Skate of Ages - Charity Bout 6th December

Posted: by aleishaduke
Tags:  ldd lothian derby dolls upcoming bouts

So thinking all the excitement is over for the year in Roller Derby you would be wrong. This weekend Lothian Derby Dolls are hosting a charity bout at Meadowbank. Raising funds for 2 selected charities Alzheimers Scotland and Children's Hospice Association Scotland.

The main event will be a face off between the Golden Oldies a team comprised of 40's and over and the Whipper Snappers a team made up of 25 an unders.

This will be for sure an interesting match up do you think experience will win this bout? Or will the eagerness of the young energy win it.

Of course we aren't just going to leave those aged in between out so we are also holding a bout for them to not miss any of the action.

YES!! A double header all in aid of not just one good cause but two.

Doors open at 12pm

Meadow bank Sports Centre, Edinburgh

Tickets - Online £8

                On the door £9

You can find more information at the Facebook event page - https://www.facebook.com/events/1484659011813489/

Skate of Ages - Charity Bout Skate of Ages - Charity Bout

The Future of Derby: Central and Eastern Europe

While Roller Derby is rather well established in Western and Northern Europe, it is still spreading to the East, from the Czech Republic across to Russia. Our next Future Derby article covers the expanding Eastern edge of European derby.

We asked Prague Roller Derby's L))) and Semtex Sizzle, and a whole bunch of skaters from Russia's first league, St Peterburg's White Night Furies, about the experience of pushing derby out into the East of Europe. (We believe this may be the first non-Russian interview that the White Night Furies have given, so we are happy to reproduce their answers in full!)

Prague Roller Derby

With derby just established in the Czech Republic with your league, do you think you'll be competing with a National Team or at that level by the next World Cup in, say 2016?
We don't give up hope, it would be amazing to compete on international level. We hope than in few years more leagues will pop up in other czech cities or even in Prague itself and it will make possible to gather best players not only from PCRD, but from whole country. It could possibly help if other central or eastern European countries would establish new teams (like quite recently in Poland, yay!) so we won't be anymore on the 'edge' of Europe.
What difficulties have you had with growth and promotion in the Czech Republic?
To answer your first one, well, we still are the first and the only Czech team. We sure hope other teams will appear in Czech, as L))) says. About the PR activities - we can't do more at the moment since we started, every single newspaper and many lifestyle magazines already covered our existence together with some expat media so we are quite satisfied with our promo.[On language issues with the WFTDA Rules] Not really, we are not perfect, of course, as non native speakers, but most of the players can at least understand English (as most of Czech young people do). Actually... while bouting other European teams we take advantage of our language as nobody can understand us!
Russia - St Peterburg's White Night Furies.
I think you've been working on the league + team since June last year (and there might now be a league starting in Moscow this year?) ? How did it all start, and what have the challenges been over the past year and a bit? (Are there any cultural issues with recruitment in Russia, or language issues with derby being mostly English-language?)

Fight Sparrow: First of all, we don’t have a sports hall to train in. But I think we will solve this problem. There’s also a problem with understanding foreign players, but we can solve this problem too – some of our players speak English and help us to communicate with them. Some of our players started to attend English courses and I'm going to do it too, hope it will happen very soon. The fact that it is an English-language game must stimulate us to develop ourselves. There are some difficulties with the rules, sometimes we can’t understand them, but with the help of our foreign derby-friends and our trainers' communication we will achieve our goal.

Generous Jane (GJ): Roller derby in Russia started from only one girl who brought this game from Belgium. When she came back to Russia and found out that there is no roller derby here, she decided to change this and tell Russian people about the game. And some people (girls and boys) gathered together on the Palace square in the very center of St. Petersburg on the 22nd of May in 2013. They looked puzzled at this girl on quads who tried to heed the eccentric derby rules. They gathered together many times on the Palace Square and, as time has passed, these meetings became roller derby training (practices). The girl’s name was Katerina Rossolovich. She was the ideological inspirer, absolute leader, coach and the first captain of the first Russian roller derby team. During our first trainings we spent much time on leveling up the basic roller skating skills, practicing the derby position and crossovers. Then one artist drew the roller derby track on the Palace square for us and it was the time to start playing, though we’ve played like kittens! Approximately in the beginning of the autumn 2013 we confirmed the name of our team – “White Night Furies” and the logo. When the weather became cold we found a sports hall and started to train there. In December 2013 two Australian coaches – The Flying Nun Chucker and Ruby Ribcrusher - visited us. Besides ten hours of training we got the invaluable experience, the help and world recommendations on all the private and team questions, muscles, knowledge and incredible emotions from the communication with those excellent coaches. Chuck and Ruby's arrival made a powerful incentive to the development of roller derby in Russia and gave motivation to all of us. After the two spring Fresh Meat Days (1,2 of March 2014), the team became almost twice as big. Many of our derby-girls from the team started visiting derby practices while travelling to Europe in the cities they've been staying at. Derby-girls and boys from different countries such as France, Norway, Sweden, the USA came to St. Petersburg to train with us and to coach us. We take part in local events, thus earning the money for the team and promoting our sport which nobody knows about.

FireCracker: After Katerina quit Hulk Hellelujah became our captain, coach and chief. She and two girls are in our coach committee now. Now we even have a sponsor. It's a skateboard shop in Saint Petersburg. And from our trip to Finland we got a mentor-team. It’s a team from Helsinki – Kallio Rolling Rainbow. This summer they said that 99,9% of our derby questions already have answers. So now we can write them anytime and they will definitely help us.

