Bout Report: Fierce Valley Roller Girls vs Dundee Roller Girls in "Bruise Brothers"

As I mentioned in my previous report, 2012 has been a good year for Scottish Roller Derby already. The 19th of February saw this trend continue, with Fierce Valley Roller Girls, once Scotland's newest league, graduating to their first ever public bout. Dundee Roller Girls' Silvery Tayzers were kind enough to host FVRG's Parma Violents at the Dundee International Sports Centre.

Dundee have been improving dramatically themselves, and the result, a 226:36 win for the home team, was no poor reflection on the skills of the Parma Violents.

[The large amount of video available for this bout renders it impractical to add links to all the jams. Interested viewers can use the link to the YouTube playlist at the bottom of this report to access the uploaded video, which covers roughly 2/3 of the bout.]

Period 1

The Tayzers dominated the first period, with the very first jam showing the main problem: Psychomilly (69), jamming, effortlessly made her way through the centre of a pack controlled by her teammates, while the Violent's Para-Lethal-Maul (999) had to fight every step of the way. A slow call by Dundee still allowed Fierce Valley a single point for that jam, however, putting the score at

4 Dundee : 1 Fierce Valley

Exploiting the Parma Violents' first-time nerves, Dundee proceeded to take lead jammer in the next two jams, finding gaps in the away teams' slightly loose walls, and containing slightly hesitant jammers for just long enough for their team to score.

Finally, in jam 4, a misjudged apex leap sent Dr Carnage (T800) to the sin bin, handing a power-jam (and the first lead jammer for her team) to Fierce Valley's Rufi-Ohh (911). Some excellent waterfalling at the lead of the pack by Viva La Derby (42), Cilla Block (24) and Go Go Gadget Skates (99) locked Rufi up until the pack was intentionally broken, however, and the Violents' inability to slow the pack to help her score meant that Fierce Valley picked up 2 points for a minute's hard work by their jammer.

Fierce Valley were not completely outclassed, however; in jam 6, a good piece of truck-and-trailer blocking by Lady Feerocious (23) and Hey Ho Lets Jo! (92) kept Dundee's Cilla Block without a strong lead against the Violents' Zombette (25), who proceeded to gain on the Tayzers' jammer, forcing a no-score call.

Still, despite their fight improving, scoring opportunities were still scarce for the challengers, and things only got worse when Dundee's Psychomilly found herself with a power-jam in jam 9, thanks to Lady Feerocious getting herself sent to the penalty box with a track cut. Proving why she's a Team Scotland reserve once more, Psychomilly proceeded to cut through the pack like a knife through butter, more than doubling the home teams score with a 23 point jam.


With Unprotected Bex obviously confident that her pack could handle her, Zombette was allowed to attempt a scoring pass in the following jam, and indeed, found Viva La Derby and a returning Dr Carnage too tough to pass, while Bex picked up 18 points worth of laps over the 2 minute period. After those two high scoring rounds, the score had moved on to:

60 Dundee : 5 Fierce Valley

An power-jam opportunity for Fierce Valley's Max Attaxx (501), thanks to Cilla Block earning a trip to the penalty box during her first scoring pass (thanks to close opposition by Rufi-Ohh and Hey Ho Lets Jo!) led to another score for the away team, Max picking up a tough 9 points against opposition from Crown Jules (67) and Go Go Gadget Skates.

Devastatingly, the very next jam, Fun Ghoul handed a power jam to the home team, Cilla Block taking advantage of the situation to pick up 14 points for her team. With the power-jam still in progress at the start of the next jam, Dr Carnage lived up to her namesake, also taking 15 points in the next jam, with Fun Ghoul getting herself sent back to the sin-bin in the interim.
With the power jam continuing for a third successive jam, it was Psychomilly's turn to inflate the Tayzers' score some more. Misjudging a returning Fun Ghoul's speed, however, the jam ended with a single scoring pass by the Violents' jammer as Milly called it, bumping their score to:

101 Dundee : 17 Fierce Valley

With Fierce Valley having escaped their run of Dundee power-jams, there was only 3 minutes left in the period for them to try to make up their deficit.
Rufi-Ohh found herself not ideally positioned to accomplish this, however, with Psychomilly spending the next jam running a masterclass in positional blocking, keeping the Fierce Valley jammer right at the back of the pack for the entire time; though she was sure to end the jam with a hug to show there were no hard feelings.

And so, with one jam left in the period, it was Fierce Valley's Deep Fried Pixxie (1102) up to jam against Dundee's Littlest Peepshow. Thanks to an increasingly confident pack, the Parma Violents' jammer took the first (non power-jam) lead jammer status for her team in the bout, with Peepshow in close pursuit; not close enough to prevent FVRG from picking up 2 points to end the period with, however.

