For our first event of 2017, we decided to do something a little bit different so after much thought, we settled on an alternative style derby sevens tournament. Lots of skating and lots of pals, what better way to start the year?!
The standard format of roller derby sevens was the idea of Xavier Bacon and Phoenix InFlames of Essex Men's Roller Derby a couple of years ago now. The aim was to create a faster-paced game similar to rugby sevens: seven skaters per team, a twenty-one minute game and no bench staff, no official reviews, no team time outs and only four penalties to foul out. Xavier has spent the last few years building this form of the game up and it's proved really successful.
For our purposes, we wanted to involve as many people as possible so Cara Viola & Janie Bones made some significant changes to this format: keeping seven skaters per team but reducing to seven minute games enabling us to squeeze more derby into the day. A derby sevens/sur5al mash-up if you will.
All our officials, plus sparkly hats. Image by Dave McAleavy of boutday.com.
With a Wild West theme to the day (and the excellent poster; image courtesy of Dave McAleavy of boutday.com), with some cracking team names and sparkly pink hats(!), we were bound to have a good time. With skaters in mostly co-ed teams from across Scotland, there was bound to be fierce competition and the day didn't disappoint.
After all TWENTY-ONE games were played (poor referees and NSOs; I think our sheriffs and deputies deserve a medal for officiating that many games in one day!), the victors were The Seven Deadly Spins! For anyone who missed out on the day or wants to relive the glory, the wonderful Sam Skipsey was on hand to catch all the action on video here.
The Seven Deadly Spins vs Soy Division. Image courtesy of Dave McAleavy, boutday.com.
And for anyone who wants the lowdown on the numbers, read on for all the gory numerical details!
The final team rankings for the day, showing the winners The Seven Deadly Spins.
The teams who turned up to the ultimate showdown
Schedule & game scores for the day.