Generous Jane (JG): Difficulties. The first difficulty is that we can't buy quads and derby gear in Russia so we had to order everything from Europe and USA without trying on. And recently the miracle happened and the last girl in our team bought quads, now we can say with a great confidence that we don’t play roller derby on inlines. Secondly, we don't have a sports hall with the suitable floor, changing rooms and the track. It's very difficult to find such sports hall and at present we haven’t managed to find one. Further, we are the only team in Russia – wow – that's cool, but we have nobody to play with! And this is a big minus for our karma, motivation and development. Also, there is no roller derby federation and special medical insurance here. We're trying to solve this problem now. We have to translate the rules and literature into Russian – this is a long and big process. Those who don’t know the language have to learn them by heart. However, learning them and reacting to them during the game play are not the same things. This kind of sport isn't developed in our culture. While telling your friends (if only they are not from Australia) you face to such reaction: “I've never heard about it! What is it? Is it played with a ball?”. And you have to explain as simply as possible that there is a pack, a bout, a jammer. You have to use drawings, pantomime and gestures while demonstration of the elements of the game. But not everybody has studied in a drama school, and that's why this performance, probably, is not so much attractive as it is frightened for the potential players especially when it is a question about contact, injuries, aggression. And this information vacuum makes a distance between us and those who probably were born to play roller derby.

You seem to have travelled to a lot of leagues around Europe to get practices in (from Lisbon through Vienna to Finland?). Could you have grown without the big derby community in Europe? What's been the biggest help to you from the community?

Fight Sparrow: I think that we have grown a lot during the last (2014) year. Now we are an organized and cohesive team. The special fact is that we have visited two Finnish teams and played three scrimmages with them. Some amazing foreign coaches and players have already visited us and it helped us a lot.

Hulk Hellelujah: Definitely not, we couldn't have grown without support from European derby community. Undoubtedly we couldn't even have started roller derby here without this community, because the idea of creating roller derby team here, in Russia, came from Europe, after watching some roller derby stuff. The biggest help was from a lot of people who supported us on Facebook, who wrote and came here to train us, to train with us, who hosted us in Kouvola and Helsinki for during our first scrimmages.

Jochans: This summer I was in Lisbon and trained with the local team. It was very scary at first because I didn't know what to do, how to skate even. And it at was the first time when I'd got quads on my feet. Then I joined the fresh meat group and I realized that it doesn't matter in roller derby who you are and where you come from. Things that matter are your desire to skate and a hunger for learning.

How is recruitment going?

Fight Sparrow: We don't recruit new players now. We hone our own skills. We need an extra time and place in a sports hall, and we can’t do it now, because we haven’t brought ourselves yet to the sufficient derby-standard – namely we haven’t played official bouts with teams from roller derby community.

As this is for our World Cup series, can you say if a Team Russia might be a possibility some day? Maybe by the next Cup in 2016/17?

Fight Sparrow: I believe in that! We must and we will.

Are there any changes in derby culture you see either being needed or coming out of the spread of derby into wider locations (not just USA + Western Europe) as time goes on?

Hulk Hellelujah: Can't tell now about any changes because the Roller Derby that we've started here is a big change in itself :) Everything is new and very exciting, so we need to be not an "isolated" part of the European community to talk about changes. The biggest change will be destroying countries' borders, but that's not a roller derby task :)

The Future of Derby: The Middle East

Next up in our series on the Future of Derby is another geographical region where the growth and development of the sport is pushing new boundaries: North Africa and the Middle East. Egypt's CaiRollers swept to some fame a few years ago when they were first founded, getting attention in some major newspapers, but since then other leagues have begun emerging, in the UAE and in Lebanon...

The Middle-East has, perhaps, particular challenges for Roller Derby, as it (and Asia) have less Western ideas of women and sports in popular culture. As Derby develops into a truly International sport, encountering and adapting to non-Western cultural ideals will be a key test of the sport and its leadership (as will the ability to decentralise the core of the sport itself).

We talked to all three Middle-Eastern leagues we are aware of, to find out how they see the sport developing in their region. Dubai Roller Derby's The Killer Purple answered questions for them, while the CaiRollers had their Nofearteti respond.

Roller Derby Beirut is currently just a work in progress, and their founder provided us with the following statement: Women of the Middle East face challenges that cannot compare in any way to the reality we know where I live, in the cold Northern Copenhagen. I've been following the amazing ladies of the CaiRollers, and the way Roller Derby enables them to claim their space in the public sphere. This is not about religion, Orientalism or naïve good-doing; it's about sharing our amazing sport and community with women around the world. It makes me happy and proud to feel the derby community reach out and help in any way they are able to; that's why Derby is so unique. I hope the ladies of Beirut will find this together whilst turning left. 

[You can help Roller Derby Beirut with donations at the World Cup or otherwise via this event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/599390206837488/ ]

Dubai:

Although Roller Derby in Dubai (and the U.A.E. in general) is young, have you considered a national team submission for the next World Cup

Definitely. We would definitely consider submitting a National Team, and have already discussed it. The issue, however, is that few of our skaters, if any, are from Dubai/the U.A.E. This is not because we have any kind of restrictive or exclusionary policies but because of the U.A.E.’s demographics. Roughly 80% of the population is expatriate. Local women also tend to be from more protective family backgrounds. Athletic local women are certainly the exception to the rule although this is slowly changing. As it stands, the World Cup’s eligibility rules need to be modified to be able to include places like the U.A.E., Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, Egypt, etc. and our particular social make-up.

