derby" in 2014. The league have been full WFTDA members since 2015.

As well as being strong competitors in the Finnish National Tournament (the Suomi Cup) since its founding (placing no lower than 4th in any year, and 2nd in 2015), Dirty River also compete across Europe, and played both Nantes and Gent in 2016 - losing to the former by only a pair of points, 215-213. Dirty River have been regular attendees at the (Gent-hosted) Skate Odyssey tournaments, but this is their first West Track Story.

Dirty River are currently ranked #145 by WFTDA, #206 by SRDRank and #39 in Europe(FTS)

Antwerp Roller Derby / One Love Roller Dolls

Antwerp Roller Derby, known better as One Love Roller Dolls, were founded in 2010, and joined WFTDA four years later in 2014.

Regular competitors (with Gent) at the Benelux region tournament, Skates of Glory (which One Love founded and host), One Love also compete across Europe. In the last year, they have played only Gent out of the competitors at West Track Story, beating them by just 6 points! One Love are currently on an upward trajectory in their rankings, and will be looking to continue that in this WFTDA Recognised tournament.

Antwerp are currently ranked #152 by WFTDA, #151 by SRDRank and #22 in Europe(FTS)