Image courtesy of ARRG
The penultimate bout of the Auld Reekie Roller Girls Home Season is coming up.
The bout takes place at Meadowbank Sports Centre,London Road,Edinburgh on Saturday the 8th of March.Doors open at 2pm and entry is £7 on the day or £5(plus booking fee) in advance.
Cherry Bombers Best Blocker Maulibu Barbie watches out for the Leithals’ Sharlotte Fever, jamming.
Saturday 19th of January saw the first public bout in Scotland played under the new WFTDA rules. Most famously, these rules remove minor penalties in favour of a streamlined officiation process where only major penalties can be awarded; however, they also make a host of other changed, including starting both the pack and the jammers on the same single starting whistle.
Auld Reekie started their home season last year in the first third of the year as, amongst other things, a way to warm up after the Christmas/Hogmanay break, but the timing this year has been particularly advantageous, giving them also a chance to get more practice with the new rules before bouting against other leagues.
This first bout saw last home season winners, the nautical/steampunk themed Leithal Weapons, up against “zombie highschool” themed Cherry Bombers. Both teams were playing with a reduced roster, with the Bombers particularly affected, down to only 9 skaters, and one of their star jammers, Circuit Breaker, suffering from the flu. The skate-out can be found here.
From the start, the Leithal Weapons pulled out an initial advantage, ARRG star jammer Admiral Attackbar (11:11) and vice-captain Alma Geddon (42) both scoring in the initial jams, to bring the score after the first 4 minutes to a 13 to nil lead.
Nevertheless, 13 points is nothing at the start of a bout, and the Bombers looked like fighting right back when new skater Para’beat’em’all (62) took lead jammer in the very next jam… only to pick up a track cut major during her scoring pass just before trying to call the jam off! With the power-jam for Leithals new skater Sharlotte Fever (1924) to exploit, things went from bad to worse for the Bombers, a chain reaction of penalties resulting in, at one point, only Teenie Bash (208), ex of Fair City Rollers, on the track to oppose her.
Hampered by their reduced roster, the Bombers were unable to recover quickly from their penalty situation, with the penalty box refilling as overstretched blockers picked up more penalties before their comrades could escape to join them. The Leithals capitalised, pushing the score into triple figures with multiple power jams before Teenie Bash finally managed to score for the red team,
6 Cherry Bombers : 115 Leithal Weapons
still with around 12 minutes left in the period.
A power-jam for Circuit Breaker, brought a much needed boost in the underdogs’ score, almost tripling it to 16 before she called the jam. The Leithals struck back immediately, however, with Yin and Bang effortlessly taking lead jammer the very next jam, while Teenie Bash struggled for some time with an imposing front-wall masterminded by Leithals pivot Admiral Attackbar, although both jammers were held well on their scoring passes, Velosidy exerting herself particularly to hold back the opposing scorer. Still, Teenie managed to pick up a single scoring pass, to be followed by a second magnificent display from Circuit, taking lead jammer and sneaking in a single scoring pass ahead of an accelerating Alma Geddon in hot pursuit.
That was the final scoring pass for the red team this period, though, with the final 8 minutes dominated by the Leithal Weapons once more, thanks partly to a recurrence of the Bombers’ penalty issues from earlier on. Playing with such a reduced roster was telling on their skaters, allowing the Leithals to dominate the track.
By the end of the period, the score stood at an intimidating
24 Cherry Bombers : 216 Leithal Weapons
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Half-time saw the second appearance of Sing in the City at a bout, an Edinburgh-based modern choir and Auld Reekie’s regular half-time entertainment for this Home Season. Beginning with a medley including “Auld Reekie”, the reworked version of “Hey Mickey” that serves as Auld Reekie’s anthem, the choir moved on to Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”, a safe choice for a modern choir’s first opening to an audience.
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Ciderella chases down Circuit Breaker in one of the several jammer-on-jammer duels in the bout.
Returning from half-time, the Cherry Bombers faced a difficult challenge to win with an almost 200 point deficit. In fact, an almost immediate power jam for the Leithals once more, Circuit Breaker (100) spending time in the penalty box, whilst Yin and Bang (39) racked up a few more points, immediately increased their deficit even more…
The increasingly exhausted Bombers only managing to pick up 10 points in by the end of the third 15 minutes, it was looking even better for the team in blue as they picked up 113 in the same time, bringing the score to
34 Cherry Bombers : 329 Leithal Weapons
A long official timeout sent additional members of both teams to the penalty box and, devastatingly for a team with an already tiny roster, sent Bombers team captain Velosidy off track as she fouled out at her 7th sin-bin trip.
With the Leithal Weapons also down on blockers, however, the very next jam saw Teenie Bash pick up a valuable 3-point pass, albeit the last scoring tha the Bombers would get for the next five minutes. Superior blocking from the Leithals continued to tell, pushing their score closer and closer to a 10:1 ratio, sitting at:
37 Cherry Bombers : 354 Leithal Weapons
with only 10 minutes on the clock.