The Middle-East has perhaps unique problems for the growth of derby, but some issues are common to leagues across the World. What have been your issues to date with growing and spreading derby across the U.A.E?

Possibly the primary factor that limits the growth of derby in Dubai & the U.A.E. is the transient nature of the population. Most people come here early on in their careers, at a time when their lives are changing rapidly, stay for a few years to benefit from the tax-free laws, and then return to their native countries to establish more permanent homes. While they’re here, they take advantage of Dubai’s proximity and ease of access to many tourist destinations, and travel frequently. This constant turnover of people, and serial absence of skaters makes it difficult to plot and monitor progress of an individual skater, and of the league. Expatriates also tend to take long breaks from work in the summer to escape the scorching, draining temperatures. This discontinuity certainly slows our progress.

Another factor that has severely hampered our growth is the lack of infrastructure to support us. At the peak of the quad skate fashion, the U.A.E. was little more than a desert, and as such, has no old roller rinks, no old skates, no former wheely-disco-divas. What we do have is an indoor ski slope, which has that excessive appeal that Dubai prides itself on. The roller derby “story” of grassroots, female empowerment, alternative living, community driven success is not one that might appeal to decision-makers here – people that have the money, resources, and permits to build. This is Eden for big business-big government. Unless a direct monetary advantage can be leveraged, the project is dead in the water.

Culture probably does play a significant factor as the athletic development of girls and women is considered secondary to their moral well-being. Athletic facilities that women use are primarily built for men. We know that many derby leagues began in parking lots, etc. but try skating in 99% humidity, and 50°C.

Recently, finding a decent sports hall, with skateable flooring, has given our league a much-needed boost. With a consistent practice location and times, we’ve gained a good reputation, garnered a lot of media attention, and gotten a lot of new skaters!

Do you have any hopes for development in the Derby community which would make the sport more successful in the Middle East, and Dubai in particular?

3) To be perfectly honest, the only way in which we hope derby develops is in being able to include us to play in the World Cup. It could be a concern that as the sport grows, people jump on the bandwagon and beat the horses. Right now, We like that there isn’t a fat-cat commission setting rules for me to make them money. We like that derby isn’t about money. We like that we've got an international sk8rhood. We like that we’re fierce and I like that we have to fight for our right to party.

Egypt (Cairollers):

The CaiRollers have been growing for about 2 years now. What challenges (and support/unexpectedly easy things) have you encountered on the way? (Are any unique to Egypt?)

The challenges today remain similar to what they were when we first started:

1) the gear is not available in Egypt and it's not easy to get it shipped here without paying hefty fines and/or guaranteeing that something will get lost along the way.

2) Practice locations - it's difficult to find a suitable surface for us to play on, and when we do it's either too expensive. We don't have any sponsors yet and we pay for all practice venues out of dues which we try to keep to a reasonable amount so that players from all walks of life can play.

3) Drumming up awareness of what derby us and support and interest from women to play. In addition to which many of our founding players were expats, so in our second year we lost about 80% of the team and had to kind of start from scratch. However, we have managed to build a more local base and now the team is majority Egyptians or women who are living in Egypt for the long term, so turnover won't be as high.

The unexpectedly easy and awesome thing which has helped with all of the above challenges is the international support that we have received. So many teams from all over the world have supported us by talking us up, donating a ton of gear and even making financial donations to our paypal account. the amount of derby love that has come our way from ALL over the world has been overwhelming and incredible. At the end of our 1st birthday slideshow we had such a long list of leagues to thank and send out love to and that was an amazing thing.

Has the English-language focus of derby, especially with rules + best practice, caused any problems?

Yes, it has caused some issues in terms of teaching our own players the rules, but also in terms of drumming up interest in the game. There is no direct translation for the word Jammer in Arabic. How do we explain roller derby without being able to explain what a jammer is? [In almost all other languages, Jammer remains untranslated, or becomes something like "star" in the destination language - Ed] But we've made do. Recently we've been talking about translating our fresh meat package into Arabic. We've got parts of it translated now, but we want all the details to be available in Arabic so we can sort of be a resource for derby in Arabic.

If there is a World Cup in 2016/17, would you consider forming a Team Egypt? (Eligibility for national teams tends to be decided by nationality, not domicile.) Have you thought about this already?

We would definitely consider it but there's a lot that would go into that consideration. We don't have any sponsorship, though we've been trying to drum up some big name sponsors for a year now. We would need some serious sponsorship in order to be able to go, as many of the women on our team cannot afford to contribute much, if anything towards travel abroad. We would also like to have a couple of bootcamps and play a couple of international bouts if possible prior so that the World Cup is not our first time encountering that level of play. But as a pipe dream, it's definitely something we've talked about from time to time.

As derby grows outside the "Western" cultures of North America and Western Europe, do you see any changes either being required to grow in those new areas, or being fed back into the community from those new cultures?

I don't think there need to be any real, fundamental changes to the game of derby in order for it to grow, but there has to be perhaps a widening in the scope of what is meant by derby culture. We've been able to adapt the 'badass' tough chick image of derby to our situation here in Egypt. We've got Egyptian women from various social classes and religious backgrounds playing together, some are veiled, some are not. When the veiled women first showed an interest in derby some of them asked if it would be possible to play with their hijab. We of course told them that there is no requirement that they wear racy clothing or have tattoos or any of these other things that they might have picked up from some of the popular media around derby (The movie Whip It is shown on a regional satellite network quite often, and I think this is where a lot of people might be getting their ideas about derby...) In any case, we've adopted a very 'come as you are' attitude here, and I think we've done a good job of reconciling the different viewpoints of our players about what derby culture is and what it should be. So I guess, that's just a long way of saying that I don't think there need to be any drastic changes to derby in order for it to grow in new areas. I think each league will sort of naturally figure out what works best for them.