So, ending on a high for the away team, Period 1's final score stood at:

126 Dundee : 19 Fierce Valley

Period 2

Returning from half-time, Fierce Valley continued to demonstrate their improved confidence and skill, even if the first two jams didn't go their way.
A lovely assisted block from Lady Feerocious (trailer to Blood Honey (10)'s truck) in the second jam managed to knock both Dundee's Cilla Block assisting her own jammer, Harleen Quinzel off track; with Max Attaxx picking up a trip to the penalty box, it was still the Tayzers jam. Fierce Valley's stronger opposition, however, limited Dundee to a mere 7 points for their trouble.
Coming into the third jam, a good piece of offensive jamming by Fun Ghoul knocked the Tayzers' Littlest Peepshow to the floor; with Fun Ghoul taken down herself by Peepshow's leg, it was the Dundee jammer who took a trip to the sin-bin, handing Fierce Valley their own power-jam. Fighting hard through the pack, the Violents' jammer managed a complete grand slam pass, despite Psychomilly's best blocking efforts.
That effort placed the score at:

137 Dundee : 24 Fierce Valley

A slow start for the next jam, with Dundee dragging their heels for pivot Go Go Gadget skates to exit the sin-bin, saw Fierce Valley's Max Attaxx very nearly take lead jammer on the outside line; a elbows-penalty incurring block from Unprotected Bex being the only thing to stop her (and send Bex to the penalty box in turn). With Gadget also quickly returning to the sin-bin, Viva La Derby and Spex Offender (11) were left giving big hits to the Fierce Valley jammer to keep her in her place, while Dr Carnage picked up some laps.

Similarly, jam 5 saw Jo Anarchy (04) only seconds away from taking lead jammer, but for a misstep down a crowded inside line. As it was, the inestimable Psychomilly took lead, with the Violents' jammer only escaping as Milly completed her first scoring pass - but in time to engage in some offensive jamming which resulted in the jam called with both of them on the floor.

Despite good blocking from Para-Lethal-Maul and Fun Ghoul in jam 6, Viva La Derby took lead eventually, with Deep Fried Pixxie trapped behind a well-coordinated Cult Friction (2517) and Unprotected Bex at the front of the pack.
Littlest Peepshow had a more challenging time of it in the next jam, only managing a single scoring pass before having to call it... but not so bad for Dundee as jam 8. With Psychomilly off to the sin-bin right at the start of the jam, Fierce Valley's Max Attaxx finally had her chance to take lead jammer, and she did, fighting her way to the front of the pack. On her scoring pass, however, Go Go Gadget Skates knocked the jammer to the ground, falling over herself and taking a long time to get up. With the jam not stopped, Max made her way to the sin-bin instead, freeing Psychomilly to redress the balance.
Despite its brevity, the power jam had still moved the away team's score ahead by a valuable 3 points, moving the total score to:

171 Dundee : 27 Fierce Valley

Cult Friction proved she worked well in a pair again in jam 9, her partnership with Cilla Block at the front of the pack providing enough resistance to hold Jo Anarchy in the pack while Dr Carnage picked up multiple grand slam passes.



The 10th jam of the period saw Littlest Peepshow scoring points over Fierce Valley's Rufi-Ohh; but only with the sacrifice of both Psychomilly and Unprotected Bex to the penalty box. With only 2  Tayzers blockers on the track at the start of the next jam, Fun Ghoul managed a very close second to Sabre Tooth (96) through the pack, forcing her to call the jam no-score, and before any penalty time had expired. Jam 12, then, continued with a big Fierce Valley numbers advantage, which Lady Feerocious took advantage off, knocking Harleen Quinzel to the track and then almost taking lead jammer, if not for Spex Offender's last second block. With Harleen off to the sin-bin, the power-jam was Fierce Valley's for the taking.
By this time, however, both Psychomilly and Unprotected Bex had returned to the track, and made life exceptionally difficult for Lady Feerocious; although she won through eventually, thanks to good packwork by Para-Lethal-Maul and Grizabelta (42), a trip to the sin-bin immediately followed, freeing Harleen Quinzel to deliver some hard won points.


Re-entering the start of the 13th jam from the box, Lady Feerocious showed she wasn't to be messed with by an immediate hard check against Littlest Peepshow, setting up the Dundee jammer for extended punishment at the back of the pack by Fun Ghoul, allowing the Fierce Valley jammer to take lead. Peepshow and Dr Carnage were more than happy to return the favour on her scoring pass, however, and Lady Feerocious was forced to work hard for her eventual 3 point score.

