Bout Report: ARRG Home Seasons Final: Double Header pt2

Part one of this report, covering the introduction, and the first bout (Cherry Bombers vs Glasgow Roller Derby's Hell's Belles) is here.

The Final

Leithal Weapons v The Skatefast Club

Facing each other for a second time, most people's money might have been on a Leithals victory; in their first match up, The Skatefast Club lost by a significant margin, 116 points to the Leithal Weapons' 209. Since then, however, Skatefast showed considerable improvement, fighting the Cherry Bombers for a hard-fought victory to get to this final. On that basis, this final was still anyone's to call.

Period 1

It was The Skatefast Club first off the mark as the bout started, Mo B Quick (66) fighting her way down the inside line just ahead of the Leithal's Admiral Attackbar (11:11), thanks to Mallory Powers' (9) blocking. With just enough of a lead to risk a score, Mo did so, picking up 2 points for the lemon team.
A power-jam for the Leithals in jam 3 helped Sharkée (273) break their duck, with Bint Imperial (893) off for a track cut major on her initial pass. A second scoring pass saw the Leithals jammer also off to the bin, however, for a back block on approach, handing the track back to Skatefast. Despite some tough walling from the blues, especially Alma Geddon (42), 2 scoring passes later the jam ended, with the power-jam still in place; just enough time for Blazin' Phoenix (28) to consolidate the Skatefast lead with another scoring pass in jam 4:

7 Leithal Weapons : 15 The Skatefast Club

Despite a tough rear wall holding Ciderella (3) back to allow Skatefasts' Mo B Quick (66) a good half track lead, both jammers scored in the next jam, the Leithals keeping to the front of the pack. A slightly too aggressive path through the scrum start in jam 6 saw Leithals star jammer Admiral Attackbar off to the penalty bench in the very next jam, however, handing Blazin' Phoenix her team's second power jam of the bout. Despite heavy resistance on her initial pass, being recycled far back by Sharkée, Blaze picked up a hard fought 12 points, with time to call the jam as Attackbar was standing.
A very determined Leithal Weapons wall forced Double D'struction to waste the remaining power-jam time still trying to escape the pack, however, allowing a returning Attackbar to show what she was really capable of and grab lead jammer and a single scoring pass!

The score entering the middle third of the period

15 Leithal Weapons : 31 The Skatefast Club

both teams now had each others' measure, and the next ten minutes saw relatively even trading of scoring passes between jams, the balance slightly to the Leithals as Ciderella and Admiral Attackbar slowly ground down the score differential.


By the 18th jam, 19 minutes into the period, there was barely a single scoring pass between the scores. With both teams lingering on the track to free blockers from the bin, it was Skatefast who reached full strength first and broke the pack to free jammers, Crotch Lighting nudging the Leithal Weapons' Ciderella off track as they passed her without the jammer noticing. Blazin' Phoenix pushed her way to the front of the pack and lead jammer for the lemon yellows as Ciderella finally realised that it was her the referees were shouting at and slipped into the penalty box. Despite some determined walling from the blues, especially Minnie Riot and Alma Geddon, Blaze still managed a solid three grand slam passes before calling the jam early.
The early jam call once again gave a supposed advantage to the next Skatefast jammer up, but the Leithals repeated their performance from the last time they tried this, Minnie Riot, Alma Geddon and Kaos Moss waterfalling Skinn'er Alive until a returning Ciderella exploded on to track, literally muscling her way through the Skatefast blockers to take lead jammer. The jam was too close for Cider to score, but at least the Skatefast scoring run had been stemmed, albeit after having restored their previous 20 point lead.
Despite a tough wall from Apocalypse Cow, Mallory Powers, anchored by Crotch Lighting, Admiral Attackbar immediately began eating away at that differential in the very next jam, pulling out a single scoring pass against Bint Imperial; Ciderella was not quite able to continue the process in jam 21, Skatefast's Blazin' Phoenix proving just as fast as her once again.

