Weekend Highlights: 23 Nov 2019
You might think things would slow down in derby in late November, but this is still an exceptionally busy week, worldwide. There's multiple tournaments and international bouts: returning tournaments in Belgium, with Skate Around #3; in Italy, with Scusa Mamma, Ma Sono Una Derby Girl; and in Argentina, with Juguemos Pué; in the UK, returing Roller Derby Sevens and Sur5al events; and continuing tournament series in Germany, France, and Japan (where Derby Nights 4x4's fixture is extra long due to the postponed bout in October).
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 ;) )
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: Tauranga, New Zealand
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK 1] [FTS LINK 2]
Moana Roller Derby host a double header against Hamilton's finest, for A and B teams, to close out their 2019 season!
- Salty Rollers (Moana A | Tauranga) versus Raggedy Angst (Hellmilton A | Hamilton )
- Paua Rangers (Moana B) versus Hell's Belles (Hellmilton B)
Event starts: 1300 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre, Cnr 11th Ave and Devonport Roads, Tauranga, New Zealand
Sat-Sun: New Plymouth, New Zealand
Taranaki Roller Corps [link to Facebook] host an Invitational Bootcamp, coached by Auckland Roller Derby League's Terra Santana, and Richter City Roller Derby's Tino. This runs alongside a "Referee's Forum" run by The Wonder Mr Fox. Apparently, this is available to turn up on the day, for the NZ$ 50 fee.
Event starts: 1000 Saturday
Venue: East End Skate Park, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Sat: Keysborough, VIC, Australia
Kingston City Rollers host a special event: Roll for Respect. This free afternoon serves as both an introduction to roller derby, and a chance to see KCR play an exhibition bout themselves... but it also supports the Kingston City Council "16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Base Violence" campaign, which is why it makes our highlights.
Event starts: 1400 Saturday
Venue: Springers Leisure Centre, 400 Cheltenham Road, Keysborough, VIC, Australia
Fri: Tokyo, Japan
The Derby Nights 4x4 tournament continues, with a specially busy fixture due to the postponement of the October bouts due to extreme weather in the Tokyo metropolitan area. So, this fixture sees Kamikaze Badass Roller Derby Tokyo play that October game against the Derby Nights team ( Yokosuka Sushi Rollers + Spiral Cats [link to Facebook] ), as well as the scheduled game for November. The Spiral Cats have reported this event as hosting a "Charity Game", but as yet we do not have any further details on this.
- Kamikaze Badass Roller Derby (Tokyo) versus Derby Nights Team (Yokosuka + Tokyo)
- ?? Charity Bout
Event starts: 2200 Friday
Venue: Tokyo Dome Roller Skate Arena, 1 Chome-3-６１号 Koraku, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, Japan
Sat: Mirrabooka, WA, Australia
Perth Roller Derby host the grand final of their Home Team season, as 2019 also heads for a close. This event is also collecting donations for the Share The Dignity "it's in the bag" campaign, both before and during.
- Bloody Sundaes versus Mistresses of Mayhem (home teams Perth)
Event starts: 1900 Saturday
Venue: Herb Graham Recreation Centre, 38 Ashbury Crescent, Mirrabooka, WA, Australia
Sat: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
UAE Roller Derby All-Stars host their November bootcamp, covering acceleration and deceleration, and toe-stop work; followed by 30 minutes of 3 on 3, low-contact scrimmage. (NSOing and Refereeing opportunities also available)
Event starts: 1400 Saturday
Venue: Aktiv Nation, Al Quoz, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Sat: Gdańsk, Poland
Gdańsk Chrome Sirens host "Fall Hit'n' Roll", a short-format all day tournament. This is a double-round-robin (each team plays each other twice), with single 20-minute games, 8 skater rosters, and no foulouts!
