Jo Anarchy, playing as a ringer for Fair City, helps curtail Aberdeen's Clinically Wasted. Photo by Dave McAleavy.

Image courtesy of GRD

Glasgow Roller Derby present a Gig Night at Stereo,Glasgow on the 15th of June.For the measly sum of £5 you get to see three bands live on stage... What the Blood Revealed Bloodlunch Friday Morning Club

Image courtesy of Berlin Bombshells

Berlin Bombshells welcome ARRG's Twisted Thistles to their city for a rematch,last time the teams met in Edinburgh,Berlin won by a single point in a hard fought and exciting bout.Should make for quite a game.

This Saturday, Dundee Roller Girls bring back roller derby to Dundee in a bout which sees them welcoming friends from across the water, Belfast Roller Derby.

These two teams have never met before, so the results are sure to be interesting.

Doors are at 2, with the game itself starting at 2.30, however we advise you arrive before this, as there will be plenty of stalls and cakes and other such lovely things to be enjoyed. You also wouldnt want to miss out on a seat at the suicide line.

Tickets are £5 in advance https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/247739 or £6 on the door. Under 14's admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.

Come support your local team and embrace the full contact female sport that is Roller Derby!

After the foundation of Fierce Valley Roller Girls, and Nasty Nessies Roller Girls last year, many thought that that would be about it for new roller derby leagues in Scotland.

No sooner had we issued that opinion, however, then two more showed up! Lothian Derby-Dolls, declaring themselves as a "Mid-Lothian" based league, founded by a group of experienced skaters late of Auld Reekie; and New Town Roller Girls, based in West Lothian's Livingston.

Both teams are aware of the recruitment pressure exerted on them; by Edinburgh's Auld Reekie to the North-East, and Fierce Valley to the North-West, but they feel there's enough demand for derby that they can prosper in addition. Indeed, New Town recruit Gill Brannan explained: "the first team I found was Auld Reekie, but the fresh meat seemed infrequent, and New Town is local to me. I was really surprised and happy there was a team here." (Gill has since had to leave New Town for personal reasons). New Town's initial founders, Hazel "Hazzard" Mochan, Jennifer "JPow" Powell* and Becki "Darko" Lawrie, decided to start the new league in a burst of enthusiasm after having watched Whip It! on DVD. Unaware of the existence of Fierce Valley Roller Girls to the north, and seeing the long wait for the next fresh meat at Auld Reekie, it seemed like the fastest way to get skating would be to do it themselves.

New Town co-founder Hazzard directs training at a Sunday session.

The going has been slow but steady for New Town in the months since; after growing quietly on a Facebook group page for several months, they exploded into the awareness of the Scottish Roller Derby community after Lead Jammer magazine gave them a plug, but gaining awareness outside of the existing derby community has proved difficult. A concerted leafleting campaign is planned in the near future, as most of the team's previous outreach has been via Facebook and Twitter. Skaters from both Auld Reekie and Fierce Valley have helped with the occasional practise session, as New Town have no experienced coaches amongst them. Initially, the team benefited from sharing practise sessions with Lothian Derby-Dolls, but with LDD growing bigger this has become less possible. Team founder Hazzard has been developing her own coaching skills as a consequence. New Town's practices are weekly on Sundays, 3 to 6pm at Craigswood Sport Centre, Livingston.

While New Town's band of skaters are all new to Derby, Lothian Derby-Dolls have well-experienced founding skaters Psychobeing and Skate-tastrophy, formerly of Auld Reekie. In addition, they've recruited the legendary Cain Unstable as their coach. Cain was involved in the early days of both Glasgow Roller Girls and coached Auld Reekie for their first couple of years, bringing them up to an extremely high standard. The lure of Cain, and the presence of experience skaters hasn't hurt LDD's recruitment; one skater I spoke to had even been recommended to join the league by Dundee's Psychomilly!

Lothian Derby Dolls recruits lining up for practise.

Engaging in an impressive structured training plan, Cain hopes to get the first recruits for the Derby-Dolls mins passed and bout ready before the end of the year. With already more than enough members to form a full bouting team, it looks like they might even manage a bout next January. The Derby-Dolls started with a single practice on Fridays, 7-9pm at Danderhall Community Centre, sharing a Sunday practise with New Town. Since then, Lothian Derby-Dolls have been looking for a new venue for their own Sunday practise, and are no longer sharing with New Town.

