Weekend Highlights: 21 September 2019

Even though it's the "post-season" still, officially, it's the pre-season in France and other parts of Europe (and the season is still ongoing in Germany), whilst current season is just closing in Australia's state-level tournaments, so this is a busy weekend. Queensland's state tournament has its Grand Final this Saturday; as does British Championships, with their Playoffs deciding the winners in both divisions. There are several leagues celebrating reaching their 1st decade of existence in various ways, an exciting bootcamp in Cancùn, Mexico, and a lot of roller derby in Argentina.

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).

Map of all events (coded by type)

Sat: Brisbane, QLD, Australia

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK]

Queensland Roller Derby Leagues host the Grand Final of Queensland's state tournament event, the Open Season! This is a quadruple header event, with one final game in the Mens and Division 1, and two games closing out Division 2 for the season.

  • (Mens) Hitmen (Brisbane City Rollers M) versus Warriors (NBW M)
  • (D2) Banshees (Brisbane City Rollers B?) versus Valley Valkyries (Tweed Valley Rollers B)
  • (D2) Violet Femmes (Brisbane City Rollers B?) versus Black Hearts (Northern Brisbane Rollers B)
  • (D1) Punk Blockers (Brisbane City Rollers A) versus Rumble Bees (Sun State Roller Derby)

Event starts: 0930 Saturday

Venue: 4 Weedon St West, Mansfield, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Sat: Keysborough, VIC, Australia

[FACEBOOK LINK]

South Sea Roller Derby celebrate their 10th anniversary with a party, including a retrospective home teams game, featuring members past and present!

  • Cutthroat Breakers versus Blackheart Dollys (Home teams "past and present")

Event starts: 1830 Saturday

Venue: Springers Leisure Centre, 400 Cheltenham Road, Keysborough, VIC, Australia

Sat: Gothenburg, Sweden

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK]

Dock City Rollers host an exciting high-level international roller derby game against London B, the Brawl Saints. This is the first time the two teams have faced each other on track, and FTS predictions are for a close win for the hosts...

  • Dock City Rollers (Gothenburg) versus Brawl Saints (London Roller Derby B)

Event starts: 1330 Saturday

Venue: Lundbystrandshallen, Anders Carlssons gata 10, Gothenburg, Sweden

Sat: Oslo, Norway

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK]

Oslo Roller Derby are starting up the autumn season in Norway by hosting Trondheim's Nidaros for a game.

  • Oslo Roller Derby versus Nidaros Roller Derby (Trondheim)

Event starts: 1330 Saturday (doors open)

Venue: Apalløkka Idrettshall, Tjernveien 12, Oslo, Norway

Sat: Hamburg, Germany

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK (Bundesliga D1)] [FTS LINK B]

Harbor Girls Hamburg host a triple header of roller derby, including a Junior derby exhibition bout! For the third bout, this is even an international event, as Prague City travel over from the Czech Republic to play Hamburg B. The headline game, against Darmstadt, is also a Bundesliga D1 bout for this season.

  • Pirates of St Pauli (Hamburg Juniors expo)
  • Harbor Girls A (Hamburg) versus Riot Rollers (Darmstadt)
  • Harbor Girls B versus Prague City Roller Derby

Event starts: 1430 Saturday (first whistle)

Venue: Gymnasium Christianeum, Hamburg, Germany

Fri: Amsterdam, Netherlands

[FACEBOOK LINK]

Amsterdam Roller Derby are celebrating their 10th anniversary with a packed evening of entertainment, starting with a roller disco.

  • Roller disco
  • Entertainment acts, including Drag Show, Thigh Wrestling, Burlesque, photo booth, face-paint & glitter stations, and an exhibition of photos through ARD's past decade.
  • Late night DJ set

Event starts: 2000 Friday

Venue: Sociëteit SEXYLAND, Ms. van Riemsdijkweg 39, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Sat: Cape Town, South Africa

[FACEBOOK LINK]

Cape Town Rollergirls host another of their regular Roller Discos, this time with a Flower Power theme. The last several Roller Discos have been introduced with a Short Track Roller Derby bout; this one, in a change of pace, begins with skating + roller dance lessons.

Event starts: 1700 Saturday

Venue: Waterville St, Milnerton Rural, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Sat-Sun: Dijon, France

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK M] [FTS LINK B] [FTS LINK A]

The Velvet Owls host a two-day extravaganza of Roller derby (and disco). On Saturday, there's an MRDA-gender game between Dijon-Besançon and Paris (the home team's first ever home game), followed by a roller disco. On Sunday, there's a triple header of WFTDA-gender French derby, to open up the season.

