Weekend Highlights: 12 October 2019
This is a surprisingly busy weekend - apart from the MRDA Championship in Denver, there's the first ever bootcamp in Indonesia, hosted by Hot Lava Rollers and Derby Without Borders, the next fixture of the mysterious Derby Nights 4x4 tournament in Tokyo, the continuing Tasmanian Tournament, the next Suomi Cup and German Bundesliga fixtures... and more!
The rules are, as usual: highlights limited to 1 event per country, with an "extra" event allowed for a different kind of fixture (so, 1 tournament and 1 bootcamp), or if they involve Scottish leagues (since we are the Scottish Roller Derby Blog). Other notability might also allow the extra event - great posters, notable teams, etc. (League birthdays may count as "special" enough, at our discretion ;) )
We've bent the rules a bit this time, because it's important to highlight derby in regions which need more attention, and because it's quiet enough that we have the space.
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 - we'd strongly recommend that Teams get themselves an actual webpage [we can help host one if you need help]).
Locations are roughly organised East-West (with things before the weekend out sequence at the start).
Sat: Keyborough, VIC, Australia
WestSide Derby Dollz and Kingston City Rollers co-host the third edition of their ongoing Mixed Fixture series of events for OTA-gender teams. These fixtures help to give such teams in Victoria more opportunities to play scheduled bouts.
- Ballarat Roller Derby League B versus Westside Derby Dollz Wreckers
- Kingston City Rollers versus Victoria Men's Roller Derby B
Event starts: 1430 Saturday (first whistle)
Venue: Springers Leisure Centre, 400 Cheltenham Road, Keysborough, VIC, Australia
Sat: Westbury, TAS, Australia
South Island Sirens host the third round of this year's inaugural Roller Derby Tasmania Tournament.
- South Island Sirens (Hobart) versus Crooked Butchers (Van Diemen Rollers | Launceston)
- Hobart Junior Roller Derby versus Cradle Coast Juniors
- Tasmanian Thunder (OTA-gender) bout
- Devil State Roller Derby (Launceston) versus Swiss Army Wives (Van Diemen Rollers)
Event starts: 1130 Saturday (first whistle)
Venue: Westbury Town Hall, Franklin Street, Westbury, TAS, Australia
Fri: Tokyo, Japan
Derby Nights host the next edition of Japan's unique short-format endurance tournament, the Derby Nights 4x4 series. As with all Derby Nights 4x4 events, this is very hard to find information about - we only know about it thanks to the help of the Neon Roller Monsters and Spiral Cats teams. [edit: thanks to Kamikaze Badass, we have confirmation of this bout, and the opponents.]
NOTE: this event postponed to 22 November (the final fixture of this year) due to extreme weather on Honshu caused by Super Typhoon Hagibis
- Kamikaze Badass Roller Derby Tokyo versus "Derby Night Team" (Yokosuka Sushi Rollers + Spiral Cats (WorldSkate Tokyo team))
- ??
Event starts: 10am Friday
Venue: Yellow Building Tokyo Dome Complex, 1-3-61 Koraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Fri-Sun: Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
Hot Lava Rollers , in collaboration with Derby Without Borders, host their first ever bootcamp.
Coached by Atlanta and Team USA Roller Derby's Baller Shot Caller, this is an international event, with skaters attending from across South East and East Asia, as well as the UAE.
The actual bootcamp will be hosted on the Saturday, with Friday hosting an informal meet-and-greet mixer event; and Sunday providing a Chicks in Bowls "Skatepark Takeover".
Event starts: 0900 Saturday (bootcamp)
Venue: Finns Rec Center, Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
Sat: Helsinki, Finland
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK (D1)] [FTS LINK (Elite)]
Helsinki Roller Derby host the next fixtures in the Suomi Cup, both Elite and Division 1. As with the first fixture in the series, the day starts with a single division 1 bout, followed by two bouts in the Elite tier.
- C-Cassette (Helsinki C) versus Northern Rollers ("Northern Finland / Pohjola composite team") [Division 1]
- Shitty City Rollers (Oulu) versus Kallio Fistfunkers (Kallio Rolling Rainbow B | Helsinki)
- Queen Bs (Helsinki B) versus Tampere All-Stars
Event starts: 1400 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Urheiluhallit Pasila, Radiokatu 22, Helsinki, Finland
Sat: Budapest, Hungary
Budapest Roller Derby are hosting a pre-winter season closing get together in a skate park.
Event starts: 1400 Saturday
Venue: Darudomb, Duna dűlő, Cespel, Budapest, Hungary
Sat: Linz, Austria
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK 1] [FTS LINK 2]
Steelcity Rollers host a double header of Austrian roller derby, with a visit from over the border in Bavaria.
- Rolling Thunder (Augsburg) versus Dust City Rollers (Graz)
- Vienna Beasts (Vienna B) versus Steelcity Rollers (Linz)
Event starts: 1330 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Hblw Linz Landwied, Landwiedstraße 80, Linz, Austria
Sat: Potsdam, Germany
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK (Bundesliga D1)] [FTS LINK (Bundesliga D3)]
The Prussian Fat Cats and Bear City Roller Derby co-host a double header of German national Bundesliga bouts; the Potsdam team in Division 3, and Bear City in D 1.
- Prussian Fat Cats (Potsdam) versus Meatgrinders (Bremen) [Bundesliga D3 N]
- Bear City Roller Derby (Berlin) versus Ruhrpott Roller Derby [Bundesliga D1]
Event starts: 1300 Saturday
Venue: Ludwig-Renn-Grundschule, Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße 15A, Potsdam, Germany
Sat-Sun: Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen Ladybugs host a two-day international roller derby extravaganza: "Swarming Se7ens". With a full day Roller Derby Sevens three-division tournament on the Saturday, and a triple-header of WFTDA (and JRDA)-rules Roller Derby on the Sunday, it looks like being a very busy weekend.