- Teams:
- Vratislavia MadChix
- Roller Derby Brno Freakshow
- Gdańsk Chrome Sirens
Event starts: 1230 Saturday
Venue: Szkoła Podstawowa nr 92 w Gdańsku, Startowa 9, Gdansk, Poland
Sat-Sun: Rome, Italy
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK 1] [FTS LINK 2]
The She-Wolves of Roller Derby Roma host their annual tournament, "Scusa Mamma, Ma Sono Una Derby Girl" over the weekend. As with the usual structure, this is not just a tournament, but also a refereeing clinic on the Saturday morning. This event is held in memory of Claudia Plantera, and named for her Roller Derby blog, the first on the sport in Italian.
This event may also be streamed.
- Saturday:
- Refereeing Clinic
- Bone-Crushing Hyenas (Bologna) versus She-Wolves (Rome)
- Anguan.Ass B-Side (Vicenza B) versus Poison Kittens (Palermo)
- Sunday:
- 3rd Place (losers on Saturday)
- 1st Place (winners on Saturday)
Event starts: 1030 Saturday (clinic), 1530 Saturday (first game)
Venue: Alveare Cinecittà Prosport, Via Francesco Gentile 41, Rome, Italy
Sat: Oslo, Norway
Oslo Roller Derby host a single header, as the Crime City Rollers come across from Sweden to play.
- Oslo Roller Derby versus Crime City Rollers B (Malmö)
Event starts: 1300 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Apalløkka Idrettshall, Tjernveien 12, Oslo, Norway
Sat-Sun: Nørresundby, Denmark
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK 1] [FTS LINK 2]
Aalborg Roller Derby host "Jinglebell Block", a (very) early Christmas-themed triple header!
- Aalborg Roller Derby versus Copenhagen Roller Derby B
- Aarhus Derby Danes versus Midtdanmarks Tæver
- "Mixed Pick-up Team (ARD/ADD/MT)" versus Copenhagen Roller Derby B
Event starts: 1200 Saturday (first whistle)
Venue: Nørresundby Gymnasium og HF, Studievej 14, Nørresundby, Denmark
Sat: Hannover, Germany
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK (Bundesliga D2)]
The Demolition Derby Dolls of Rollerderby Hannover host one of the last Bundesliga Division 2 bouts of the season, as they play Erfurt.
- Demolition Derby Dolls (Hannover) versus Gargörlz (Erfurt)
Event starts: 1600 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Leonore Goldschmidt Schule - IGS Mühlenberg, Mühlenberger Markt 1, Hanover, Germany
Sat: Floreffe, Belgium
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK (tournament)]
Namur Roller Girls host the 2019 edition of their Skate Around tournament, a round-robin tournament for 4 teams from across Europe.
This tournament will be streamed on YouTube .
- Teams:
- Namur Roller Girls
- Royal Swedish Roller Derby (Stockholm)
- Leeds Roller Derby
- Nantes Roller Derby
Event starts: 1000 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Centre Sportif Communal de Floreffe, rue Joseph Hanse 6, Floreffe, Belgium
Sat-Sun: Rennes, France
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK (tournament)]
Roller Derby Rennes host the first fixtures in the Championnat de France Nationale 1 across the weekend.
- Teams:
- Glorious Batardes (Lomme B)
- The Rolling Candies (Amiens)
- Les Quedalles (Paris B)
- Les Encastreuses (Paris)
- The Leopard Avengers (Caen)
- Les Simones (Orléans)
- Hell's Ass Roller Derby (Strasbourg)
- All Star (Metz)
- Les Déferlantes (Rennes)
Event starts: 1000 Saturday (doors open?)
Venue: Stade André Fresnais, rue Michel Gérard, Rennes, France
Sat: Ipswich, UK
Suffolk Roller Derby follow a long tradition of food-oriented Roller Derby tournaments, with the return of their Pizza Rollers Sur5al tournament from 2018. This Open To All genders, mixed-ability tournament is a Sur5al rules tournament for 10 teams, each representing a pizza topping, run as a round-robin. Last year, Veggie Supreme won the crown, but all could change this year...
