Tickets are £8 advance (£8.50 through Paypal) or £10 on the door, from us direct, through PayPal or from Kitty at Wacky Barber, 9-12 St Anne’s Court, Soho, London (0207 494 3101). Join the Facebook event page for official announcements and travel updates (we *think* the Victoria line is running this time…). All tickets are to be collected at the door (no postage, sorry), and are non-refundable.

We are now running special ‘basic skills’ sessions on the first Saturday of each month. If you’ve never skated with us before, we ask that you please come to one of these sessions as your first on-skates practice with us. Even if you’re an awesome skater already.

Basic skills practices will be held at the Mulberry Leisure Centre, Commercial Road, London E1 on the following dates:
Saturday 6th September
Saturday 4th October
Saturday 1st November

Once you’ve been to a Basic Skills practice, you can then come to our midweek Tuesday and Thursday practices. See the Training Diary for details. Please don’t come to one of these practices expecting to skate if you’ve never skated with us before - you are welcome to come watch and help out though.

Sundays are our more advanced scrimmage practices, and unless you have passed your minimum skills assessments and been cleared to scrimmage, you will not be able to skate at the Sunday practices. You are welcome to come along and help out with penalty tracking, scorekeeping, etc.

We look forward to meeting you!

For those of you who have not been fans of the London Rollergirls from the very beginning, here’s a brief history lesson…

September 2007… Our first ever public bout, and Team Pink and Team Black line up. Nobody quite knows what to expect… But at the end of the day, Team Black comes out victorious, 100-77

January 2008… Team Pink are out for revenge. It’s a really close fought battle, even at the end of the second period, but at the end of the 3rd, Team Pink have it, 96-77…

Which then leads us to the present day, and Summer Shovin’. It’s the last bout before Teams Pink and Black are retired, but not one London Rollergirl was planning on using that as an excuse to take it easy, so would Black be beaten and bruised, or would Pink be pulverised? One team had to walk away with that 2-1 victory…

It was a slow start all round, with the first jam ending scoreless. Poison Arrow had gained lead jammer status for Black, only to call off the jam before scoring any points. The second jam of the afternoon found the LRG’s two star jammers lining up against each other for the first time of many, with Kitty DeCapitate getting the upper hand over Sky Rockit on this occasion, scoring 4 for Black, partly thanks to Pink Captain Fox Sake being sent to the penalty box for the first of her 3 major penalties in the game. The 3rd jam was again scoreless, due to Missyle Elliott taking a blow to the face and the jam being called off. The lead was slightly extended in the 4th jam, before Team Pink started getting into their stride, Sky Rockit and Belle DeBrawl scoring 9 points each in the next two putting their team ahead by 20-9. Pink’s blockers did a great job of keeping Black’s most experienced and talented members at bay, with Correctional Felicity being kept especially quiet, scoring nothing in any of her 3 jams in the first period. Fox Sake in particular seemed to be targeting Correctional, landing a lovely hip check on her midway through the first period which nearly sent her crashing into the announcers table. In the next few jams, Black made some slight headway into Team Pink’s lead, before, in the tenth jam, both teams sent out a debutante jammer. Ninjette sped out of the traps and gained lead jammer status for Pink, with the intense Raw Heidi hot on her heels. However, Raw fell victim to the new, harsher, cutting track penalties in the rules and was sent to the penalty box for cutting past the last member of the pack. Ninjette took the opportunity and ran with it, scoring 10 points, the highest total ever recorded by a first time jammer in an LRG bout. Sky Rockit scored 3 more points in jam eleven whilst Raw Heidi finished up her penalty time, before in the 12th and final jam of the first period Kitty DeCapitate also fell foul of the same cutting track penalty that Raw Heidi had just two jams earlier, allowing Fox Sake to score 5 more for Pink. The period ended with Pink holding a commanding lead of 46-20

Team Black came out with their game face on in the second period. The first three jams of the period saw them pick up 11 points to Pink’s 2, with Kamikaze Kitten in particular making picking up lead jammer and then scoring 4 points look like a walk in the park. The Black tactic in the second period appeared to be to score little and often. They were concentrating on making sure their jammer was designated lead jammer, scoring 4 points and then calling the jam off. N-Emma-Si5 and Slice Andice were dominating the pack in the second period, and Team Pink were limited to just 7 points in the first 7 jams, and their lead had been cut to just 14 points. The remainder of the 2nd period was incredibly cagey. Team Pink didn’t want to let their lead slip, whilst Team Black were trying to nudge themselves back into the game little by little. Grievous Bodily Charm and Sky Rockit scored 3 and 4 respectively to stretch Pink’s lead, but then Kitty DeCapitate and Kamikaze Kitten scored 4 each for Black to bring us back to just a 13 point lead. In a blow for Team Pink, they lost Bette Noir toward the end of the period to a badly twisted ankle, so going in at the end of the period with a 16 point lead, after a good jam from Sky Rockit against Nuke-Leah, another Team Black debutante, it was going to be a very interesting 3rd period.

