nonUS Derby - 29October Update
After a pretty good crop last weekend, we've decided to do this round up again - and due to some pretty exciting things happening in the Southern Hemisphere, we've making this a Euro+Australia update! As always, this information is from bouts submitted to Flat Track Stats. If you don't feature here and want to, please consider helping Flat Track Stats to track all of flat track roller derby by submitting your leagues' games!
Starting close to home though:
Scotland
- As we've previously written about, Mean City Roller Derby are hosting a Halloween double header, Hallowmean, with Mean City (Women) facing off against Auld Reekie Roller Girls All-Star Rookies (ASTROS) (FTS link), and Mean City (coed) facing Bairn City Rollers (coed) (not tracked by FTS). [FTS and SRD Rank agree that the ASTROS have the advantage here, although we think they have more of an edge than FTS do.]
UK
Over in the UK, there's one big tournament we're aware of:- Central City Roller Derby's Jamdemic sees the hosts' B team face off against Oxford Roller Derby, Brussels Derby Pixies, Leeds Roller Dolls B, Tiger Bay Brawlers B and London Roller Girls C! Astonishingly, this is a full round-robin tournament, plus additional final placement bouts! (FTS tournament page) [We would expect Brussels and London C to top the list, with Tiger Bay B and Oxford fighting for 3rd place. FTS disagrees slightly, believing that Tiger Bay can take the silver.]
- Also in the south, Royal Windsor Rollergirls are hosting Hot Wheel (both fresh from bouts last weekend) (FTS link) [FTS and SRD Rank concur that Hot Wheel are the likely victors - FTS has the benefit of the last weekend's bouts and thinks things are closer than we do.]
- And Rebellion Roller Derby have a double header planned as Rebellion A take on Brighton Rockers (FTS link), and Rebellion B take on Southern Coed Roller Derby's Apex Predators (FTS link) [We and FTS think that Brighton have the likely win; neither of us can call the other bout as there's not any records on file for Rebellion B.]
Europe
Mainland Europe, Ireland and Scandinavia have a massive load of roller derby this weekend!- In France, the 2016-17 season of the French Championship in kicks off, with Rouen/Montreuil, Lutece/Orléans on Saturday, and more bouts on the Sunday featuring additionally the Psyko'Quads of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois and Paris Roller Girls C,(FTS tournament page) and a second hosted section of the Championship in Oisan, with hosts Sc'Alpes Hell versus the Rabbit Skulls of Avignon and Roller Derby Saint-Etienne. (FTS tournament page) [In the first tournament: FTS and we agree that Lutece is the strongest team, but we differ on the rest of the ordering (notably, we rate Rouen second, and FTS prefers Orléans). In the second, FTS and we agree that the hosts have the advantage over Rabbit Skulls. Saint-Etienne have played so infrequently that SRD Rank can't rank them - FTS makes a guess that they're the weakest competitor.]
- Meanwhile, Germany is just finishing off its own championship, as the Bundesliga 2016 comes to a close with Frankfurt's Bembel Town hosting Cologne (Köln). (FTS tournament page) [FTS and we agree that Köln is likely to win, with us predicting a closer game than FTS.]
- In northern Finland, on Sunday, we see the start of the Pohjola Cup 2016/17 (FTS tournament page). We will have more about this tournament series in a future article. [FTS and SRD Rank agree that Riverdale is very likely to defeat Seinäjoki, but can't predict Jyväskylä B v Shitty Village, as it's the former's debut bout.]
- In Denmark, Aalborg Roller Derby host Copenhagen Roller Derby B in a halloween-themed bout (FTS link) [SRD Rank can't predict this, as Copenhagen B haven't got enough recent connected bouts. FTS is willing to take a stab at Aalborg being the winners.]
- Over in Namur, Belgium, the home league is hosting a double-header on Saturday, as Namur B take on Charleroi's Blackland (FTS link) and Namur A faces Paris Roller Girls B (Les Quedalles) (FTS link) ... and then are playing a friendly intraleague on the Sunday as part of the Beautes Soniques music festival! [FTS and SRD Rank concur that Paris B has the likely win over Namur, and that Namur B the win over Blackland... but we differ significantly on how close they will be (recent performance by Blackland has been much lower than expected, and SRD Rank responds faster to recent results than FTS).]
