Turn Left Issue 29

Solent Witness

Southampton City Rollers tell all

Can you tell us a little about your league?

JoyStixx (Director): SC*R was founded in 2013. I joined in 2015 and Tigermouse in 2016 so we’re veterans now. We’ve always been a small league but pride ourselves on being friendly and welcoming. There’s no rush or pressure to get on the bouting team – we just love everyone to have fun. Saying that, this game against the Rockerbillies will be the first time we’ve not needed to field guest skaters. It also marks the debut of our cute Roller Derby City uniform, so there are some real landmarks for us today.

How did you deal with the long pause in derby during Covid? JS: My SC*R teamies were absolute legends. We all made a huge effort to stay in touch. We did some online fitness, quizzes, set up an open mailing list so we could send cute things (postcards and stickers) to teamies in the post and just generally checked in on each other throughout.

We also met up at skate parks for outdoor skating together. I so appreciated the entire amazing global community of roller derby, but especially my team, during that awful time.

What have you been up to since derby’s return?

Tigermouse (Head Coach): This is our first game back. Until now we’ve hosted regular mixed scrims with guests, and a few of our players have been out scouting for opportunities elsewhere. We’ve definitely been busy rebuilding, which I think all teams can relate to. It took a while for everyone to feel safe going back into full contact play after the pandemic, but I think peer coaching our new skaters really helped build our overall confidence back up. Our rookies coaching team have created an absolutely fantastic programme which is harvesting great results. So I’d say we’re back and better than ever!

Turn29Left

THE UNOFFICIAL BRIGHTON ROCKERS FANZINE

What do you know about the Rockerbillies team you face today? JS: Our first ever home public game was against the Rockerbillies. That was back in 2015, not long after I joined the team. I wasn’t ready to play back then but it was a really enjoyable game to watch. (More recently I came down to referee a Brighton event, but their team will be very different now.) You can see the cover from the old programme in our new zine which you can get from our merch stand today. TM: My second ever game many years ago was against the Rockerbillies and my main memory of it (apart from how many penalties I got and how confused I still was by the chaos of everything!) is how lovely the vibe in the crowd was. It was definitely the roller derby I wanted to be part of! More recently we’ve had some lovely guests from your league visit us for our November Pain scrim, so I know you’ve got some formidable rising stars.

Is there anyone from SC*R we should look out for? TM: We’re extremely proud of all our players and the fact that we’ve managed to have a bouting team against the odds. (We were a very small league who always relied on guest skaters even before Covid.) I think a special shout out should go to JoyStixx. This is her first game with us as a player after so many diligent years in referee stripes and behind the scenes.

Do you you have a message for any SC*R fans in the crowd today? JS: It’s great that so many teammates, friends and family are coming to watch us. Some are NSOing, some reffing and some enjoying from the audience. I hope everyone has a fabulous time and gets plenty of cake. TM: Just thank you all so much for being here for us and I hope we do you proud. Let’s hear your voices loud!

They say A WEEK is a long time in roller derby.

What about ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE weeks?

Hello there Haywards Heath... DID YOU MISS THEM?

EXTREME NEWS UPDATE

(from Eastbourne Roller Derby) FIVE

Bullet Bomber: Things have been fairly quiet at ERD this year. Our Bombshells are hoping to host a Sevens tournament and a game at our training hall in May, but due to the size of the venue this will be closed door.

Five of our New Bournes juniors have been selected to play for Team GB. They have been training hard in advance of the Junior World Cup in Valence (France) in July. We’re raising funds to help with their travel costs. Please donate at https://gofund.me/d3f54a35 if you are at all able to.

Speaking of July, our annual tournament Eastbourne Extreme will be taking place on the 15th and 16th. It’s currently in the planning stages. Keep an eye on ERD social media for updates. We hope to see you there!

FASCINATING FACTS

(that might not be 100% accurate)

Marseillaise is a savoury sauce whose main ingredient is national anthems.

Things that were invented in Southampton include fish fingers and the USA.