Glasgow Roller Derby: Home Season Final 2014

Posted: by scottishrollerderby
Tags:  bad omens death stars glasgow roller derby home season tournament home teams upcoming bouts

Image courtesy of Glasgow Roller Derby Image courtesy of Glasgow Roller Derby

On Saturday 22nd of November, Glasgow Roller Derby will host their fifth Home Season final. The two teams competing for first position this time around are the Bad Omens and the Death Stars. The Bad Omens have an unbeaten record so far this season, including a win over the Death Stars, which should make for an interesting battle.

The event takes place at The Arc Sports Centre. Doors open at 12;30pm for a 1pm start. Tickets are £5 in advance or £7 on the door, under 14's free with paying adult.

Keep an eye on the Facebook Event page for more information.

FVRG Double-Header with The Cubs

On Saturday 13th December, Fierce Valley Roller Girls will be hosting a double-header event, featuring Scotland's only junior roller derby team - the Fierce Valley Roller Cubs!

The 4 teams playing in the event will represent the Hogwarts Houses from Harry Potter: The Cubs will be split between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and the adult skaters will be in either Gryffindor or Slytherin.Both The Cubs and FVRG have competed in their own intra-league games earlier this year, but this is the first time that the two will play in the same event.

The double-header will take place in Grangemouth Sports Complex. The hall doors will open at 3pm for a 3:30pm start - plenty of time to browse the stalls and the bake sale before the action starts.

Tickets are priced at £6 (+admin fee) from Brown Paper Tickets, and kids under 14s go free with a paying adult. If there are still tickets left on the day, they will be sold for £8 on the door.

Join the FVRG Facebook Event for further details - and keep your eyes peeled for our Ticket Giveaway competition!

Poster designed by Mho McDougall from FVRG Poster designed by Mho McDougall from FVRG

The Future of Derby: Latin America

As the World Cup approaches, our thoughts turn to how rapidly Roller Derby has spread across the world, and how far it might spread in the future. This is the start of a short series of articles looking at various aspects of roller derby, not merely the geographical, at the edge of roller derby's development.

We start with a look at Roller Derby in Latin America, one of the most rapidly developing locations for Men's, Women's and Co-ed derby at the present time. While Derby had just arrived at Brasil and Argentina in 2011 in time for two inexperienced teams to fly up to Canada, in 2014 there is Roller Derby across the entire continent, and in all possible forms.

We interviewed CoffinBaby of Peru's Toxic Lima Roller Girls, and Team Argentina's Nina Brava to learn more about how Latin American derby might develop in the next few years...

Toxic Lima 

Peru is one of the few Latin American countries to not have submitted a team to the World Cup this year. Did you consider the possibility of competing? 

Yes, we considered the possibility but given that we are the only league in the country actually competing, and that we are a very small league with an already short roster, we preferred to wait, to grow and gain more experience. We have only had 2 Interleague games...

Given another 3 years of growth, though, Peruvian derby should develop a lot more...

Yes; we will consider going to the next World Cup. We plan to travel more to tournaments in South America to gain experience and to get affiliated to WFTDA.

What are the biggest issues for Roller Derby in Latin America at the moment?

I believe the factors are mainly economic. The investment is very high for us because it is in dollars and we have to add the very high import taxes of our countries. Also, our governments do not invest in sport education, so we live in big cities with hardly any sport spaces. If there is a space, owners give priority to Soccer because it is so popular in Latin America. We are (also) still waiting for WFTDA to release their official Spanish translation (we have [unofficial] translations made by Latin refs). We are lucky that Peru is a very touristy country, so we constantly get [derby playing] visitors from all around the world (7 per year approximately) and they are always eager to show us all they can. We have our homes open to anyone wanting to visit Peru.

Given the growth of Derby across Latin America despite these issues, do you think Latin Derby will cause changes in the worldwide Derby culture?

I think it will. I am hoping there will soon be a South American ranking at Flat Track Stats so we can find a way to compete against each other to get up. We hope for more Latin American tournaments. We are also excited to watch our neighbour countries compete at the World Cup. We are sure they will surprise everybody! Latin america has worked so hard to overcome all our problems, especially trying to find ways to get gear: the heart and effort will be seen on the track.

Argentina

So, Derby was only just starting in Argentina (and Latin America in general) at the time of the first World Cup. Since then, it seems to have spread like wildfire. Why do you think it has spread so fast and effectively? Is derby particularly suited to Latin American cultures? I think the determination of our people to go further with the resources we have and despite any obstacle is the key to the success of this DIY sport in the region. It is a very expensive sport for everybody here, but I know people that go to bed thinking, "how can I make my kneepads better with anything I have at home", lots of skaters learning about importation laws, doing the most amazing tricks on R3s. The lack of resources can do wonders for your creativity.

WFTDA announced that they are working on a Spanish translation of the current rules. How much has the English-only nature of the rules hindered derby in Argentina? Do you have unofficial translations or other ways to work around issues?