The growth spurt for Scottish Roller Derby has not stopped even here. During the process of writing this article, a second Glasgow-based team has just emerged, Glasgow Slayers positioning themselves somewhat in the same relation to GRD as the Derby-Dolls are to Auld Reekie. Unlike LDD, Glasgow Slayers don't come with any direct derby experience; while co-founder Teri Fiher has skated on inlines for years, she's new to quads, let alone hitting people while wearing them, and her comrade-in-derby Lou Natic has no previous skating experience at all. Recruitment is in the initial stages, but seems to be very positive, and Glasgow Roller Derby are being very supportive themselves. As yet, the Slayers have not located a suitable practise venue.

More speculatively, even Shetland is potentially getting into the act, with a Facebook page only recently renamed from "Anyone interested in Roller Derby in Shetland?" to "Shetland Roller Derby". Despite the remoteness of Shetland, they have already hosted an initial recruitment meeting, and are positive that they can recruit enough members to form a team. This would make them the new holders of the "Most Northerly Team in UK Roller Derby" record, previously held by Nasty Nessies in Inverness (in Europe proper, Scandinavia hosts several new leagues which are much further north than the rest of Europe could ever match, of course).

Two taster events for Shetland Roller Derby are planned: one next Sunday on the 10th of June, the other on the 24th. They are linked to from the league's Facebook page. New Town Roller Girls have a Facebook page: and a very new website. Lothian Derby-Dolls have a Facebook page and a website. Glasgow Slayers can be found on Facebook Shetland Roller Derby can also be found on Facebook.

[*JPow has since left New Town in favour of a skating role with Lothian Derby-Dolls; the current chairs of New Town are the remaining two founders, Hazzard and Darko.]

This Saturday (June 9) the Fair City Rollers bout team, the Fear Maidens will take on the Wakey Wheeled Cats at Bells Sports Centre, Perth.

This will be a rematch, following a bout down south last September. And Maidens captain, Pistol Panties says the team is ready to face their Yorkshire counterparts again.

She said: "It's probably the most exciting and anticipated bout we have because that was my first bout coming back to FCR and I was made captain.

"So them coming up to play us, we're interested to see how they've improved and they'll be interested to see if we've improved. We are hoping to get a better score this time round, because last time half the team were playing in their first bout.

"And it will be really nice to see them because we we had so much fun at the afterparty and they're a great group of girls."

And the Fear Maidens have been working hard to prepare for the bout.

Pistol Panties added: "We’ve been practising a lot and just trying to focus our energy into mentally preparing because there are some people who are fairly new to the team, as well as the more seasoned players.

"We’ve taken feedback from the last few bouts and as far as tactics are concerned we’ve been focusing on default strategy and get our jammers more experienced and improve on our last bout."

Doors open at 2.30pm on Saturday and entry costs £6.

On Saturday 16th June, skaters from Fierce Valley Roller Girls will join forces with roller derby leagues from all over the country to raise money in a sponsored skate for SportsAid; a charity supporting the young British athletes of tomorrow.

To celebrate the London 2012 Olympics, Severn Roller Torrent from Gloucester were keen to organise a fundraising event that would raise awareness of their chosen sports charity, and also let the roller derby community pull together to reach their sponsorship goal. Over 60 roller derby leagues across the UK have been invited to take part over the weekend of 16th and 17th June by hosting their own event, and FVRG are proud to announce that they are one of them.

Sponsored Skate Flyer - Image courtesy of Severn Roller Torrent

On 9th June, Glasgow Roller Derby's Irn Bruisers take on Malmo's Crime City Rollers in a double header event. The Swedish hosts will then go on to play a re-match against Ireland's Cork City Firebirds in what promises to be an action-packed afternoon.

Crime City are advertising tickets online on their website, but you'll need to go to lastminute.com* to book your flights first!

*Other online flight companies are available :)

On Saturday 9th June, Manchester Roller Derby will be hosting an action-packed double header.

First up, MRD's Checkerbroads take on Gloucester's Severn Roller Torrent. But the main event for fans north of the border will be the men's bout: New Wheeled Order versus The Jakey Bites. This will be The Jakey's second live bout, so why not organise a road trip and show them your support?

Tickets are available now online: £7 adv, £6 concessions, £10 on the day - under 10s get in free! To keep updated with the latest news on both bouts, visit the Facebook Event.