In the UK if is a conjunction but in Marseille If’s an island. Also a castle. And lighthouse.

Southampton’s ‘Hythe Ferry’ is simply a really long wooden jetty that takes you to the other side of the river.

Marseille has 2,600 hours of sunshine per year.

Brighton and Southampton have five. (Not each. Total.)

1,113 days... That’s how long it has been since Brighton last did the skatey-skatey fightyfighty thing in front of a home audience. They were lucky to have snuck that game in, three long years and half a month ago, as a fortnight later the UK would be in full-on lockdown. The world turned upside down as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. Many lives tragically lost whilst others changed physically, emotionally or financially. Economies crumbled, workplaces emptied (many permanently). Families, teams, niche communities became separate pieces of a puzzle awaiting reassembly. For well over a year, the Brighton Rockers’ training halls echoed not to the clickclack of skate wheels but the sound of tumbleweed, which is no sound at all. Yet the league’s spirit prevailed, etched throughout that fourseason-winter in the hearts and minds of individuals.

Players. Officials. Fans. The whole damn Rockers family.

Roller skating? It did more than prevail. It saw a rise in uptake comparable to the 1970s roller disco boom. Seeking more interesting pursuits for their state-mandated 60 minutes of outdoor exercise, many retrieved long-forgotten skates from attics and garages, shaking off decades of dust. Others bought anew. A month into lockdown, online shelves and auction rooms had been rendered skateless. Some resumed a hobby from their youth at a time when reflecting on life was a pastime in itself. Others used the excuse of teaching their kids. We understand the concept of irony as little as Alanis Morissette, but surely this counts: At a time when no quad skates

populated the Rockers’ King Alfred training hall, you couldn’t move for the bloody things on the adjacent Hove Lawns promenade. For a time it seemed like indoor sport would never return, but slowly, carefully, in measured steps it did. Sadly, many derby teams folded during the pandemic. Far more returned with the barest bones of their pre-Covid squad. The Rockers came back with their first team more or less intact, for which we must all be grateful. Another victim of the pandemic (we learned whilst finalising this issue) was official WFTDA quarterly Five On Five which has gone to that great magazine rack in the sky. As a result Turn Left is now the longest running roller derby magazine in the world! We take no joy in how many awesome publications have hung up their boots over the years, but it is what it is. Enough trawling through the dust of lost years – let’s look to the future now. For the Rockers, it seems as rosy as a fresh derby kiss. Three A-team away games over the last six months have spawned far better than predicted scorelines (in two cases, at least). After going into the pandemic with three teams, the league initially returned with just one, but today will see the return to track of a Rockerbillies B-team. Yay! As Hollywood meatsuit, former wrestler and pungent chef Dwayne Johnson would no doubt put it: “Finally The Rock(ers) have come back to the Dolphin Leisure Centre.” So grab your favourite cupcake, dust down your favourite seat (you’ll only need the edge of it) and get ready for the rollercoaster’s return. This is Brighton. This is Haywards. This is Derby. Welcome back and (of course) GO ROCKERS!

SATURDAY 25TH MARCH 2023

BRIGHTON ROCKERS vs MARSEILLE ROCKERBILLIES vs SOUTHAMPTON

Photo: 7th March 2020

TURN LEFT ISSUE 29 | EDITED, DESIGNED & WHATEVERED BY ADAM PETERS | PHOTOS BY JOHN HESSE (COVER, PAGES 2 & 3, PAGE 6 ERD) PLUS VARIOUS LOVELY FOLKS FROM THE BRIGHTON ROCKERS, MARSEILLE ROLLER DERBY CLUB & SOUTHAMPTON CITY ROLLERS | MANY THANKS TO ALL OUR AWESOME INTERVIEWEES | PLEASE SUPPORT THE ADVERTISERS WHO PAY OUR PRINT BILL!

Block Horror and Slap Dash

carve us a path through the...