With little time left in the bout, it was Para-Lethal-Maul facing off against Unprotected Bex in jam 14. Good control of the front of the pack by Cilla Block and Psychomilly gave their jammer a scoring pass while her opponent was still completing her initial pass; once through the pack, however, it was Para-Lethal-Maul who proved the faster, almost completing her own scoring pass before Bex could call the jam; three more points for Fierce Valley.

The second last jam of the bout was a chance for the Parma Violents to once again show that they could play at Dundee's level; good waterfalling by Calamity Jen, Blood Honey and Lady Feerocious keeping the Tayzers' Dr Carnage locked up in the pack while Fun Ghoul took lead jammer and a scoring pass, picking up another 3 points.

With the final jam, however, it was Dundee who stamped their control back on the game, Go Go Gadget Skates taking lead jammer in her first jam of the bout while Deep Fried Pixxie was kept frustrated in the pack by the team of Sabre Tooth and Spex Offender. 10 points for the home team later, the bout ended with the score:

226 Dundee : 36 Fierce Valley

Awards and Comments

While the score itself was strongly weighted towards the home, and more experienced, team, Fierce Valley's Parma Violents made a strong showing for their first public bout. They never gave up, despite the tough battle that the Silvery Tayzers showed them, and were clearly improving in confidence and skill throughout the bout. On their next bout, with nerves reduced, and their increased experience, Fierce Valley will doubtless be a much more threatening team to play.

Parma Violents MVP: Fun Ghoul

Sin-Bin Queen Silvery Tayzers Psychomilly Parma Violents Lady Feerocious Best Blocker Silvery Tayzers Unprotected Bex Parma Violents Calamity Jen Best Jammer Silvery Tayzers Harleen Quinzel Parma Violents Zombette Most Valuable Player Silvery Tayzers Littlest Peepshow Parma Violents Fun Ghoul

Silvery Tayzers MVP: Littlest Peepshow

Acknowledgements and Disclaimers

Thanks to the Dundee Roller Girls and Fierce Valley Roller Girls for an entertaining bout.

 Your announcers were: Kinkhey and Fool Throttle. The bout programme was designed by Cilla Block.

Video, award photographs and text in this article are licensed CC:BY 3.0 (Creative Commons Attribution license: free for copying and reuse, as long as I am attributed as the author).
Laura MacDonald's photographs are licensed CC:BY-NC 3.0 (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license: free for reuse with attribution for non-commercial works only).

All video is part of a YouTube Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0BA57AAC5F5C8597&feature=view_all

Video and my photographs [the awards photos only] taken with a Sony A580 with a Minolta 35-105mm lens. Laura MacDonald's photographs [the bout action photos] taken with a Canon 550D with Canon 50mm F1.8 and Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 lenses.

Bout Report: GCRG Intraleague: Slaughtership Down 12 Feb 2012

With two new roller derby leagues appearing (in Livingston and "the Lothians"), and Auld Reekie Roller Girls holding their first Home Season, 2012 had already been a great year for Roller Derby in Scotland. The 12th of February only cemented this year's status, with Slaughtership Down seeing the first ever intraleague bout for Aberdeen's Granite City Roller Girls. Due to a lack of numbers, GCRG invited guest skaters from all five of the remaining skating leagues in Scotland (Auld Reekie Roller Girls, Dundee Roller Girls, Fair City Rollers, Fierce Valley Roller Girls and Glasgow Roller Girls) to fill out their numbers, making Slaughtership Down the first bout in Scotland to feature skaters from every bouting league.
Due to organisational issues with their new venue, Slaughtership Down could not be held in Aberdeen, the Granite City Roller Girls travelling down to Perth to use Fair City Rollers' impressive (if a bit Sodium-light) venue in Bells Sport Centre. On the plus side, 50% of Rollin' News, Mr X, was lucky enough to be in Scotland and managed to provide live-ish track-side score updates during the bout.


After a closely fought bout between both teams, the final score stood at 163 Woundwort's Warlocks: 146 Bigwig's Banshees.

Period 1

Despite the first five minutes, and four jams, suggesting that the Warlocks had the advantage, with a combined score of 7 points to the Banshees' 0, this didn't survive the first power jam of the bout. A very slightly misjudged apex jump from 08 ended up with a trip to the sin-bin, handing the track to the Banshees' (and Fair City Rollers') Teenie Bash (2). Despite some spirited opposition, particularly from Warlocks pivot (and Auld Reekie skater) Crotch Lightning (T10), the Banshees jammer managed an impressive 19 point haul, her team's first points of the bout.