The Sevens tournament will consist of: a 4-team OTA-gender division, a 4-team WFTDA-gender division, and a 4-team Juniors (open) division; each run as a round-robin contest.
The entire event will be live-streamed (from this location).
- Teams for Sevens tournament:
- OTA
- Copenhagen Ladybugs
- Roller Derby Groningen
- Smile City Rollers (Aarhus O)
- Motley Crewe (open subs team)
- WFTDA
- Copenhagen Ladybugs
- Aalborg Roller Derby
- Wilshire Roller Derby
- Blackland Rockin' K-Rollers (Charleroi)
- Juniors
- Copenhagen Ladybugs
- Tiny Terrors (Charleroi J)
- Newbournes (Eastbourne J)
- DASH (Devon J)
- OTA
- WFTDA/JRDA-rules bouts:
- JRDA Black versus White mixed game
- WFTDA-gender Black versus White mixed game
- OTA-gender Black versus White mixed game
Event starts: 0900 Saturday
Venue: Dansborg Hallen, Solentuna Alle, Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sun: Sarreguemines, France
The Mechanical Dolls host a single header to start off the new French season for them.
- Mechanical Dolls (Sarreguemines) versus Sirenes Hurlants (Dunkirk)
Event starts: 1000 Sunday (doors open)
Venue: Gymnase Henry Nominé, Sarreguemines, France
Sat: Sheffield, England
The Inhuman League host a very special event, the 7ft Cup, in honour of Paul Murray-Stringer, who passed away in late 2018. This is a triple-header, with contributions from the entire derby community of Sheffield.
- Sheffield Steel Junior Roller Derby bout
- Hallam Hellcats versus Sheffield Steel and friends
- The Inhuman League (Sheffield M) versus The Paul Stars (challenge team of Paul's friends)
Event starts: 1200 Saturday
Venue: Ponds Forge International Sports Centre Sheaf St, S1 2BP Sheffield
Sat-Sun: Toulouse, France
Roller Derby Toulouse host a two-day Skating bootcamp and a Refereeing and NSOing bootcamp. The skating bootcamp is aimed at (Championnat de France) N1 to N2 level, and is Open To All genders.
Event starts: 0900 Saturday
Venue: Gymnase du Château de l'Hers, Chemin de Limayrac, Toulouse, France
Sun: Lanús, Argentina
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK 1] [FTS LINK 2]
Wonderclan Roller Derby host the third edition of their Argentine tournament, the Wondercup, bringing a day of roller derby to Lanús. This edition will be a 4 team event, run as a standard single elimination tournament.
- Teams
- Barderas Insurrectas (Neuquén)
- Wonderclan Roller Derby (Buenos Aires North)
- Compass Rose Roller Derby (cross-Argentina)
- Lxs Pibxs (2x4 Roller Derby B | Buenos Aires)
- Round 1
- Compass Rose versus Pibxs
- Barderas versus Wonderclan
Event starts: 1000 Saturday
Venue: Club Podestá, Velez Sarsfield 1370, Lanús, Argentina
Sun: Quito, Ecuador
Quindes Volcanicos and Forajidas Roller Derby co-host an open training session, recruiting to build roller derby in Ecuador!
Event starts: 1000 Sunday
Venue: Cumandá Parque Urbano, Av. 24 de Mayo, Quito, Ecuador
Sat: Osorno, Chile
Osorno Deskarriadas Roller Derby are working with Club de patinaje Osorno on their third Skating Gala.
Event starts: 1900 Saturday
Venue: Club de patinaje Osorno, Lupercio Martinez con San Juan de Dios, Osorno, Chile
Sun: San Luis Potosí, Mexico
[FACEBOOK LINK (flyer)] [FTS LINK 1] [FTS LINK 2] [FTS LINK 3]
Furiosas Roller Derby and EMEXRD's Discordias, at very short notice (only announced on Wednesday) are holding a triple header event, including the rare opportunity to see cross-policy bouts (WFTDA-gender team playing an MRDA-gender team). At present, we only have a single post on social media for this information, but we'll update if we get more solid sources.
- Discordias (EMEXRD | Mexico City) versus Furiosas (San Luis Potosí)
- Discordias versus Team Bastardo (San Luis Potosí M)
- Disorder (EMEXRD M) | Team Bastardo
Event starts: 0900 Sunday (first whistle)
Venue: Patinódromo de Alto Rendimiento, Issste, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Also of interest, due to their attendees:
Fri-Sun: Denver, CO, USA
Denver Roller Derby host their third international event in just 2 months, as the 2019 MRDA Championships comes to Colorado. This is of interest to us due to the presence of three European teams: London's Southern Discomfort and Manchester's New Wheeled Order, who qualified automatically on ranking; and Montpellier / DCCLM's Kamiquadz, who qualified in the MRDA European Qualifiers held in Aberdeen earlier this year.
The tournament is structured as a single-elimination tournament with consolation pseudo-placement bouts.
This event will be live-streamed (link).
- First games (all Friday):
- Austin Anarchy versus Ground Control (Denver M)
- Golden State Heat (Los Angeles area M) versus Kamiquadz (Montpellier M)
- Southern Discomfort (London M) versus Texas Men's Roller Derby (Denton M)
- Vancouver Murder versus New Wheeled Order (Manchester M)
- Saint Louis Gatekeepers versus Winner #1
- Magic City Misfits (Jacksonville M) versus Winner #2
Event starts: 0900 Friday
Venue: Foothills Fieldhouse, 3606 S Independence St, Denver, CO, USA