Roller (re)Boot

In March 2020 you hosted an A/B/C-team triple header, one of your biggest events ever. Slap Dash: I can remember the build-up because Covid was something that people were beginning to talk about. We were excited that we actually got to play. I had been quite worried in the week running up to it. Block Horror: A rumour was going round on social media that we’d called it off. We were scrambling around replying to people: “No, no, it’s still happening!” Obviously at the time nobody appreciated how serious the situation with Covid was going to get, so we just pushed ahead with it.

Two weeks later everyday life shut down. Slap: We were both league directors at the time and were involved in the discussions about what next. What we were going to do? How were we going to keep things going? In the end a lot of those decisions were taken out of our hands when gyms and leisure centres closed and everything had to stop. A lot of other teams didn’t play at all in 2020, so we were lucky to have snuck our event in just before lockdown.

It was such a great game. It’s always exciting when they’re close. Of the three games, this is the one I feel we played our best derby as a team in. It was a hard game and we really pushed ourselves as a result. Whilst it’s gutting to lose by a single point, I was buzzing afterwards.

It was a great experience for all of us, players and bench crew, having a game being so close with really tight calls deciding each jam. We were 20-30 points up at one point then Kent suddenly pulled up and we were: Aaagh! We went into the final jam trailing by a couple of points and at the end it was a bit chaotic. No one was really sure who had won for a while! Just one week later you travelled to face Royal Windsor. You were expected to win by 30. You won by 150. Good game? We were shocked ourselves. It was a very different game to what we expected. One thing I liked about that game was that, because we had that points cushion, later on we could try out a few things we’ve been experimenting with in training. The sort of tactics you maybe wouldn’t risk in a closer game. We could also give more track time to our A/B crossover players. A lot of people came away feeling they’d got to do things they hadn’t before, which was nice.

What would you do if WFTDA made derby a sport played on pogo sticks not skates?

Deathblade (Brighton): After Googling pogo sticks I’d check if it’s April 1st. If not I would organise a WFTDA coup to bring back skates immediately. Sailor Scary (Marseille): I feel like apex jumps would be a lot more attainable but more dangerous. I won’t knock it before I try it, but I’m definitely more comfortable on skates as I can roll out of a stumble or fall. Getting back up on a pogo stick would be tricky. Knitphomaniac (Southampton): I have never successfully pogoed, so I’ll NSO this one!

What other derby names did you consider?

Could you tell us a little of your history?

MRDC was created in 2011. We are a co-ed club and the vast majority of our training sessions are co-ed. Our A-team (Bloody Skulls) are ranked 75th in Europe and involved in the National 1 French championship. Our B-team (Mars Invaders) are going strong and their last bouts were amazing. Both teams are for women, intersex women and gender expansive skaters. We also have a men and all gender team, the Chapacans. Most of them are involved in the Gerbes de Provence teams, alongside players from other South of France cities, playing in the Elite Men championship.

How were MRDC affected during the pandemic? In a way it had a positive impact for us. We had lost many experienced players before Covid and it was difficult for the club, especially for the Bloody Skulls. Covid saw a lot of people looking for a life change in a sunnier and breezier city. Many experienced and skilled skaters relocated to Marseille! The challenge was to create a united team with all these amazing skaters... and we’ve succeeded. Has a lot changed? Like others we had to adapt to the ever-changing health recommendations. We have always trained outside. What was a necessity turned into a blessing, since it was easier/quicker to restart training, including masked sessions in 33°C! We were lucky that 2022-2023 was quite normal for French teams. The national championships restarted and indoor games took place across the country.

A lot of things got cancelled, including the Rockers’ 10th anniversary event. Block: Yeah. Even though the March game was closest to our actual anniversary (Valentine’s Day) we didn’t want to use it as our official birthday event as it was against a challenge team not ranked opponents. We were planning a really big home game in the summer for our anniversary, but obviously that never happened. Slap: We had a few other things in the diary, including a trip to Scotland and a game overseas.

How long were you on hiatus? We came back to training in September 2020 when things started to open up again, but that didn’t last long. It was literally two weeks then back into lockdown. We also tried some outdoor fitness and experimented with Zoom workouts.