I was part of the group that translated the rules back in 2010; I also translated MADE rules when I was about to play for Team Bionic and last year I translated the USARS set just for fun. Part of the people working on the WFTDA translation are the same people that made a very good  translation in 2012 and the process is taking forever, even though they have the job done. We teach the GAME based on unofficial translations and we ask questions in official forums or to recognized officials from any organization.

Now that there is derby across Latin America, is there much "international" play between the different countries? Is there a distinct "Latin Derby" culture that differs from "USA Derby", or is derby the same everywhere?

There is a lot of international play in Latin America; I just got back from the first ever derby tournament in Chile with participants from Perú, Argentina and all the regions in Chile. Argentinean and Chilean teams get together at least twice a year to play. Last year we had the Latinoamericano de Roller Derby in Columbia with teams from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. And after that, we had the Brasileirao de Roller Derby with skaters and refs from the whole continent I'm very excited to see all my friends from Latin America at World Cup in a couple of weeks because: yes! Derby culture it's the same everywhere!

The next big step for Latin America would be to get a team to the WFTDA D2 or D1 playoffs... Is that a thing that Argentina leagues have as a goal in their minds?

The next big step will be to create our own regional Coed Organization. Some leagues have the plan of getting to those [WFTDA] tournaments but due to the structure of WFTDA it is impossible for incredibly talented teams to compete [as they are often Co-ed, or can't travel to all the playoffs]. I've been to WFTDA champs and I watch as much as I can and let me tell you, a lot of teams from Latin America can beat many of the D1 teams. We are just too far away and too poor for the model but we are taking our National teams now to World Cup to show the world what we have been working on the past 3 years!

World Cup Interviews: Roundup of Roundups

If you missed any of our interviews with each of the 30 teams heading for the Blood and Thunder (Women's) Roller Derby World Cup in just 2 weeks, here's the links to the round up posts (each of which links to the associated interviews).

North and Central America

South America

Northern Europe

Southern Europe

Scandinavia

Africa and Asia-Pacific

United Kingdom and Ireland

and, of course, from earlier today, the Blog team's own picks.

We have also made schedules for the UK and Japan timezones, to help you with the official schedule timings.

As a bit of a break before the World Cup itself, next week we'll be starting some ongoing content on the future of roller derby in various directions.

The World Cup: SRDB picks!

Spending the last month and a half covering all of the 30 teams heading to the Blood & Thunder World Cup in less than a month has left all of us at the Blog with anticipation to see what'll happen in Dallas.

But, with 30 teams, playing up to 3 bouts at a time, everyone will have to make choices as to what to watch and what to miss (at least, until the archives). So, we've spent a bit of time discussing and reflecting, to present to you our personal picks as to the match ups and teams to especially watch, whether you're lucky enough to make it to Texas in person, or are just catching the streams.

aoanla

For their enthusiasm and determination to make it to the World Cup despite their late start, Team Japan deserve a whole host of cheering fans in Dallas. Like the Ninjapan Rollers at MRDWC, I expect them to capture everyone's hearts. (Given Team West Indies' popularity in the UK, they may have a fight for that, however...)

Similarly, Team Spain deserve support just for the travel they've already incurred before even getting to the World Cup. Hopefully the combined forces of Tenerife and Barcelona combine to upset their group a little.

Teams Brazil and Argentina will be interesting to watch, showing off the striking and rapid development of South American derby - which had only just begun at the time of the first World Cup in 2011. I think they may well go very far (and the other South American and Central American teams will also be worth a watch).

Teams Australia, England, Canada and New Zealand may be duking it out for the Silver and Bronze medals - although the draw looks like favouring England or Canada for Silver, unless there's an upset earlier in the brackets. Australia could easily upset England or Canada for Bronze, however...

Caley

I'm really excited to see Team Wales make their World Cup debut, they feature so many strong skaters that I've seen representing their individual teams and I can't wait to see how they play together! Obviously I can't wait to see Team Scotland play, especially my team mates Jill Simpson, Carolyn Mackenzie and Jill Stephen and my old Glasgow team mates...I'm at risk of just listing the entire team I'm that excited! I saw a few of their games and they're a fierce team. Team Germany are also a favourite of mine, especially after seeing some of the members representing Berlin at Champs. I'm also excited about seeing Team England, Team Ireland, Team Belgium, Team Sweden...basically any team with somebody I know on the roster. It's oddly liberating to fangirl over your pal, mentor, that amazing skater who once looked at you on track and you fell over...

I will be watching for Team Brazil, they played in the Roller Derby World Cup in 2011 and some of the team members made their bouting debut during the tournament. They had a fantastic attitude in 2011 and I'm looking forward to seeing how they've grown as a team.

I adore watching teams who are geographically far apart play each other! That's one of the glorious things about gathering all these national teams together. Anything can and will happen!

I am rather excited about December!

Fee

My ‘ones to watch’ are Team Denmark and Team Norway. Although both are newcomers to the World Cup tournament in 2014, they have both been competing in tournaments in the lead up to Dallas to really learn how to to play as a team. Having played against some of Team Norway when Oslo Roller Derby came to Stirling last year, I’m particularly keen to see Torture and Eda take to the track and give them my support from my armchair!

I’m also really excited to see Team Canada play again. They fought tirelessly in the 2011 World Cup to come in second place to Team USA - and I’m positive they’ll put up an even stronger fight this year.

And of course, Team Scotland. There are a lot of new faces on the 2014 roster, but all have definitely earned their sport on the team. I’m particularly looking forward to watching Skinner Alive and Admiral Attackbar from Auld Reekie Roller Girls play. I’m always left exhausted just watching these two skaters, so I’m sure they’ll impress and inspire the many others watching them.