Clinically Wasted just pips Krusty Thud out of the pack.

With Rock'n Riot (09) continuing the Banshees' scoring into the 6th jam, thanks to the Warlocks front wall splitting the pack. With the Warlocks' Crimson Chaos much less lucky with the pack, Rock'n Riot managed a single grand slam pass before her opponent caught her up, thanks to Clinically Wasted (111) and Shazmataz (360) knocking her off track before she could even start her second pass. (VIDEO)

After those two high scoring bouts, the score after 8 minutes, was:

07 Warlocks : 24 Banshees

How to do an apex leap.

Unfortunately for the Banshees, their scoring trend didn't survive any longer, with Hyndman (4), after a slow start to release players from the penalty box, and Ruby Riot (08) bringing home points for the Warlocks in the next two jams. If that wasn't bad enough, the Warlocks were also next in line for a big score, with Banshees' Rock'n Riot picking up a track cut penalty and time in the penalty box in jam 9. Warlocks' Clinically Wasted showed off the jamming skills that got her into the national team, pulling off a 17 point power jam before a back block penalty sent her off in turn; with only 20 seconds left in the jam, Rock'n Riot only had time to pick up a single pass before time was called.
With the Banshees power jam continuing into jam 10 (VIDEO), a knee start (one of the first jam-line pack tactics of the bout) allowed Auld Reekie skater Mallory Powers (9) to take full advantage of her remaining time, picking up a brace of grand slam passes, thanks partly to her blockers letting the Warlocks break the pack when trying to wall her in.
With the jam called as soon as Clinically Wasted returned to the track, this pair of back-to-back power-jams had left the score, half-way through the first period, at:

29 Warlocks : 40 Banshees

Another high-scoring jam was up next, however, with neither Warlocks' Hyndman and Banshees' Fight Cub (182) managing a clean initial pass, meaning that there was no lead jammer. The Banshees had the better time of the two minute jam, picking up 21 points to the Warlocks' 10, and extending their lead.

An interesting tactical decision by Rock'n Riot not to call the next jam after her first scoring pass meant that Clinically Wasted could prevent the lead being extended much more, before a power-jam for Hyndman in jam 14 (Krusty Thud (666) off, after attaining lead jammer) finally allowed the Warlocks to begin narrowing the gap, taking Sour Clout as a goat and slowing the pack nicely for their jammer. Despite Fight Cub's extremely powerful hip and shoulder checks making life difficult for Hyndman, a 15 point haul was enough to bring the scores within single figures of each other for the first time in ages.

70 Warlocks : 77 Banshees

With the next two jams seeing further narrowing of the lead (VIDEO) to only 5 points, a sequence of two power jams in the final three jams saw the scores shift even more radically; first (VIDEO) Teenie Bash pulling the Banshees' lead right back to 20 points (despite being knocked down on almost every pass by Terrifying Tink (8)) as a messy collision on her initial pass saw Clinically Wasted off to the sin-bin, and then, in the final jam, (VIDEO) a forearms/backblock penalty seeing Krusty Thud off to to the penalty area, allowing Clinically Wasted her own power-jam time, and an impressive 25 point haul, thanks partly to an increasingly depleted Banshees pack (the final 3 passes against only pivot Mallory Powers and Dundee's Unprotected Bex (32) ).

After this action packed final series of jams, the score at the end of the final score showed the Warlocks finally, narrowly, back in the lead:

100 Warlocks : 95 Banshees

Period 2

Teenie Bash taking the outside line...

Returning in the second period, the Warlocks continued their strong performance, dominating the first quarter of the period with single-pass scores for every jam. Despite this domination, low scoring meant that the Banshees still only faced a 12 point deficit 6 jams in.
The Warlock's total domination was only broken in the 7th jam of the period, a simultaneous sending off of both jammers (Teenie Bash for the Banshees, Ruby Riot for the Warlocks) resulting in there being no lead for the jam. Going to time, both teams capitalised, although the stronger Warlocks blocking, in particular from Fair City's Jill Antonic (76) at the rear of the pack, resulted in an additional pass for the yellow team, increasing their lead slightly to

117 Warlocks : 103 Banshees

An official time-out looked like placing the Banshees back in a commanding position, the Warlocks' Ruby Riot being sent to the sin-bin for the next jam, placing Krusty Thud in a starting power-jam situation for the Banshees. However, the strong pairing of Terrifying Tink and Shazmataz (pivot) kept the Banshees jammer locked up on her initial pass for an entire lap, and prevented her from taking lead jammer, effectively reducing her score to a single grand slam pass.
Returning to the track after serving her time, Ruby Riot even had time to complete her first scoring pass before calling off the jam, as Krusty herself ended up in the penalty box shortly after the Warlocks jammer had returned!