What, on skates holding a laptop in front of you? No! Not on skates thankfully... I think we got a bit frustrated. Everyone was in the same boat in the first lockdown. In the second, leisure centres took a lot longer than other places to reopen. We also had to follow governing body WFTDA’s official ‘Return To Skating’ policy. Since they have a primarily North American outlook, those guidelines didn’t necessarily fit the different Covid timelines (re restrictions etc) in the UK and elsewhere. We certainly followed their overall structure in terms of how many weeks we stuck to no contact and so on.

It was a safe way to reintroduce everyone to the sport. Some people hadn’t skated at all during the break. Whilst others had, there’s a big difference between skating on the seafront and having people flying into you in roller derby!

So when exactly did the A-team resume a full weekly training schedule? July 2021. So a gap of around a year and a quarter. Then a similar gap until our first open door game, away to London Brawl Saints in September 2022.

A lot of our readers might not go to away games so perhaps a quick recap... Whilst today is your return to track in Sussex, you had three road trips late last year. Starting with a modest loss (stats nerds expected Brawl Saints to win by three times as much) at Tottenham Green Leisure Centre, arguably the Wembley of roller derby. I was absolutely buzzing after that game. Like you say we did so much better than expected. We’re aware that (like all leagues) London Roller Derby has changed as a result of the pandemic, so score predictions maybe don’t hold the sway they used to, but that result was a massive confidence boost for us. I remember them being very strong and physical. We had to adapt our tactics during the game to compensate for that. I was very nervous before the game. I think we showed on the day how hard we’ve worked to come back as team after the Covid break. It was nice to see our hard work pay off. Though it was a loss, it felt like a win. One thing I didn’t like about the game was they had a popcorn machine right by the track. Oh yeah. Ugh. It stank the place out.

At the end of November you faced Kent in Herne Bay. Due to a train strike we at BRATS missed that one. Thank goodness it wasn’t the closest game in Rockers history!

Moving on to today’s home return. Any thoughts on the A-team versus Marseille?

We don’t know a lot about MRDC specifically. We’ve played quite a few French teams in the past and they generally tend to be both fast and strong, so it should be a challenge which is what we want. In 2023 we’ve been working a lot on strategy and we’re in slightly different pack formations to last year. Letting people try out these different things in front a big home crowd will be great experience. Defensive play has evolved across derby in general. Before we started it was all about the four-wall. For most of our time playing it has been a three-wall tactic. Now in the post-pandemic era a lot of teams have started incorporating more paired work. Switching back and forth between a three and pairs seems to be the way the game is going now, so that’s something to look out for.

What about the return of the Rockerbillies against Southampton? They’ve been working so hard in training and it’s awesome to have a new set of skaters putting their all into derby. Brighton’s B-team have essentially started from scratch post-Covid. There are maybe four players who were with us before the pandemic. The rest are brand new. I saw them play a closed door and was blown away. Their pack awareness and offence, things that often take a while to build up as a new team, are spot on. They’ve also given so much energy to the league. Their passion and enthusiasm has been a real boost to skaters like us who have been here for a while. Basically, they’re amazing!

FIRST TEAM RESULTS

(games since the last issue)

Deathblade: The only one I can remember was Glitter Bomb. Because I went through a glitter phase, but who hasn’t? Sailor Scary: Hell Razor with the number 7734. I’m still considering changing to Cunning Linguist or Stabatha Cleaver. Knitphomaniac: None. It took me four hours on Google before I found a good enough knitting pun and decided it was the one.

How many sets of derby wheels have you gone through so far? Funny you ask! I’ve just changed my wheels for the first time since joining the Rockers. Let’s just say not changing my wheels was great for building my endurance. Skating since 2008, four or five sets of derby wheels. I currently use Gentry by Anabolix. I have my fun in black Luminous outdoor wheels, my skate park wheels are Anabolix 101a and I trail skate in 110mm inline wheels. Only three... but so many more sets of bearings!