Blood & Thunder World Cup Timings (Japan)

For our friends in Japan, we present the corrected timings, Japan-time. 日本の友達のためにはヲルドカプの時間を日本の時間帯に変更しました. 勝者の名前が太字で書きました。

[All information in this post is derived from http://rollerderbyworldcup.com/schedule/ and is copyright Blood & Thunder. Provided as a service to International derby community.]

2014 BLOOD & THUNDER ROLLER DERBY WORLD CUP

Blood and Thunder マガジン主催 World Cup 2014

BRACKET STRUCTURE COURTESY OF THE WOMENS FLAT TRACK DERBY ASSOCIATION

WFTDAからからトーナメントブラケット

グループ

1

グループ

2

グループ

3

グループ

4

グループ

5

グループ

6

グループ 7

グループ

8
A NEW ZEALAND

新西蘭

FRANCE

仏蘭西

SWEDEN

瑞典

FINLAND

芬蘭

AUSTRALIAオーストラリア ENGLAND英蘭 CANADA加奈陀 USA米国
B NORWAY諾威 SWITZERLAND瑞西 WEST INDIES

西インド

牙買加や、

ドミニカ国や」

SCOTLAND蘇格蘭 ITALY伊太利 GERMANY独逸 DENMARK丁抹 PUERTO RICO

プエルトリコ

C SOUTH AFRICA南アフリカ BRAZILブラジル JAPAN日本 COLOMBIAコロンビア BELGIUM白耳義 SPAIN西班牙 ARGENTINAアルゼンチン THE NETHERLANDS阿蘭陀
D WALESウェールズ PORTUGAL葡萄牙 CHILEチリ MEXICO墨西哥 GREECE希臘 IRELAND愛蘭
 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2014 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5th for JAPAN (40 MINUTE BOUTS)

2014年12月5日(金)「40分間 ボウト

TRACK 1 (ROLL-LINE TRACK) TRACK 2 (BLOOD & THUNDER TRACK) TRACK 3 (TBD TRACK)
午前0時 NEW ZEALAND (218) VS. NORWAY (59) AUSTRALIA (513) VS ITALY (5) 午前0時10分 CANADA (290) VS. ARGENTINA (50)
午前1時20分 SOUTH AFRICA (97) VS. WALES (200) BELGIUM (174) VS. GREECE (96) 午前1時半 USA (505) VS. NETHERLANDS (15)
午前2時40分 FRANCE (369) VS. SWITZERLAND (27) ENGLAND (272) VS. GERMANY (31) 午前2時50分 FINLAND (248) VS. COLOMBIA (32)
午前4時 BRAZIL (167) VS. PORTUGAL (144) SPAIN (74) VS. IRELAND (203) 午前4時10分 SCOTLAND (207) VS. MEXICO (45)
午前5時20分 SWEDEN (319) VS. WEST INDIES (41) CANADA (301) VS. DENMARK (23) 午前5時半 AUSTRALIA (349) VS. BELGIUM (24)
午前6時40分 JAPAN (53) VS. CHILE (296) USA (637) VS. PUERTO RICO (3) 午前6時50分 ITALY (82) VS. GREECE (125)
午前8時 FINLAND (126) VS. SCOTLAND (78) NEW ZEALAND (315) VS. SOUTH AFRICA (15) 午前8時10分 ENGLAND (290) VS. SPAIN (20)
午前9時20分 COLOMBIA (163) VS. MEXICO (75) NORWAY (150) VS. WALES (105) 午前9時半 GERMANY (129) VS. IRELAND (142)
午前10時40分 FRANCE (315) VS. BRAZIL (14) SWEDEN (459) VS. JAPAN (0) 午前10時50分 SWITZERLAND (132) VS. PORTUGAL (139)
 

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2014  SATURDAY, 6th for JAPAN (40 MINUTE BOUTS)

2014年12月6日(土)「40分間 ボウト」

CONSOLATION BOUTS ARE FULL 60 MINUTE BOUTS

「CONSOLATION」敗者復活ボウトが60分間ボウトです。

TRACK 1 (ROLL-LINE TRACK) TRACK 2 (BLOOD & THUNDER TRACK) TRACK 3 (TBD TRACK)
午前0時 FINLAND (312) VS. MEXICO (38) AUSTRALIA (449) VS. GREECE (17) 午前0時10分 ENGLAND (329) VS. IRELAND (50)
午前1時20分 NORWAY (219) VS. SOUTH AFRICA (80) SWITZERLAND (108) VS. BRAZIL (120) 午前1時半 WEST INDIES (235) VS. JAPAN (70)
午前2時40分 NEW ZEALAND (250) VS. WALES (60) FRANCE (310) VS. PORTUGAL (36) 午前2時50分 SWEDEN (296) VS. CHILE (39)
午前4時 SCOTLAND (230) VS. COLOMBIA (53) ITALY (86) VS. BELGIUM (273) 午前4時10分 GERMANY (216) VS. SPAIN (70)
午前5時20分 DENMARK (85) VS. ARGENTINA (202) PUERTO RICO (154) VS. NETHERLANDS (209) 午前5時半 WEST INDIES (104) VS. CHILE (100)
午前7時 CONSOLATION 4 (Colombia 305) VS. 5 (Greece 136) CONSOLATION 6 (South Africa 143) VS. 1 (Spain 227) 午前7時 VAGINE REGIME EXPO BOUT
午前9時 TEAM USA STARS VS. STRIPES EXPO

