GRD: A year in the life

Recently GRD held our Annual General Meeting at Euro Hostel Glasgow. At this meeting the Board of Directors reported to our league members on the business of the club over the past year, followed by a financial report and information on the business of each of our committees. This year with the assistance of our Web and Design committee the Directors showed us a wonderful slideshow of some of our triumphs and challenges which took place between September 2015 and 2016. 

Here at the blog we thought our readers might like to share in this little trip down memory lane, so grab yourself a cuppa and take a gander at what we've been up to!

Halloween Queeriosity

Once upon an evening dreary, while you pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious Pinterest costume inspo board --

While you nodded, nearly sleeping, suddenly your phone went beeping,

And to your feet you went a-leaping, leaping in delight and awe.

"Tis Queeriosity!" you shrieked, "with DJ Future Fight and more! --

Only he can fill the floor!"

Poster for Halloween Queeriosity 2016; artwork courtesy of Nuclaire Art. 

Quoth the Raven "there will be cheap drinks and prizes for the best costumes - for more info see the Events Page."

Apologies to Mr Poe for this one, who I suspect is spinning in his grave. Which is very in the spirit of Halloween, I guess.

Game Report: Why So Sirius? at FVRG's Harry Potter Sur5al Tournament

Merlin's beard, did you hear about the magnificent Harry Potter Sur5al Tournament that our friends over at Fierce Valley Roller Girls hosted recently? It was a MAGICAL day!

For those who reckon they know the rules of roller derby but are not familiar with this particular format, a Sur5al tournament differs from our standard game in a few significant ways: 

• Each team is made up of five players instead of the usual fourteen. This means every skater is on track for every jam!
• Each team plays every other team taking part in the tournament once for a single jam. There were ten teams taking part in this tournament so it meant we all played nine jams.
• Lead Jammer status can be awarded to the first jammer legally out the pack but they may not call off the jam early, it must run for the full two minutes.
• Teams gain five points for a win, two for a draw, and zero for a loss. It was also possible to gain one additional point for earning Lead Jammer status. 
• If any skaters foul out of the tournament their team continues with as few as four or three skaters, but any less than that and they will be forced to forfeit their remaining games. 
• The team with the most points at the end of the tournament WINS! 

FVRG pulled out all the stops and got the Ministry of Magic involved in their events team to ensure the day went off without a hitch. The witches and wizards of the NSO team were dressed in their Hogwarts House finery with jam timers announcing "Five seconds!" with a swish of their wands. Butterbeer and Polyjuice potion were available at the cake stall and even the vendors got involved with magical artefacts from Notebook as well as FVRG's own Maxx Attack and FunGhoul's (witch)crafty goods. "Sweet quaffle!" I hear you cry. But that wasn't all! There was also some bewitching  ROLLER DERBY to thrill and entertain throughout the afternoon.

Just like a normal quidditch match this was a co-ed tournament and so most teams featured more than one gender - in fact team Why So Sirius? from GRD were the only all female team taking part. Skaters from as many as twelve Scottish teams skated and most gave themselves Potter-tastic names, including Neville Wears Prada, Snitches and Bitches, the Nameless Ones and Snapes on a Plane. Many skaters renamed themselves for the occasion too - personal favourites were Luna Shovegood, J K Fouling, Ron Weavesley, Hustlepuff, and HARMione Grinder! 

But don't let the fun names befuddle you, when the teams got on track the action was as fast as a Firebolt and as hard-hitting as a Hippogriff. Neville Wears Prada took an early lead and remained undefeated throughout the tournament - no Felix Felicis was allowed on the premises, they did this all through pure skill! - and so with the Galleon podium taken care of the hotly contested spots were second and third as the Slytherwins and Golden Snatches battled it out for the Sickle and Knut, each winning seven of their nine jams.

The final scores on the board when all snitches were recaptured. Image courtesy of Sam Skipsey.

Team Why So Sirius came ninth out of ten and had a glorious time playing such fantastic competitors. For three of us this was our first co-ed experience and all had a really great time skating against friends and neighbours from local leagues. No matter what the scores on the board every single team came off track amid masses of high fives and hugs. Not a single Unforgivable Curse was uttered because the level of sportspersonship was so high! 

