Weekend Highlights: 4/5 May 2019
Followers of the Blog will remember our regular feature rounding up all of the Roller Derby around the World.
Whilst we stopped this feature (due to both Facebook's own usability issues, and the sheer amount of work it required each week), we've introduced a scaled down "highlights" feature each week instead. For the last few weeks, this has been a "Facebook only" feature, mainly because most of the highlighted action in Roller Derby is built around Facebook Events.
However, as there are many (increasingly so) people who do not, and cannot, use Facebook, we're mirroring it here too (with some additional details to increase accessibility for those who can't access Events we reference).
This is an exceptionally busy weekend, and we're missing out many events here (including another big tournament in France) - we're trying to keep this readable by having 1 event per country (Australia only gets two because Tas v Vic has a great bout poster).
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).
Sat-Sun: Aalborg, Denmark
Aalborg Roller Derby host the 2019 edition of The Northern Takedown (one of two events called the "TNT" in Roller Derby, the other being in Mexico in 2 weeks). As always, this TNT is run as a 5-teams round robin tournament.
Attending this year are:
- Rockcity Rollers (Eindhoven, Netherlands)
- Cologne Roller Derby (Cologne/Köln, Germany)
- Hulls Angels Roller Derby (Hull, UK)
- Belfast Roller Derby (Belfast, UK)
- Aalborg Roller Derby (Aalborg, Denmark)
Event starts: 9am Saturday
Venue: Nørresundby Idrætscenter Lerumbakken 11, 9400 Nørresundby
Sat: Oslo, Norway
Oslo Roller Derby hosts "The Challenge 2019", the return of their regular mini-tournament for its fifth iteration. As always, this event exists to give newer skaters additional experience, including actual tournament experience, and is open to attendees from across the world.
(This year, the three mixed teams are: "Blobfish Blockers", "Neon Nighthawks" and "Banana Slig Thugs", and will be playing two round-robin tournaments, one each day.)
Venue: Apalløkka Idrettshall Tjernveien 12, 0957 Oslo, Norway
Starts at: 11:30am Saturday and Sunday
Sat: Bideford, UK
North Devon Roller Derby hosts the first fixtures in this year's South West Season tournament, returning from last year.
The South West Season is a self-contained mostly-B-teams tournament for the south west of the UK.
- North Devon B versus Bath B
- SWAT B (Taunton/Exeter/Cullompton) versus Dorset B
Venue: Bideford College, Abbotsham Road, Bideford, Devon
Starts at: 10:30 Saturday
Sat-Sun, Nîmes, France
The Bones Breakers of Nîmes host a "European Tournament": a 4 team round robin, with competitors:
- Bones Breakers Roller Derby (Nîmes, France)
- Nottingham Roller Derby (Nottingham, UK)
- Auver'Niaks Roller Derby (Clermont-Ferrand, France)
- BSTRDs (Stockholm B) (Stockholm, Sweden)
Venue: Gymnase Condorcet Impasse Vivaldi, 30900 Nîmes
Event start: 9:30am, Saturday
Sat-Sun: Dresden, Germany
Roller Derby Dresden host a huge number of useful bootcamps, and this weekend is their first contribution for 2019, with three events in one weekend!
-
Dresden Derby Days Gold Edition (2019) [FACEBOOK LINK]
Skater bootcamp coached by Dédé Froquée (Team France 2018/Crime City Rollers) and Bonnie Tagueule (Paris Roller Derby)
-
Dresden Derby Days Zebra Edition (2019) [FACEBOOK LINK]
On-skates officiating bootcamp coached by REFlex (Dresden, WFTDA-certified) and Banana Joe (Dresden)
-
Pioneers versus The World [FACEBOOK LINK]
Both bootcamps culminate in a chance for the attendees to scrim (or officiate at) against Dresden A, Dresden Pioneers.
Venue: Pestalozziplatz 20, 01127 Dresden, Germany
Schedule starts ~9am Saturday.
Sat: Prague, Czech Republic
Prague City Roller Derby host Poznań's Bad Rangers for a game, followed by a Chicks in Bowls Prague ramp event (with both teams present).
Venue: Ztracená 1132/1, Prague 6
Doors at 15:30.
Sat: Valencia, Spain
Valencia Roller Derby B, Rayo B-lockers, host Reus' Insubmises Roller Derby for the latter's first ever game!
Venue : Polideportivo Marni, Carrer de Santiago Rusiñol, 23, 46019 València
Doors at: 5pm.
(As far as we know there's no Event in Facebook for this one!)
Sat-Sun: Mackay, QLD, Australia
Mackay City Roller Maidens host the 2019 edition of their Great Barrier Grief tournament, featuring two days of (short format?) derby :
- a 6 team round robin tournament
- Brisbane City Rollers
- Mackay City Roller Maidens
- Phoenix Fury Roller Girls
- "Potluck" mixed team, "The Little Murdermaids"
- Sydney Roller Derby League
- Rocky Roller Derby
- two mixed-gender open-subscription games
As the Great Barrier Grief does not include standard games, we assume that it will not be on Flat Track Stats (although we're happy to add the bouts as non-standard, unranked games for the historical record, which is also important).
Schedule starts at 9am on Saturday
Venue: Mackay Leisure Centre, 95 Broadsound Road, Mackay, Queensland
Sat: Hobart, TAS, Australia
Convict City Roller Derby League host their own tournament, as the 4 Tasmanian derby leagues take on Melbourne, Victoria's South Sea Roller Derby (and each other) in a quintuple header! (This also has the best Star Wars themed bout poster for this weekend.)
(This event is not currently listed in Flat Track Stats)
Schedule starts: 10am Saturday
Venue: Kingsborough Sport Centre, 10 Kingston View Dr, Kingston
Sat: Tauranga, New Zealand
Moana Roller Derby host their first home games of 2019, with a double header:
- MRD Salty Rollers v Team Crazy Legs Aotearoa
- MRD Paua Rangers v Richter City Roller Derby "Convicts" (Wellington)
Event starts 1pm.
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre 73 Eleventh Avenue, Tauranga, New Zealand
Sat-Sun: Guadalajara, Mexico
Minervas Roller Derby host a two-day skater bootcamp coached by Tui Lyon (Team Australia 2014/8, Angel City)
Event starts at 4pm on the Saturday (and 9am Sunday).
Location is not disclosed.
Sun: Los Troncos del Talar, Argentina
Bastardas Roller Derby Tigre host the rescheduled "Winter is Coming" 4-way tournament, featuring
- Warriors Roller Derby (José C. Paz, Buenos Aires)
- Chat Noir (La Plata, Buenos Aires)
- Dirty Fucking Dolls (Temperley, Buenos Aires)
- Bastardas Roller Derby Tigre (Troncos del Talar, Buenos Aires)
(This tournament is not currently listed in FlatTrackStats)
Location: Escobar 51, 1618 Los Troncos del Talar, Argentina
Games from midday.
Fri-Sun: Eugene, Oregon
As usual, The Big O, Emerald City Roller Derby's annual WFTDA- and MRDA- recognised tournament, is of international interest, due to the European and Latin American teams competing.
This year, Sailor City Rollers (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Copenhagen Roller Derby (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Dock City Rollers (Gothenburg, Sweden) represent on the WFTDA-sanctioned tier ; and regular attendees Wheels of Mayhem (Baja California, Mexico) represent in the MRDA-sanctioned tier.
We have a time-zone adjusted schedule here (requires javascript): Schedule
and the livestream (paid) is available from the tournament website here: LiveStream