With the Warlocks power-jam continuing into jam 9 (VIDEO), Hyndman took the opportunity to pick up a solid 9 points before a back block sent her to the penalty box, releasing Krusty Thud to return the favour for the Banshees.

With four closely matched jams following, the score barely moved until the next power-jam, in jam 14, the Banshees' Teenie Bash off with a track-cut penalty early in the jam, allowing Ruby Riot control of the track. Whilst her teammates slowed the pack effectively, the Banshees were in good form, forcing the Warlocks jammer to push their wall out of play to score on every pass, and culminating in some good recycling by Oates, neutralising the last pass entirely.

Still, the Warlocks had increased their lead slightly, to:

145 Warlocks : 123 Banshees

Now firmly in the final third of the period, (VIDEO) Fight Cub continued the Banshees' show of form, effortlessly completing her scoring pass along a wide open outside line, while Clinically Wasted was given trouble by Mallory Powers and Rock'n Riot. Completing two scoring passes (the first a little messier than the second) for Wasted's one, Cub seemed happy to call of the jam. With Teenie Bash and Hyndman equally matched in jam 16, and Mallory Powers and Frost Damage similarly so in the 17th jam, we had to wait for jam 18 for the score to change further.
Helped by a distinct pack advantage, 2 Warlocks blockers to 3 Banshees, Rock'n Riot took lead jammer with a 1/3 lap lead over Hyndman, but opted to take the second scoring pass before calling off the jam, allowing one of her players to serve her time in the box; in the process, the pack advantage reversed, Oates ending up in the sin-bin during Hyndman's scoring pass.

With less than 3 minutes on the clock, the score stood at:(VIDEO)

153 Warlocks : 138 Banshees

So, with the tactical advantage to the Warlocks, Fight Cub seemed unbowed, managing a lovely little apex leap to take lead jammer on the inside line, and a single, near effortless, scoring pass before calling the jam.

With a single jam left in the bout, the score differential had now narrowed to only 11 points; the game was still anyone's to call.(VIDEO)

With Teenie Bash facing off against Hyndman once again, it was Hyndman who escaped the pack first, although in the process picking up a back-block penalty against Unprotected Bex which sent her to the sin-bib. The Banshees jammer wasn't having a much better time of it, being pummelled by Clinically Wasted and Crotch Lighting at the rear of the pack. Eventually reentering just ahead of her blockers, Teenie Bash made the second trip to the sin-bin in this jam, causing Hyndman to be released after only 20 seconds in the penalty box, but neither jammer was now lead, so the bout would go to time. A Banshees rear wall started a difficult scoring pass for the Warlocks, with Fun Ghoul (4:48), Oates and Rock'n Riot all taking turns to obstruct Hyndman's pass until they inevitably split the pack. The delay was long enough for Teenie Bash to serve her own abbreviated time in the bin and begin her own scoring pass, but a blazingly fast Hyndman caught her still in this process, the Warlocks' own rear wall tactic proving just as effective. With the jam going to time, it was now down to pack work to manage the number of passes each jammer would be allowed to make; with the Warlocks already holding a single pass advantage, there was little change in the relative scores throughout the rest of the jam, bringing the final score to:

163 Warlocks : 146 Banshees 

Awards

Warlocks MVP: Frost Damage

Best Blocker Bigwig's Banshees Mallory Powers (9) Woundwort's Warlocks Crotch Lighting (T10) Best Jammer Bigwig's Banshees Fight Cub (182) Woundwort's Warlocks Hyndman (4) Most Valuable Player Bigwig's Banshees Oates (3) Woundwort's Warlocks Frost Damage (69)

Banshees MVP: Oates

Acknowledgments and Disclaimers

Thanks to the Granite City Roller Girls for an excellent bout; to Fair City Rollers for hosting, and for all the other guesting leagues and skaters.


Video, photographs and text in this article are licensed CC:BY 3.0 (Creative Commons Attribution license: free for copying and reuse, as long as I am attributed as the author).

All video is part of a YouTube Playlist:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCCAA600EF99F5886&feature=view_all

and all photographs part of a Picasa web album
Photo: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/SlaughtershipDownGCRGIntraleague12Feb2012?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Video and photographs taken with a Sony A580 with a Minolta 35-105mm lens.