- In Ireland, Dublin Roller Derby (fresh from playing 2 bouts away last weekend!) host a three-way triple head, as the hosts' B team plays Limerick Roller Derby, and Roller Derby Porto flying over from Portugal! (FTS links: 1, 2, 3) [FTS thinks that Porto will be the overall winner, and Limerick the overall loser... but SRD rank disagrees and ranks Dublin B top of the list.]
- Moving back north, in Sweden: Uppsala Roller Derby B host Växjö (FTS link) [This is Växjö's debut bout, so no predictions are possible!]
- and in neighbouring Norway, Oslo Roller Derby hosts a triple header, with Oslo A playing Stockholm's Royal Swedish Army A (FTS link), and Oslo B playing both Royal Swedish Army B (FTS link) and Karlstad's Sun City! (FTS link) [FTS and SRD Rank agree that Oslo A have the advantage, and Karlstad the disadvantage. We disagree over the middle bout - FTS believes that Royal Army B will take it, whilst SRD Rank favours the home team B.]
Pacific
Moving over to the Southern Hemisphere, then, both Australia and New Zealand also have big tournament events.- In Australia, the 2016 Bendigo Rebellion is kicking off on Saturday (in Bendigo, hosted by Dragon City Derby Dolls), and coming to a close on Monday. Essentially the entirety of Australia is involved, from Victorian Roller Derby League B, through Melbourne, the Adeladies, Glenorchy's Convict City, Sydney's South Side and more... and across three different skill divisions! (FTS tournament page) [Our predictions for the three skill divisions are: Victorian's Queen Bees to top "The First Order", Canberra's VCB's to top "The Jedi Masters", and Otway or Wagga to top "The Clones". FTS would differ, due to some results in October (which aren't included in our ranking), placing Queen Bees to win "The First Order", Diamond Valley in "The Jedi Masters", and East Vic to take "The Clones". (Our least certain result is for Wagga - they have only one bout in our rating period...) ]
- Somehow avoiding this, Varsity Derby League B are hosting Adelaide's Light City in their native Canberra. (FTS link) just to ensure that every piece of Australia is playing derby this weekend. [FTS and SRD Rank agree that this is a close bout - but we disagree on the winner, with FTS favouring the hosts.]
- Meanwhile, across in New Zealand, the New Zealand Top 10 Tournament (New Zealand's national championships) is coming to a close as Wellington's Richter City host opponents Pirate City of Auckland, and a bout between Dunedin and Christchurch's Dead End. (FTS tournament page) [FTS and we call the hosts as winners of the first bout, but we believe it will be very close, while FTS considers it a done deal. For the second bout, we disagree, with FTS favouring Dunedin, and us Dead End.]
- Finally, and not on FTS as it's an intraleague, we'd like to give a shout out to Okinawa's Devil Dog Derby Dames, who are hosting a Halloween-themed game, with music from the Okinawan-Hispanic Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Okinawa at half time!
Latin America
Also not on Flat Track Stats until a volunteer discovered it [Please, Latin American leagues, add stuff to Flat Track Stats - you're mostly invisible to the world unless you let us know about you!], there's yet another big tournament this weekend, in Chile!- The third "Latin American Roller Derby Tournament" (Tercer Torneo Latinoamericano de Roller Derby) features 3 days of competition between 9 teams for the "Latin Cup". (There's also an opportunity to see Latin American National teams - Perú, Chile, Argentina and Colombia - play in the last day in a round-robin; and a Men's derby demonstration bout.) The hosts, Metropolitan Roller Derby, of Santiago, compete against ToxicLima (of Lima, Peru), Tacones Banditos (of Vińa del Mar, Chile), Complot Derby Club (of Santiago), Liga Buenos Aires Roller Derby (of Buenos Aires, Argentina), No Excuses Roller Derby (of Buenos Aires), Ladies of Hell Town (of São Paulo, Brazil), Bogotá Bone Breakers (of Bogotá, Colombia) and Sailor City Rollers (of Buenos Aires). (FTS tournament page) [It's basically impossible to call this tournament with SRD rank, as the Latin American leagues aren't connected to the main group we rank. FTS also has only sporadic records from them, so it has issues too.]
Late Mentions
- Late mentions to Dorset Knobs Roller Derby hosting Bristol Roller Derby [added to FTS here]
- And to (not on FTD as its a charity intraleague), Grin 'N' Barum Roller Girls' Bout Against Cancer on Sunday.