If roller skating created energy like wind turbines, how would you use yours? In this economy? I’d power my home and try not to pay half my salary on utility bills! Wow. That’s a concept. Why isn’t this being done already? In a week of skating I could generate enough energy to take a scooter ride to the beach and back. I’d skate even more if it powered things! I’m an environmental scientist at heart, so I’d find a way of harnessing it to save the planet.

Where without a derby team would you like to start one? There should be a roller derby team everywhere. Marseille doesn’t have a junior team, so I’d like to start one of those there. Antarctica because I’m a giant Polar Exploration nerd and I would like to go there. The practicalities of roller derby on ice TBD.

Which fictional world would you most like to skate through? Ursula Le Guin’s Anarres. Less for the sights, more for the anarchist utopia vibes. Pandora from Avatar at night. I’d need luminous outdoor tires (that don’t exist) for wheels as it’s not paved. That world is so beautiful with its illumination and peaceful animals passing by. Well, until one of those black jaguar thingies comes out... then I’ll skate quickly away. Narnia for the snow and ice!

What is your top sporting achievement outside of derby? I did 400m running at school. Won a gold medal once. Nothing particularly exciting. Skydiving and tunnel flying. I love the sport of flight (body flight, canopy flight) as having that lift and freedom from the ground is liberating. Climbing Scafell Pike.

Why is derby is so big in France? France kind of had a strong skate culture but women were not always welcome. So the rise of roller derby in the 2010s must have resonated with a lot a people. Moreover, French clubs really try to minimize the sport’s cost for their skaters. I can’t think of a club which has monthly fees. Skaters pay about €150 for the full year and that’s it. It helps that most training spaces can be rented for free. Clubs also help players by contributing to travel expenses.

Hive of Bs

What do you know of the Rockers? Any Marseille tactics/players the crowd should look out for? UK derby is a bit of a mystery for us but we’ve done some research. Brighton is a strong team and we can’t wait for the bout. We are ready to be amazed and to learn from them. I can’t tell you about our tactics, but our Ju-Ju-JuL strategy will be remembered. We really see ourselves as a collective. The idea that each player uses their strengths to enhance the team is deeply rooted in us.

Any message for MRDC fans here today? Ici c’est pas Brighton, c’est Marseille bébé!

Welcome new Rockerbillies

BETTY MAY RAGE

I got into quad skating during lockdown and carried on skating outside after that. I love roller derby but I also love skating in the sunshine; not that the leisure centre halls of Brighton and Hove don’t have their own charm! I have wanted to take derby up for years but was way too scared. I finally plucked up the courage to join in January 2022 (partly spurred on by having been stuck inside during Covid) and I’m so glad that I did. Everyone has been incredibly welcoming from the start. Often people who aren’t involved in derby don’t believe me when I describe the sport and then say what a bunch of softies all my teammates are!

Today’s my first public game. Win or lose, I hope we have a good game as a team, make it to the end in one piece and are proud of ourselves. Everyone has worked so hard over the past year (longer for the 2020 rookies) so getting the chance to skate as a team will be amazing.

KAT O’KLYSM

I joined the Rockers at the end of 2019 so had a couple of months of rookie training before lockdown stopped everything. I’d previously skated as a kid and been to a few roller discos, but I could only really roll forwards. I couldn’t stop without grabbing hold of something! Everyone was so welcoming and encouraging, as they continue to be to this day. Our derby family is such a lovely thing to be a part of. I’m really glad that I got the courage to join up.

JAMMY DODGE HER

I did my first derby taster in 2015 and started Fresh Meat in 2016, but I couldn’t commit and stopped after three months. I came back in 2020 and met some very awesome people. I saw saw my first ever game in March. Then lockdown put a sudden stop to it all. We continued skating and working out over Zoom during 2020 but that fizzled out. I guess no one realised the shutdown would go on as long as it did. Many of us were desperate to return to roller derby, so when we could finally restart rookie training in 2022 it was brilliant. Even better, that return brought in more rookies to the group. I’ve found the third time’s a charm situation perfect. I love how inclusive everyone is. It’s the most caring and supportive group I’ve ever met, as well as being a great sport for working out the week’s frustrations!