Weekend Highlights: 14 September 2019
This weekend is another busy one, so we're splitting into this (up to Saturday) and the later (Sunday and Monday) update to fit all the good things in. As well as a second WFTDA Playoffs showcasting Sweden, and giving the UK it's second chance at a Champs place, there's equally exciting action in the USA for Brussels Derby Pixies in California; the finals of Victoria's Statewide Stampede tournament in Australia; the start of Finland's Suomi Cup for 2019/2020... and much 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: Wellington, New Zealand
Richter City Roller Derby host a double header event, with a home season game and a interleague as well!
- Convicts (Richter City B | Wellington ) versus Otautahi Roller Derby (Christchurch)
- Comic Slams versus Brutal Pageant (Richter City home season)
Event starts: 1600 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Kilbirnie Recreation Centre, 101 Kilbirnie Crescent, Wellington, New Zealand
Sat: Niagara Park, NSW, Australia
Central Coast Roller Derby United are also hosting a tournament season final, as New South Wales' 5x5 Roller Derby Championship comes to an end for 2018/19 with championship games for its three divisions.
- Port Macquarie/Central West versus Northern Beaches - CATACLYSM Championship
- Central Coast & South Side versus Blue Mountains - BATTLEGROUNDS Championship
- Inner West versus Newcastle - ARMAGEDDON Championship
Not all bouts listed in FTS as it cannot track teams formed from separate teams like this
Event starts: 1330 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Niagara Park Stadium, 18 Washington Avenue, Niagara Park, NSW, Australia
Sat: Wangaratta, VIC, Australia
North East Roller Derby host the Grand Finals of this year's StateWide Stampede, Victoria's state tournament. By this point in the season, all of the teams have been sorted into 2 position bands, and the quintuple header event sees the pairs play off for 7th, 5th, 3rd, and of course 1st place position; as well as an opening Low-contact scrimmage as part of SWS's commitment to building and developing derby.
- Low Contact Scrimmage
- Diamond Valley Roller Derby Club (NE Melbourne) + Otway Derby Dolls versus Team Regional Victoria (Wheat City(Warracknabeal)+Sale City+Mildura+Latrobe City) [7th Place]
- East-Vic Roller Derby (E Melbourne) versus South Sea Roller Derby (SE Melbourne) [5th Place]
- North East Roller Derby (Wangaratta) versus Dragon City Roller Derby (Bendigo) [3rd Place]
- West-Side Derby Dolls (West Footscray) versus Ballarat Roller Derby League [1st Place]
Some bouts not listed as FTS doesn't track hybrid teams at the moment
Event starts: 0900 Saturday (first whistle)
Venue: Wangaratta Indoor Sports and Aquatic Centre, HP Barr Reserve, Schilling Dr, Wangaratta, VIC, Australia
Fri: Tokyo, Japan
Kamikaze Badass Roller Derby face Tokyo Roller Derby's Neon Roller Monsters as the 2019/2020 edition of the mysterious 4x4 Roller Derby Tournament kicks off. As we mentioned last season, it's been extremely difficult to get information in any detail about this tournament series, other than that it seems to be a Sur5al or Roller Derby Sevens like short-format endurance ruleset, and involves the leagues around the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area (regardless of the ruleset they endorse, individually). We only know of this fixture due to a short-lived "story" post on Kamikaze Badass' instagram account, which we've taken a copy of and hosted here for easier reference.
- Kamikaze Badass Roller Derby (Tokyo) versus Neon Roller Monsters (Tokyo/Yokohama)
Event starts: 2130 Friday (doors open)
Venue: Tokyo Dome Skate Arena, 1-chōme-3-６１号 Kōraku, Bunkyo City, Tōkyō, Japan
Sat-Sun: Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE
UAE Roller Derby host a Jammer Clinic as their season starts; an intensive intermediate/advanced session on jammer skills. This is open to beginners for observation, and some participation (including coaching oversight). The Facebook event lists it as being all weekend, so we've listed it as such here.
Event starts: 1330 Saturday
Venue: Aktiv Nation, Al Quoz, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Thurs: Pretoria, South Africa
P-Town Roller Derby are working with Sumo, a local band, to provide more skate experiences, starting with this open skate at Thrashers Skate Park. We're interested to see how this association develops in future.
Event starts: 1830 Thursday
Venue: Thrashers Skate Park, 241 Serene Street, Menlyn Park, Pretoria, South Africa
Sat: Turku, Finland
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK (d1)] [FTS LINK (sm)]
Dirty River Roller Derby host the first fixtures for the 2019/20 season of the Finnish national Championship, the Suomi-sarja. This is a Division 1 and "SM" (Elite division) triple header featuring, for the first time, two entries from one team, as the hosts enter their A and B teams. Also returning from last year, is the cup's only non-Finnish competitor, Russia's White Night Furies from St Petersburg.
- Åbo B-ajs (Dirty River B | Turku) versus C-kasetti (Helsinki C) [Division 1]
- Kouvola Rock n Rollers versus White Night Furies (St Petersburg) [SM series?]
- Föri Fighters (Dirty River A) versus Jyväskylä Roller Derby [SM series]
Event starts: 1230 Saturday (first whistle)
Venue: Kupittaan Palloiluhalli, Lemminkäisenkatu 32, Turku, Finland
Sat: Kaiserslautern, Germany
Kaiserslautern Roller Derby (who rebranded earlier this year from "Rollergirls of the Apocalypse"), host an exciting double header event: an international game against Reims, followed by a "mixed" exhibition game.