The period certainly started with a bang, as Sky Rockit, who was beaten down constantly by Kamikaze Kitten during the first jam, passed the star to pivot Belle DeBrawl. For those of you who don’t know, a jammer can take off their helmet panty and pass it to their pivot, who, once the panty is securely on their head becomes the new jammer for the remainder of the jam. However, it came right at the end of the jam, and as Belle was about to start picking up points as the new jammer the refs blew to say that the two minutes were up. Team Black’s slow but steady approach continued in the 3rd period, and they won or drew each of the first four 3rd period jams, Kamikaze Kitten, Kitty DeCapitate and Correctional Felicity all picking up points. It was Sky Rockit who stopped their momentum of course, picking up 4 points in both the 5th and 7th jams to put Pink up by 20 points. The next five jams saw Kitty DeCapitate pick up 7 points and Grievous Bodily Charm and Sky Rockit collect 7 between them, so we went into what would become the final jam of the day with a 20 point difference. Both teams finished as they had started with Drolma for Pink against Poison Arrow for Black. Drolma once again failed to pick up any points, but Poison Arrow, unaware it was to be the final jam, gained lead jammer status and kept going and going. For a while it looked like she might make up the difference all by herself, but time was against her and she had to make do with a fantastic 10 point jam. It was somehow fitting that the first person to score a Grandslam in a Pink Vs Black game was also the last, scoring a double Grandslam in the final jam of the final bout. So we ended with a final score of…

TEAM PINK 89 – 79 TEAM BLACK

As is now custom, we finished up with some post bout awards, With Kitty DeCapitate and Fox Sake picking up the Penalty Queen awards for their teams, and Belle DeBrawl and Kamikaze Kitten being named their team’s MVPs. The Crowd’s Rollergirl of the Match award once again went to Sky Rockit.

As per usual it was a fantastically organised event, with Sinister Mary Clarence, Char-Char Gabore and Moxie Blitz heading up the event crew. Thanks to every single one of you, especially Notorious E.V.E of Victorian Roller Derby League all the way from Melbourne, Australia for being a fantastic scoregirl! The photos you see here are by the very talented Al Overdrive, and the video is from the not at all bruised, but very much in pain Baron Von Strange. And as always, the biggest thanks to our amazing fans for once again braving the London Transport network to see us!

Next time we see you will be on September the 27th, once again at the Tottenham Green Leisure Centre. By this time the league will have split into three permanent teams, and it’ll be time for you to decide who you’ll be giving your support to during the coming year as we start our first ever league season! I’ll be back in the near future with a full Season Preview!

BigCatMerv- London Rollergirls Announcer

There is further good news - Summer Shovin’ will be BRING YOUR OWN BOOZE again.

The centre still doesn’t have an alcohol licence so if you feel like you’ll need a drink while cheering on the action on the track then bring it along with you. Cans and plastic only, glass will not be allowed into the hall. There is a local off-licence and a large Tesco nearby.

There is some bad news though - the Victoria Line is closed (again). Here are our suggestions if you need an alternative route, you can check http://www.tfl.gov.uk for more options and up-to-date information.

TAKE RAIL REPLACEMENT BUS
Service A: between Walthamstow Central and Finsbury Park, calling at Blackhorse Road, Tottenham Hale, Seven Sisters, and Manor House.

TAKE THE PICCADILLY LINE and a BUS
Take the Piccadilly Line to Manor House.
Go to bus stop F and take the Route Bus 259 towards Edmonton Green Bus Station or Route Bus 279 towards Waltham Cross Bus Station (approx 15 min)
Get off at the Tottenham Town Hall/Seven Sisters stop
Walk around the corner to the left on the Town Hall Approach Road and you will see the leisure centre on the left!