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014 SUNDAY, 7th for JAPAN (FULL 60 MINUTE BOUTS)

2014年12月7日()「60分間 ボウト

TRACK 1 (ROLL-LINE TRACK) TRACK 2 (BLOOD & THUNDER TRACK) TRACK 3 (TBD TRACK)
午前0時 GR 7-1 (Canada 581) VS. GR 2-2 (Brazil 75) GR 3-1 (Sweden 303) VS. GR 6-2 (Ireland 133) 午前0時10分 CONSOLATION 3 ( Japan 114) VS. 4 (Mexico 278)
午前2時 GR 1-1 (NZ 356) VS. GR 8-2 (Netherlands 91) GR 8-1 (USA 854) VS. GR 1-2 (Norway 6) 午前2時10分 CONSOLATION 2 ( Switzerland 136) VS. 5 (Italy 193)
午前4時 GR 2-1 (France 162) VS. GR 7-2 (Argentina 205) GR 4-1 (Finland 383) VS. GR 5-2 (Belgium 124) 午前4時10分 CONSOLATION 3 (Wales 395) VS. 6 (Puerto Rico 75)
午前6時 GR 5-1 (Australia 464) VS. GR 4-2 (Scotland 35) GR 6-1 (England 708) VS. GR 3-2 (West Indies 31) 午前6時10分 CONSOLATION 2 (Portugal 135) VS. 7 (Denmark 245)
午前8時 TEAM 1 (USA 569) VS. TEAM 8 (Argentina 14) TEAM 3 (Canada 290) VS. TEAM 6 (Finland 145) 午前8時10分 CONSOLATION 1 (Chile 116) VS. 8 (Germany330)
午前10時 TEAM 3 (England 278) VS. TEAM 7 (Sweden 72) TEAM 4 (Australia 284) VS. TEAM 5 (New Zealand 56) 午前10時10分 CONSOLATION 7 (Denmark 332) VS. 8 (Puerto Rico 169)
 

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014 MONDAY 8th for JAPAN (FULL 60 MINUTE BOUTS)

2014年12月8日(月月)「60分間 ボウト

BLOOD & THUNDER ARENA
午前0時 PARADE OF NATIONS CEREMONY

国民 のパレードのセレモニー

午前1時 SEMIFINAL 準決勝1 USA 259 v Australia 54
午前3時 SEMIFINAL 準決勝 2 England 156 v Canada 112
午前5時 JRDA JUNIOR ROLLER DERBY EXPO BOUT
午前6時半 ALL STARS EXPO BOUT (FEATURING SKATERS FROM 28 TEAMS)
午前8時 3rd Place Playoff 3位決定戦  Canada 128 v Australia 197
午前10時 FINALS 最終戦  USA v England (CLOSING CEREMONY TO FOLLOW)
 

Blood&Thunder World Cup timings (UK)

To help people with their bout planning, we've done the time zone conversions for the UK here (we may add some other timezones at a later date, but Europeans can add or subtract an hour from these to get their timings.) After a game has happened, we'll try to BOLD the winner (and fill in the Consolation and Elimination stage match ups when they are known).

Those tuning into to see the World Cup may have issues with the Live link on the website. http://rollerderbyworldcup.bimvid.com/ works for us here, on systems that have problems with the rollerderbyworldcup site itself.

The direct track links if that doesn't work are: http://rdwc2014.cleeng.com/roller-derby-world-cup-2014/E377331437_US (Track 1) http://rdwc2014.cleeng.com/roller-derby-world-cup-2014/E195025906_US (Track 2) http://rdwc2014.cleeng.com/roller-derby-world-cup-2014/E716994624_US (Track 3)

[All Schedule information here is based on http://rollerderbyworldcup.com/schedule/ and copyright Blood & Thunder as under relevant laws. We reproduce it here with UK timings in the interest of the International derby community.]

2014 BLOOD & THUNDER ROLLER DERBY WORLD CUP

BRACKET STRUCTURE COURTESY OF THE WOMENS FLAT TRACK DERBY ASSOCIATION

GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 GROUP 4 GROUP 5 GROUP 6 GROUP 7 GROUP 8
A NEW ZEALAND 3 FRANCE 3 SWEDEN 3 FINLAND 3 AUSTRALIA 3 ENGLAND 3 CANADA 2 USA 2
B NORWAY 2 SWITZERLAND 0 WEST INDIES 2 SCOTLAND 2 ITALY 0 GERMANY 1 DENMARK 0 PUERTO RICO 0
C SOUTH AFRICA 0 BRAZIL 2 JAPAN 0 COLOMBIA 1 BELGIUM 2 SPAIN 0 ARGENTINA 1 THE NETHERLANDS 1
D WALES 1 PORTUGAL 1 CHILE 1 MEXICO 0 GREECE 1 IRELAND 2
 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2014  (40 MINUTE BOUTS)