- Teams (assuming same as 2018):
- Meat Feast
- Garlic Bread
- Hawaiian
- Margherita
- Cheesy Vegan
- Dessert
- Spicy Jalapeno
- Doner Meat
- Extra Anchovies
- Veggie Supreme
Event starts: 1300 Saturday
Venue: Inspire Suffolk, Lindbergh Road, Ipswich, Suffolk
Fri: Dundee, Scotland
Dundee Roller Derby host an exciting opportunity for all WFTDA-gender policy conforming skaters. Their A team, the Silvery Tayzers, are running an open pick-up scrim against all comers this Friday, to be run as close to WFTDA regulation as possible. (This is also a great opportunity for any officials to get in some additional experience at refereeing at regulation level, but in a less stressful context.)
- Silvery Tayzers (Dundee) versus "The World"
Event starts: 2000 Friday
Venue: Dundee International Sports Centre, Mains Loan, Dundee, Scotland
Sat: Salford, UK
Team Metal Legs [link to Facebook](the exhibition team for skaters who have recovered from a serious injury) and nömads uk [link to Facebook](the North-of-England based challenge team) once again host the return of their annual Roller Derby Sevens Tournament.
- Teams:
- Team Metal Legs
- Furious Revolution (Rainy City / Manchester Roller Derby)
- nömads
- Team Unicorn (London-ish exhib team)
- 9 Lives (?)
- Savage Lilies (Wirral)
- Team iCCRediBle (Central City?)
- Rainy Rainbow (Rainy City?)
Event starts: 1030 Saturday
Venue: University of Salford Sports Centre, University of Salford Sports Centre, University Road, Salford, UK
Sat: Valencia, Spain
[FACEBOOK LINK] [FTS LINK 1] [FTS LINK 2]
Valencia Roller Derby host an international double header, as they invite London Roller Derby across to play!
- Rayo Dockers (Valencia) versus Batter C Power (London C)
- Rayo B-Lockers (Valencia B) versus "The D Team" (London D)
Event starts: 1615 Saturday (doors open)
Venue: Pavelló Malva-Rosa, C/ Isabel de Villena, 161, Valencia, Spain
Sat: Madrid, Spain
Roller Derby Black Thunders Madrid host a double header event, to close out the Spanish season.
- Hijas de la Tormenta (Black Thunders Madrid B) versus Las Judas / Nafarriors (Iruña + Malaga)
- Hijas de la Tormenta versus Nafarriors (Iruña)
Event starts: 1600 Saturday
Venue: Paseo de la plata y castañar 7, Madrid, Spain
Thurs?: Montevideo, Uruguay
Pájaros Pintados, Montevideo's first Roller Derby team, host a friendly intraleague for their rookies, to also bid a team member farewell. This is currently advertised as being on "Thursday, 20 November" (the 20th is a Wednesday), so we're not sure exactly when it is.
- Rookies Intraleague
Event starts: 2100 Thursday
Venue: ??, Montevideo, Uruguay
Sat-Sun: San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina
Mortal Kollas Roller Derby host the 4th Juguemos Pué! tournament, serving the leagues of Northern Argentina. We've reached out to Mortal Kollas for more info, and will update this when we know more.
UPDATE: as far as we can tell, this is now maybe just a Sunday event, and we've added the timings we know for the 24th.
- PENDING INFO FROM MORTAL KOLLAS
- Open Subs WFTDA-gender policy bout
- Open Subs OTA-gender policy bout
Event starts: 1500 Sunday (first whistle)
Venue: Rectorado Unju, Avenida Bolivia 1239, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina
Also of interest, due to their attendees:
Fri-Sun: The Internet
As we trailed a bit ago, Rule 56 , the UK based Roller Derby community coaching entity, is holding their 2019 Coaching Summit, Derby Stance Online, over this weekend. With a host of exciting speakers, all available via a webinar system (which allows interactive sessions for attendees), and a live machine-translated transcription service, to support those who don't speak English, or are deaf or hard of hearing, this is planned to be Rule 56's best edition of the event. Read our linked trailer article for more details, or follow the Rule 56 link for their own direct resources.
Event starts: 0830 PM (GMT) Thursday (Keynote); 1130 AM GMT Friday (main conference)
Venue: The Internet, http://www.rulefiftysix.com/derby-stance