Just when it looked like the Leithals would actually manage to win with a 10:1 score ratio, a slightly misjudged piece of skating by Alma Geddon, returning from stradding the line to in-bounds to pick up a track cut major, handed the power jam to the Bombers’ Teenie Bash, to the loud delight of all of the Cherry Bombers fans in the audience. After getting over her own elation, Teenie capitalised, pushing her team’s score up by 10 vital points. After a brief team-timeout, The Bombers maintained their momentum, Circuit Breaking taking lead jammer mere fractions of a second ahead of the Leithals’ Ciderella (3), and engaging in a protracted and close-fought defensive jamming duel before calling it off. With Teenie Bash back on track for the next jam, yet another Leithals track cut, this time by Yin and Bang, handed the her the second power jam of the last 5 minutes, and a 19 point power jam. Just 5 minutes had made Teenie the Cherry Bombers’ highest scoring player by a landslide, bringing in more than half of the teams’ score for the bout.
With a bout timing issue causing head ref Righteous Oxide to allow one final jam, it was Kaos Moss who took back control for the Leithal Weapons for a final frosting of points, leaving the final score at:
66 Cherry Bombers : 395 Leithal Weapons
The Skater awards were given to:
| Cherry Bombers | Leithal Weapons | |
| Best Blocker | Maulibu Barbie | Minnie Riot |
| Best Jammer | Teenie Bash | Sharlotte Fever |
| Most Valuable Player | Circuit Breaker | Ciderella |
The next bout in the Auld Reekie Roller Girls Home Season is February 16th, where the Cherry Bombers, hopefully back up to a full roster, will take on The Skatefast Club.
Image courtesy of Auld Reekie Roller Girls
Auld Reekie Roller Girls kick off the new year with their second Home Season, featuring a bout between the Cherry Bombers and, last seasons winners, the Leithal Weapons.
The action takes place at Meadowbank Sports Centre, London Road, Edinburgh,on Saturday the 19th of January.Doors open at 2pm.Entry is $7 on the day, £5(plus booking fee) for an advance single bout ticket, or there is also the option of a Season ticket, which will allow entry to all Home Season bouts for £15(plus booking fee)
Please note, Season tickets may only be purchased up to the first game.
More info at the Facebook event page.
Photography by Sam Skipsey
Head over to Ante Ortus A Novus Lumen Ars for a bout report on the Auld Reekie Roller Girls Home Season final double header.
All the usual photos and video to peruse plus two reports,you can find the first,a bruising bout between Glasgow Roller Derby‘s Hells Belles and The Cherry Bombers, over here.
For coverage of the final bout,between The Skatefast Club and The Leithal Weapons click here.
Image courtesy of ARRG
On Saturday the 28th of April,Auld Reekie Roller Girls host the much anticipated final of their first Home Season in style with a double header.First up is a bout between Arrg’s Cherry Bombers and Glasgow Roller Derby’s Hells Belles.The main event is to decide which Home Team will be crowned champions and will see the Skatefast Club go up against the Leithal Weapons in what should be a really hard fought bout.
This takes place at Meadowbank Sports Centre,London Road,Edinburgh,entry is £7 on the day or £6 in advance.
Please note this is an evening event,doors open at 5pm with the first bout at 5:30pm.
Image courtesy of ARRG
The third installment of the Auld Reekie Roller Girls first Home Season rolls around with a bout between the Skatefast Club and the Cherry Bombers.
With ARRG’s third home team,the Leithal Weapons winning both their previous encounters,this bout will decide who they play in the final at the end of April.
The bout takes place at Meadowbank Sports Centre,London Road,Edinburgh on Saturday the 7th of April.Entry is £7 on the door ,or £6 in advance.Under 14′s go free.Doors open at 2pm
Photograph by Aoanla
You can find a bout report for the second of Arrg‘s Home Season games over at Ante Ortus A Novus Lumen Ars.All the quality reporting,pics and video you have come to expect from Aoanla.
Image Courtesy of Auld Reekie Roller Girls
ARRG’s Home Season games continue with a bout between the Leithal Weapons and the Skatefast Club.The bout is at Meadowbank Sports Centre,Saturday the 25th of February.Doors open 2pm,entry is £7 on the door or £6 with an advance ticket.
Just in case you missed it,you can read the first Home Season bout report here.
Photograph by Sam Skipsey
If you head over to Ante Ortus A Novus Lumen Ars you can read an excellent review of the first ARRG Home Season Bout between the Leithal Weapons and the Cherry Bombers.
An excellent review with pictures and video to peruse.
The Auld Reekie Roller Girls much anticipated all new Home Season kicks off on the 21st of January with a bout between the Leithal Weapons and the Cherry Bombers.
The bout takes place at Meadowbank Sports Centre,doors open at 2pm and entry is £7 on the day,or £6 in advance,you can also get a further price reduction if you buy a season ticket which gets you into all four of ARRG’s Home Season bouts for the princely sum of £20,more details here.
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