  • Burgundy Derby Crew (Dijon-Besançon M) versus Les Calebrutes (Paris M)
  • Flèches Revêches (AMSports Dijon) versus Velvet Must'Owls (Roller Derby Dijon A+B)
  • Les Puces Hells (Orléans B) versus Velvet Must'Hard (Dijon B)
  • Les Simones (Orléans) versus Velvet Owls (Dijon)

Event starts: 1500 Saturday, 1100 Sunday

Venue: Gymnase des Bourroches, 50 Boulevard Eugène Fyot, Dijon, France

Sat-Sun: Stoke-on-Trent, UK

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK (T1W)] [FTS LINK (T1M)] [FTS LINK (T2W)]

British Championships host their yearly playoffs, deciding the winners of the Tier 1 WFTDA-side and MRDA-side, and the Tier-2 WFTDA-side, as well as finalising the promoting teams from Tier-2 to Tier-1. This is a two-track event, with the Tier-1s playing 4 team single-elimination with 3rd place games, and the Tier-2 playing an 8 team single-elimination, with 3rd place games.

  • Tier-2 WFTDA-side
    • Dorset Roller Girls
    • Mansfield Roller Derby
    • North Wales Roller Derby (Flint, Wales)
    • Riot City Ravens (Newport, Wales)
    • Hulls Angels Roller Derby
    • Wiltshire Roller Derby
    • Nottingham Roller Derby
    • Hallam Hellcats
  • Tier-1 WFTDA-side
    • Liverpool Roller Birds
    • Norfolk Roller Derby
    • London Roller Derby C
    • Checkerbroads (Manchester)
  • Tier-1 MRDA-side
    • New Wheeled Order (Manchester)
    • Mild Discomfort (London MB)
    • Lincolnshire Thugly Ducklings (Lincolnshire MB)
    • Glasgow Men's Roller Derby

Event starts: 0900 Saturday (doors open?)

Venue: Fenton Manor Sports Complex, City Road, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

Sat: Buenos Aires, Argentina

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK] [FTS LINK]

Chacabuco Roller Derby are raising funds to attend the Latin American Game of Quad tournament in Chile, and what better way to do that than by hosting some roller derby? This is a double header event, and the first one that Chacabuco have hosted.

  • Bastardas (North Buenos Aires) versus Sea Monsters (Sailor City Rollers C | Buenos Aires)
  • Lxs Pibxs (2x4 Roller Derby B | Buenos Aires) versus Wonderclan (North Buenos Aires)

Event starts: 1400 Saturday

Venue: Avenida Curapaligüe 1100, 1406 Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sat-Sun: Neuquén, Argentina

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK] [FTS LINK] [FTS LINK] [FTS LINK] [FTS LINK] [FTS LINK]

Hienas de la Calle host a "quadrangular" tournament - a 4 teams round-robin, for 6 games over 2 days, in Neuquén.

  • Teams:
    • Team C (2x4 Roller Derby C | Buenos Aires)
    • Mandrágoras Roller Derby (Fiske Menuco)
    • Huiñas Roller Derby (Bariloche)
    • Hienas de la Calle B (Neuquén)

Event starts: 1000 Saturday

Venue: Gimnasio Nº 1 Mengelle 2000, Cipolletti, Neuquén, Argentina

Sat: Cancùn, Mexico

[FACEBOOK LINK]

Reinas Rojas Roller Derby host a special bootcamp, coached by Peacewar (Team Mexico Roller Derby, Hell Marys (TXRG), Team Texas). The bootcamp is aimed at "A and B" level skaters,

Event starts: 0900 Saturday

Venue: (undisclosed location), Cancùn, Mexico


Also of interest, due to their attendees:

Fri-Sun: Longmont, CO, USA

[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK]

Denver Roller Derby and Boulder County Bombers co-host the 2019 edition of the Thin Air Throwdown, which as usual hosts a bunch of the highest level WFTDA teams just before Champs. It's of interest to us because of the attendance of Victorian Roller Derby League, representing Australia (and the only-non-North-American league in attendance).

  • Attending teams:
    • 10th Mountain Roller Dolls (Eagle/Minturn, CO)
    • Boulder County Bombers (Longmont, CO)
    • Denver Roller Derby
    • Gotham Girls Roller Derby (New York, NY)
    • Oklahoma Victory Dolls (Oklahoma City, OK)
    • Rose City Rollers (Portland, OR)
    • Roughneck Roller Derby (Tulsa Co., OK)
    • Victorian Roller Derby League (Preston, VIC, Australia)

Event starts: 1730 Friday (doors open)

Venue: Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont, CO, USA