TAKE THE TRAIN FROM LIVERPOOL STREET STATION
National Express East Coast runs a train from Liverpool Street Station…and it leaves every 15 minutes! Take the train towards Enfield Town, and get off at Seven Sisters Station (takes approx 17 min).
There is more than one exit from Seven Sisters, so you might come out on Seven Sisters Road (in which case you probably need to go to the left around the corner) or you might come out on the High Road. Regardless, you need to head up the High Road, past the big Tesco (on your right) towards the Town Hall Approach. Walk around the corner to the left on the Town Hall Approach and you will see the leisure centre on the left!

See you there!

Fun stuff includes:
* awesome bands playing: Lupen Crook and the Murderbirds, and Betty and the Werewolves
* bake sale (featuring Fez’s famous Oreo balls)
* rollergirl DJs
* raffle for charity
* partying with us!

We’re taking over Barden’s Boudoir, 38-44 Stoke Newington High St, N16 7XJ from 8pm on 28th June. It’s £5 to get in before 9:30, £6 afterwards. Tickets for our next bout, Summer Shovin’, will be on sale at this event.

There will be brownies, cookies and vegan cupcakes galore at one of our fabled bake sales, while garage blues-punks Lupen Crook, acoustic folk types Squirrel Skin Slippers and a very special guest rock out on stage. You can snag tickets for our next bout or show your support for the league by snapping up a London Rollergirls t-shirt, and our best rollergirl DJs will be spinning everything from The Gossip and Dolly Parton to Bon Jovi ’til after 2am. There’s also going to be fun games and awesome prizes to be won at a charity raffle, with proceeds going to Pride London.

Note: this is a non-skating event.

DETAILS
London Rollergirls Fundraiser
Saturday 28 June 2008, 8pm til late, £5 before 9.30pm, £6 after
Bardens Boudoir, 38-44 Stoke Newington High Street, London, N167 7XJ

The nearest overground is Dalston Kingsland (two stops from Highbury & Islington tube),
Bardens is then a five minute walk up Kingsland Road.
Buses 67, 76, 149 and 243 stop right outside. Buses 149, 243 and 76 operate all night.
Buses 242, 30, 38, 56 all go to Dalston Junction which is a five minute walk up to Bardens.
Buses 38 and 242 operate all night. Alternatively, parking is free after 7pm on Stoke Newington Road. There is a car park opposite Bardens open until 11pm.

Mutiny On The Mountie was always going to be the toughest challenge so far for the members of London Brawling. 16 skaters, of which 14 would be skating on the day, representing 5 leagues from across Canada, many of whom had much more bouting experience than us. And when we set eyes on them, we knew even more this wouldn’t be easy. These girls were tough.

Now with every bout, the setting up seems to get that bit slicker, that bit more organised, and that bit more professional. Dare I even say it, that the atmosphere amongst those in the hall responsible for making sure everyone and everything was in it’s place was even quite calm? Hell, even practicing the introductions went smoothly, as both the teams and the list on the sheet were actually in alphabetical order for the first time ever!

So with the exception of the Victoria Line being out again (and now thanks to Boris Johnson we couldn’t even have a drink on the bus to calm our nerves!) everything went smoothly, another sold out crowd slowly filled the hall, and the girls hit the track for the biggest test yet..

As usual, Sky Rockit lined up first for London, and gave them an early advantage, scoring 9 points to the 2 scored by Canada’s X-Treme Joy. London managed to increase their lead during each of the first 7 jams; Sky, Missyle Elliot, Kitty DeCapitate and Poison Arrow (making her London Brawling debut) all picking up at least 4 points. In the 8th Jam Saskatoon Roller Derby’s Mirage gained Lead Jammer, and picked up four points to Kitty DeCapitate’s 3. However, it was to be the only Jam that Team Canada won in the first 20 minute period, and London were up at the break by 53-9.

It was certain though that the score wasn’t reflecting the action on the track. It was getting clearer all the while that this was the hardest hitting Derby that London had ever seen. Our amazing fans were getting to meet the girls up close, as tough blocks were sending members of both teams into the crowd as far as the third row. London’s superior team work in the first period had been the big difference, but of course, Canada had only met together as a team for the first time 3 days previously, so they still needed to gel. Each Canadian was certainly making an impression with their individual performance, with Dolly Destructo of Toronto in particular making herself noticed.