- Kaiserslautern Roller Derby versus Beastie Derby Girls (Reims)
- Black versus White Expo Game.
Event starts: 1630 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Unisport, Paul-Ehrlichstraße 27-28, Kaiserslautern, Germany
Sat: Geneva, Switzerland
Genéve Roller Derby United host the fourth edition of their popular combination of cheese and Roller Derby: Track'lette IV! This is an 8 team Sur5al tournament, run entirely in French, with the evening set aside for post-tournament raclette.
Event starts: 1200 Saturday
Venue: Chemin du Fort-de-l’écluse 1, Geneva, Switzerland
Sat: Liège, Belgium
Manège Fonck hosts some Roller Derby as part of the second edition of D'une Certaine Gaieté's Bagarre Générale ["free-for-all"] series. Roller Derby Liège contribute a 'mixed' (we think this means OTA in this context) game against Charleroi's Blackland M.
- Roller Derby Liège versus Blackland Randy Devils (Charleroi O? M?)
- Half-time performance from Scrimmage People [Lille's Cheerleaders]
- Live performance from Romano Nervoso
- DJ Battle.
Event starts: 2000 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Manège Fonck, Rue Ransonnet 2, Liège, Belgium
Fri: Dundee, Scotland
Dundee Roller Derby host an Open To All genders "Graduation Scrim". This is a chance for all newly-mins-passed skaters to celebrate with a proper scrimmage, alongside Dundee's own gradutes of min skills. This is also open to skaters who are almost passed mins skills (as long as they're only missing backwards laps, and can pass at least 25/5 (even if they can't hit 27)).
Event starts: 2000 Friday
Venue: Dundee International Sports Centre, Mains Loan, Dundee, Scotland
Sat: Dalkeith, Scotland
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK 1] [FTS LINK 2]
Auld Reekie Roller Derby are warming up for the European Continental Cup with the first bout in a double header; the second showcasing not just ARRD C, the ASTROs, but also London Roller Derby's new D team who are currently playing under the extremely accurate name of "London D Team".
- All-Stars (Edinburgh A) versus Middlesbrough Roller Derby
- ASTROs (Edinburgh C) versus London D
Event starts: 1100 Saturday
Venue: Dalkeith Community Campus, 4 Cousland Road, Dalkeith, Scotland
Sat: Perth, Scotland
Fair City Rollers host a second bout this year, as they take on Livingston's finest, the recently-rebranded New Town Roller Derby, in a bout planned for a very long time.
- Fair City Rollers (Perth) versus New Town Roller Derby (Livingston)
Event starts: 1100 Saturday
Venue: Bell's Sports Centre, Hay Street, Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland
Sat: Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona Roller Derby host an international bout, the day after their recruitment day, as the new season starts up in Spain.
- Ingles de Acero Home Team (Barcelona B) versus Team Unicorn Roller Derby (UK exhibition team)
Event starts: 1030 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: CEM Trinitat Vella, Via de Bàrcino, 84, 08033 Barcelona, Spain
Sat: A Coruña, Spain
[FACEBOOK LINK 1] [FACEBOOK LINK 2]
As Brigantias meanwhile, at the other end of Spain, are hosting two events: the return of their traditional Summer Camp outreach day for interested skaters, which runs from 11am to 7pm...
... and then their 7th birthday celebration in the evening, marked by a screening of the Roller Derby documentary, "THIS IS DERBY". (free entry)
Event starts: 1100 Saturday
- Venue: Polideportivo Monte Alto Rua Alcalde Sanjurjo, 4A, 15002 A Coruña, Spain (Summer camp)
- Centro Social Gomes Gaioso Rúa Marconi, 9, 15002 A Coruña (Anniversary celebration)
Also of interest, due to their attendees:
Fri-Sun: Kent, WA, USA
Rat City Roller Derby host the second of WFTDA's two Playoffs for Championships qualification this year. This is of interest to us due to the attendance of Crime City Rollers and Stockholm Roller Derby (representing Sweden), and London Roller Derby (representing the UK). With 2x4 Roller Derby defeating Rainy City last weekend, this is the only chance for the UK to get representation at Champs this year.
- First games for teams we track:
- Stockholm Roller Derby versus Arizona Roller Derby
- London Roller Derby versus Queen City Roller Girls
- Crime City Rollers versus (winner of Minnesota versus Rat City)
Event starts: 0900 Friday (doors open)
Venue: accesso ShoWare Center, 625 W James St, Kent, WA, USA
Sat-Sun: Truckee, CA, USA
Sierra Regional Roller Derby aren't intimidated by the other international event on US soil, as they host the 8th edition of their Deep Blue Derby Tournament, international by virtue of hosting Brussels Derby Pixies as one of the competitors. Brussels have been fundraising for much of the year for this tournament, so we hope they do well!
- Teams competing:
- Sierra Regional Roller Derby (Reno-Tahoe)
- Muddy River Rollers (Moncton, NB, Canada)
- Brussels Derby Pixies
- Flint Roller Derby (Flint, MI)
- San Fernando Valley Roller Derby
Event starts: 0800 Saturday (doors open?) Day 1 Live stream: YouTube (Donations for stream costs here.)
Venue: Truckee River Regional Park, 10500 Brockway Rd, Truckee, CA, USA
![[Flyer Link]](https://www.scottishrollerderbyblog.com/images/2019/09/4x4TournamentFlyer.png){kind=link}