Glasgow Roller Derby may have been on a well-deserved summer break in July 2025, but that just gave us more time to enjoy the return of the Roller Derby World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria hosted by Fearless Bruisers Roller Derby.
We were especially excited to see some of our teammates on screen at the World Cup this year, and our own Mötley Brüise was kind enough to write up her experiences as an announcer at the event.
Photo Credit: Skellytor
The Roller Derby World Cup 2025 was one of the most intense and joyful weekends of roller derby I’ve ever been part of. The atmosphere was all buzz and very little rest, but I wasn’t there to rest! I was there to talk roller derby, see the highest quality WFTDA aligned athletes in the world play their best, and work with the most experienced announcing team I’ve ever come across!
Photo Credit: Knikmops
Prior to the World Cup, the biggest tournament I had announced was probably Silver City Cup in 2018 which saw a total of four or five teams compete, so it felt like a massive jump but I knew I was ready for it and I’m forever grateful to have been given the opportunity!
Dork Mistress and Bob De Quickly did the announcing team justice in getting us all organised as THAs. It must have been like herding cats at times! Occasionally I would think, “Oh my god, I’m trackside at the biggest roller derby event there has ever been and I have to tell people what I see! That’s a lot but it’s a lot of fun!” Under the guidance of these two humans, and indeed the rest of the announcing team, I felt totally safe!
I’m used to announcing trackside, but I was given the opportunity to do a stream announcement too, which I’ve never done! (Extra thanks to Cherry and Scarlet Ohurtya for being such a kind hearted and supportive team to do that with for the first time). Another new thing I got to do was produce a stream and to be perfectly honest I had no idea what that entailed until the RDWC but we were given a lovely “How To Announce Guide” prior to the Cup, which was full of role specifics and hot tips. Look out for it doing the rounds in future as it’s a great guide for anyone announcing, from the freshest of the fresh to the old hats, and has been created by a team of great announcers from all over the world.
The five days went by so fast! The venue was absolutely massive, and I got lost at least four times despite there being maps and tape to follow on the floor.
I did get some chill time in the hotel sauna after one of the days, which was class, and of course was able to let my hair down a bit at the various parties and events that happened throughout the weekend and after party! I announced two to three games each day which meant I had loads of time to go and watch games too and let loose in a way that I could not do trackside. (Think Eliza Doolittle at the races).
Photo Credit: Mötley Brüise
Having worked with so many different announcers who all have different styles of announcing and prep, there are some things I’ll do differently from now on whilst preparing for tournaments and games. I’d love to announce or produce a home stream for GRD at some point, but it takes a lot of work and equipment on the go. It’s a conversation I’d love to have with our events committee for whatever our next big thing is!
I could write a book on the weekend and everyone I met and everything I learned but I think I’ll just end with the fact that I’d love to do it again and that I couldn’t have done it with out the love and support of GRD and my family telling me “go for it!”
List of games I announced:
Scotland v Sweden - House
Nederland v Taiwan - House
Chile v Columbia - Producer
Philippines v Korea - Stream
Vietnam v Slovenia - House
Iceland v Taiwan - House
Ireland v South Africa - Producer
Denmark v Poland - House
All of us here at Glasgow Roller Derby were so excited to cheer on Mötley’s announcing journey, and can’t wait to see what she does next!
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