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