In the second period London Brawling came out of the blocks running once more, with Drolma and Sky Rockit expanding their lead in the first two jams. In the 3rd jam, it was Mirage who once again got the better of the LRG, picking up 4 whilst LRG Co-Captain Belle DeBrawl scored 3. Shift Kicker also picked up points for Team Canada in two jams, but didn’t get the better of Sky on either occasion. Team Canada won the 6th jam of the period when the pack completely shut out Kitty DeCapitate and Mirage scored 2. Canada’s Coach Lime from Oil City was starting to make some excellent tactical observations and decisions, and his team started scoring more, whilst LRG scored less. At the end of the 2nd period London had managed to increase their lead, but had looked less dominant than in the first 20 minutes. The period ended 93-23.

Team Canada faced the last period a skater down, as Cree Assaults injured her elbow, seemingly suffering several bruises on one spot, until the area swelled to the size of a tennis ball. She was seen to by paramedics and was advised that her part in the evening was over.

Once again, London scored big in the first two jams of the third period, their pack successfully shutting out Toronto’s G-Force and Saskatoon’s Mirage. X-treme Joy again made inroads for Canada in the 3rd jam, picking up 5 whilst her team’s blockers successfully closed out Missyle Elliott. But what came next sealed Team Canada’s fate. Sky Rockit made her way through the pack, but fouled and did not gain lead jammer status. G-Force was unable to deal with the might of the LRG blockers and whilst she battled to make her way through the pack, Sky had no option but to keep skating. Showing no signs of tiring, she kept going full pelt for the full two minutes picking up a triple grand slam, passing every member of Team Canada, including the jammer 3 times. She was on the way to a fourth, passing 3 more Canadians before the four short whistle blows signalled the end of the jam. Sky had scored 18 points in one jam, a new London Rollergirls record. The crowd went ballistic, whistling and cheering.

Some teams may have been demoralised by that, but Team Canada certainly weren’t and went on to play their best roller derby of the night, allowing London to score only 8 more points in the remaining 9 jams. Mirage once again closed the gap by two, and Hoochie Mama picked up 7 points in a great jam for Canada in which their blockers completely contained every member of the LRG close to the inside of the track and allowed Hoochie to pass around the outside unchallenged. The rest of the 3rd period passed without major incident. By this point Canada had begun working well as a unit, and Coach Lime’s new tactic of waiting to see who LRG put out before seemingly putting out a line up on the fly to suit was certainly effective.

The hard hitting continued right until the final whistle of head referee Splint Eastwood, and the final result was declared as…

LONDON BRAWLING 128-45 TEAM CANADA

The post bout awards concluded the evening, where LRG captain Bette Noir picked up her second Penalty Queen award in as many bouts (Tut tut!) and Trailer Trish picking up the respective award for Team Canada. MVP for London was N-emma-si5 for her outstanding blocking display, whilst Canada’s award went to Mirage, for an impressive jamming display. The crowd’s Rollergirl of the match award went to Sky Rockit, who won over the assembled throng with her 18 point jam! And there was one final, unexpected award, when Bette Noir’s boyfriend, Tom, asked for the floor. He got down on one knee, and asked for the London Brawling Captain’s hand in marriage! Bette said yes, as the crowd erupted once more, and everyone felt like extras in an American sports movie! Even big manly announcers cried!

Make sure you check www.londonrollergirls.com for updates on our next bout, Summer Shovin’!, again at the Tottenham Green Leisure Centre on July 19th!

We would like to extend our thanks to Team Canada for coming all this way to bout us and giving us the toughest game we have faced to date. We certainly hope that we can someday come to Canada and face your leagues on your home grounds. Thanks to Saskatoon Roller Derby, Calgary Roller Derby Association, Toronto Roller Derby, Terminal City Rollergirls and Oil City Rollergirls for letting your girls come bout us. They were all awesome! And of course, thanks as well to the Team Canada referees, Coach Lime, and Mack the Mouth, official Team Canada announcer for making the trip.

Thanks to Silky Briefs, Lola Vulkano and Grace of Wrath for your fantastic event managing skills and all the LRG members who helped out in various supporting roles. The event would not have been so smooth with any one of you missing! You are all stars!

Finally, a massive thank you to everyone who came out to support us! We’ll see you July 19th for Summer Shovin’!

BigCatMerv- London Rollergirls Announcer.

(cheers to Komp for the pic)