TRACK 1 (ROLL-LINE TRACK) TRACK 2 (BLOOD & THUNDER TRACK) TRACK 3 (TBD TRACK)
3:00PM NEW ZEALAND (218) VS. NORWAY (59) AUSTRALIA (513) VS ITALY (5) 3:10PM CANADA (290) VS. ARGENTINA (50)
4:20PM SOUTH AFRICA (97) VS. WALES (200) BELGIUM  (174) VS. GREECE (96) 4:30PM USA (505) VS. NETHERLANDS (15)
5:40PM FRANCE (369) VS. SWITZERLAND (27) ENGLAND (272) VS. GERMANY (31) 5:50PM FINLAND (248) VS. COLOMBIA (32)
7:00PM BRAZIL (167) VS. PORTUGAL (144) SPAIN (74) VS. IRELAND (203) 7:10PM SCOTLAND (207) VS. MEXICO (45)
8:20PM SWEDEN (319) VS. WEST INDIES (41) CANADA (301) VS. DENMARK (23) 8:30PM AUSTRALIA (349)VS. BELGIUM (24)
9:40PM JAPAN (53) VS. CHILE (296) USA (637) VS. PUERTO RICO (3) 9:50PM ITALY (82) VS. GREECE (125)
11:00PM FINLAND (126) VS. SCOTLAND (78) NEW ZEALAND (315) VS. SOUTH AFRICA (15) 11:10PM ENGLAND (290) VS. SPAIN (20)
00:20AM(FRI) COLOMBIA (163) VS. MEXICO (75) NORWAY (150) VS. WALES (105) 00:30AM(FRI) GERMANY (129) VS. IRELAND (142)
01:40AM(FRI) FRANCE (315) VS. BRAZIL (14) SWEDEN (459) VS. JAPAN (0) 01:50AM(FRI) SWITZERLAND (132) VS. PORTUGAL (139)
 

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2014  (40 MINUTE BOUTS) CONSOLATION BOUTS ARE FULL 60 MINUTE BOUTS

TRACK 1 (ROLL-LINE TRACK) TRACK 2 (BLOOD & THUNDER TRACK) TRACK 3 (TBD TRACK)
3:00PM FINLAND (312) VS. MEXICO (38) AUSTRALIA (449) VS. GREECE (17) 3:10PM ENGLAND (329) VS. IRELAND (50)
4:20PM NORWAY (219) VS. SOUTH AFRICA (80) SWITZERLAND (108) VS. BRAZIL (120) 4:30PM WEST INDIES (235) VS. JAPAN (70)
5:40PM NEW ZEALAND (250) VS. WALES (60) FRANCE (310) VS. PORTUGAL (36) 5:50PM SWEDEN (296) VS. CHILE (39)
7:00PM SCOTLAND (230) VS. COLOMBIA (53) ITALY (86)VS. BELGIUM (273) 7:10PM GERMANY (216) VS. SPAIN (70)
8:20PM DENMARK (85) VS. ARGENTINA (202) PUERTO RICO (154) VS. NETHERLANDS (209) 8:30PM WEST INDIES (104) VS. CHILE (100)
10:00PM CONSOLATION 4 (Colombia 305) VS. 5 (Greece 136) CONSOLATION 6 (South Africa 143) VS. 1 (Spain 227) 10:00PM VAGINE REGIME EXPO BOUT
00:00 (MIDNIGHT) TEAM USA STARS VS. STRIPES EXPO
 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014 (FULL 60 MINUTE BOUTS)

TRACK 1 (ROLL-LINE TRACK) TRACK 2 (BLOOD & THUNDER TRACK) TRACK 3 (TBD TRACK)
3:00PM GR 7-1 (Canada 581) VS. GR 2-2 (Brazil 75) GR 3-1 (Sweden 303) VS. GR 6-2 (Ireland 133) 3:10PM CONSOLATION 3 ( Japan 114) VS. 4 (Mexico 278)
5:00PM GR 1-1 (NZ 356) VS. GR 8-2 (Netherlands 91) GR 8-1 (USA 854) VS. GR 1-2 (Norway 6) 5:10PM CONSOLATION 2 ( Switzerland 136) VS. 5 ( Italy 193)
7:00PM GR 2-1 (France 162) VS. GR 7-2 (Argentina 205) GR 4-1 (Finland 383) VS. GR 5-2 (Belgium 124) 7:10PM CONSOLATION 3 (Wales 395) VS. 6 (Puerto Rico 75)
9:00PM GR 5-1 (Australia 464) VS. GR 4-2 (Scotland 35) GR 6-1 (England 708) VS. GR 3-2 (West Indies 31) 9:10PM CONSOLATION 2 (Portugal 135) VS. 7 (Denmark 245)
11:00PM TEAM 1 (USA 569) VS. TEAM 8 (Argentina 14) TEAM 3 (Canada 290) VS. TEAM 6 (Finland 145) 11:10PM CONSOLATION 1 (Chile 116) VS. 8 (Germany 330)
01:00AM(SUN) TEAM 3 (England 278) VS. TEAM 7 (Sweden 72) TEAM 4 (Australia 284) VS. TEAM 5 (New Zealand 56) 01:10AM(SUN) CONSOLATION 7 (Denmark 332) VS. 8 (Puerto Rico 169)
 

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014 (FULL 60 MINUTE BOUTS)

BLOOD & THUNDER ARENA
3:00PM PARADE OF NATIONS CEREMONY
4:00PM SEMIFINAL 1 (USA 259 v Australia 54) [delayed by 20min]
6:00PM SEMIFINAL 2 (England 156 v Canada 112)
8:00PM JRDA JUNIOR ROLLER DERBY EXPO BOUT
9:30PM ALL STARS EXPO BOUT (Blood 153 Thunder 132) (FEATURING SKATERS FROM 286 TEAMS)
11:00PM 3rd PLACE PLAYOFF (Australia 197 v Canada 128) (Change to schedule) [delayed by a few minutes?]
1:00PM FINAL (USA 219 v England 105) (Change to schedule)