Individual awards were as follows:

Tournament Best Blocker: Gibb (Bairn City Rollers)
Tournament Best Jammer: Momo (Granite City Brawlers)
Tournament MVP: Kami-Tazzy (Granite City Roller Derby)

We would like to thank FVRG for hosting such a Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tournament and would award them the top grade of O for Outstanding! The organisation on the lead up and the care taken on the day far Exceeded Expectations. We'd also like to thank all the Officials, Ministry of Magic staff, announcers, photographers, and everyone else involved for making it such an enjoyable experience.

Mischief Managed! 

Game Report: Home Teams 2

You might remember the first event in this year's GRD Home Teams calendar, back in June. The T-Wrecks took on the Bad Omens and Death Stars and those giant green guys with pointy teeth and tiny arms were victorious! Twice! Turns out being extinct for several million years is no barrier to being successful at roller derby. If you want all the prehistoric detail, check out the blog.

The end of September saw the Bad Omens and the Death Stars finally getting their chance to fight it out, to see whether magical powers and brooms or lightsabers and something which definitely isn't a moon were the best.

Fever showing Postlewaight her magical flying smashy roller derby powers; photo courtesy of Dave McAleavy boutday.com.

It was a pretty tense game, with a tight margin between the teams throughout and multiple lead changes to keep the crowd on the edge of their seats. At half time, there were only five points in it with Death Stars in the lead 102-107.

Monifa, Belle & Lawless holding back Hadrian's Brawl; photo courtesy of Dave McAleavy boutday.com.

While the Force was strong with our local Sith Lords, any portents of doom for the Bad Omens would have been premature. They appeared to cast a spell over the opposition and created gold from base metal - finishing the game as diabolically good winners.

Final score: Bad Omens 236 - 227 Death Stars.

Despite spending much of the game reclining, the Bad Omens still romped to victory; photo courtesy of Dave McAleavy boutday.com.

The final event in our home teams' season this year will be on November 12th, with a game between the Bad Omens and T-Wrecks to see who will bathe in glory and who will bathe in gravy (or something). Get your tickets here.

Game Report: Maiden Grrders at Great Yorkshire Showdown 17.9.16

One Saturday back in September, before the crack of dawn, the Maiden Grrders slithered out of bed and tried to convince themselves that being awake before 6am was good for them and character-building and wouldn't lead to serious long-term health issues. Except for bench manager Silvie Postlewaight who was up at 04:30 making guacamole because she's clearly some sort of statistical outlier or alien hybrid.

The reason behind the early rise was a longer-than-expected road trip to Halifax, of which a good proportion was spent navigating roadworks somewhere in Lanarkshire. We entertained ourselves with a Best Onesie contest (there were TWO Totoros!) and a hard-fought Harry Potter quiz. Our bus driver was a total trooper and we cannot thank him enough for delivering everyone safely and just about in time for the Great Yorkshire Showdown.

Mad Natter, NitroJen & Sadie O'Hades waiting for the offense; photo courtesy of Roller Derby on Film.

The tournament, organised by Leeds Roller Dolls, saw six teams facing off to be ultimate champions: our Maiden Grrders, Halifax Bruising Banditas, Hereford Horror Bulls, Hot Wheel B Team, Manchester Roller Derby's Furies and Leeds' Whip-Its. In the group stage, the teams all played each other in thirty-minute games and the victor in each group went on to a final full-length game to decide the overall winner.

The Maidens' first game was against Halifax Bruising Banditas and was tough, to say the least. Our skaters were not long off the bus and only really started to get into their stride in the second half. They fought valiantly but sadly, that wasn't enough and they lost.

Final score: GRD Maiden Grrders 24 - 187 Halifax Bruising Banditas.

Stinger Belle & Penny Pinch'er holding back the Halifax jammer; photo courtesy of Roller Derby on FIlm.

After a brief respite while our opponents played each other, the Maidens were soon back on track to face up to the Hereford Horror Bulls. It was another hard game for GRD but they retained more control than the first and were able to put some more points past the opposition. Despite some great team work, they were again defeated but learned a lot from their experience and they'll be putting that all to good use in the future.

Final score: GRD Maiden Grrders 68 - 125 Hereford Roller Girls.

Spin Diesel on the jam line while our blockers are ready for the Hereford jammer; photo courtesy of Roller Derby on Film.

The final was played between Halifax Bruising Banditas and Leeds Whip-Its, with Halifax taking the tournament title.

We'd like to thank the organisers and all the teams, officials and other support staff who made the day possible!