A Blog...My Word!

So I decided to start a blog to share my thoughts on the world of derby and my progress throughout it.


A background to me and Derby:
I had heard of Roller Derby a while ago thanks to the folks at Total Rock Radio and their show Roller Rebellion but I hadn't actually seen a bout until February 13th 2010. Stiff(Glen MoreAngry) and I had travelled to Scotland for the weekend to stay with friends (Andy Clockwise, Faerie Ruff, And of course Blackjack Belle).
We met Blackjack Belle at Meadowbank on the Friday night for the ARRG practice. We turned up there before Blackjack and so had to introduce ourselves to Ella Bella Bang Bang and then sat like a couple of wierdos in the corner while team practiced. Blackjack turned up and so we headed off for our accomodation for the night.
We started off on the Saturday watching Glasgow Roller Girls take on London Rockin Rollers.  After that I was already hooked and knew that I needed Roller Derby in my life.  We went to the afterparty and I was amazed at how friendly the skaters were (and also how much they like to party!).
Sunday we went to see Jailhouse Block (Auld Reekie Roller Girls v Leeds Roller Dolls) and that just cemented the love of the sport for me.

Blackjack convinced us that we should look into becoming refs. I used to skate many many years ago when I played street hockey as a youngster but Stiff had never had wheels on his feet before. Looking round we found the myspace page of Newcastle Roller Girls but didn't actually contact them straight away. I did however start devouring the rules.

A few months later we found ourselves back in Edinburgh for Hadrians Brawl where Newcastle Roller Girls were taking on ARRGs Cannon Belles.  Stiff and I were there to work as NSOs for the 2 bouts that day (operating the scoreboard for the first bout and then working on outside whiteboard for the main bout of Linconshire v ARRGs Twisted Thistles). We were planning on catching up with the NRG peoples after the bout but due to a bit of an overrun we had to leg it to catch our train the moment it ended.

We managed to find some contact details for Rita Von Sleaze (I think I may have got the email address from Gin + Sonic who I work with who had just recently decided that she wanted to be a roller girl).  I emailed Rita and found out when the practices were.  We waited until the next time Blackjack Belle was visiting Stiff and we went along to the Sunday practice.

The following month I had been asked by Blackjack (on behalf of GCRG) to do some announcing for the Highland Fling Tournament.  This I did alongside Helliverance from GRG and it was at Highland Fling that we met Brie Larceny and Man Shaped Dog properly and they convinced us to come along to the NRG practices more regularly.

After the Spectacular derby filled weekend of Highland Fling it was full steam ahead.  By this time I had got my skates and pads and had taken my first tentative rolls.  And that was that,  I was fully part of NRG and also spent most weekends travelling to watch, NSO or Announce derby.

So, Here's to 2011 and more derby.