So far, the balance of jammer penalties had been on the Leithals side. With Bint Imperial facing off against Admiral Attackbar in jam 22, it was the Skatefast jammer who picked up the penalty, however; handing the Leithal Weapons their first full power-jam of the bout. With only five minutes in the period, Attackbar confirmed that she was more than capable of exploiting a power jam, pulling in a 3 grand slam scoring run that pulled the scores precisely level at:

56 Leithal Weapons : 56 The Skatefast Club

With Minnie Riot (7) and Ciderella pushing the score further for the Leithals in the subsequent jams, it seemed more than possible that the period would end in a complete reversal, with the score differential reaching 14 points in the blues' favour.

A knee start for The Skatefast Club launched Mo B Quick and Minnie Riot through the pack near neck and neck for the final jam of the bout; the Leithals jammer had cut track doing so, however, and ended up in the penalty for another Skatefast power-jam.
Even Mo was unable to completely overturn the last minutes of Leithals work, though, leaving the score at the end of the first period a very very close:

73 Leithal Weapons : 71 The Skatefast Club

Period 2

After a rapid half-time, due to timing constraints on the hall, both teams returned to the second period determined not to give up any points to the opposition.

Attackbar in a rare state of unbalance, thanks to Blaze

A very closely contested first 3 jams saw only a single scoring pass, the Leithal Weapons' Admiral Attackbar taking an open outside-line through the pack, while Blazin' Phoenix found herself obstructed at the front of the pack by some of that tough Leithals walling.
Their next match-up in jam 4 was decidedly more mixed; Attackbar once again just taking lead jammer ahead of Blaze, only for the Skatefast jammer to accelerate past her, pushing past the attempted block and forcing Attackbar to recover her balance on one leg. Despite immediately trying to call the jam, the Leithals jammer instead picked up a trip to the penalty box, possibly for a low-block during her duel with Blaze. Now uncontested on track, Blazin' Phoenix proceeded to do her usual excellent work in a power jam, fighting her way through the Leithals' trademarked Alma Geddon-anchored walls each time; without lead jammer status, she was powerless to stop Admiral Attackbar also scoring points as the power jam came to a close, however, the jam ending with both teams' scores boosted to:

87 Leithal Weapons : 96 The Skatefast Club

The penalty excitement didn't stop there, however, with a confident Skatefast pack letting Skinn'er Alive slip through the inside line before immediately closing against Ciderella with an anchored wall of Lilo and Stitches and Mallory Powers (Mo B Quick anchoring). With Skinn'er taking lead jammer, it could have been an easy scoring pass for her, if she hadn't collided with the backs of Bullet-Proof Glass and Kiki (2) picking up a back block major. Things still weren't quite finished, despite Ciderella making good use of the power-jam to begin to equalise the scores, she couldn't avoid her own back-block penalty on what would have been her final scoring pass; the game of jammer musical chairs freeing Skinn'er to hoick the score differential back up to nearly where it had lain before the jam began. The Skatefast Club couldn't hold onto the initiative for much longer, however, with Double D'struction pushing the score ahead with a second scoring pass in jam 6 as the power-jam expired (despite a 3-2 pack advantage to the Leithals), but also scoring their last unopposed points of the run, bringing their lead to a high of

100 Leithal Weapons : 112 The Skatefast Club

The continuing numbers advantage to the Leithal Weapons helped Admiral Attackbar storm through to lead jammer in jam 7, heralding a run of scoring for the blues over the yellows for the remainder of the bout. By the start of jam 10, the score differential had been narrowed to only 5 points, by the end, thanks to some last-second recycling of Mo B Quick by Minnie Riot, a pair of scoring passes by Ciderella had turned that into a 4 point lead for the Leithals.

Ciderella and Admiral Attackbar continued their excellent work for the rest of the bout, slowly edging the score differential up, while Skatefast's jammers found the Leithals' blocking delaying them time and again with unbreakable walls wether at the front or rear of the pack. While everything didn't go entirely the Blues' way; Skinn'er Alive, Mo B Quick and Blazin' Phoenix managing a scoring pass apiece for The Skatefast Club, and Attackbar memorably taking lead jammer in jam 14 only to call it immediately on both front wheels falling off her right skate (GRD's Moxie Blitz saved the day with a skate loan for the remainder of the bout).

Calling a timeout immediately as the final seconds ticked down, The Skatefast Club guaranteed themselves one last jam, and one last chance for a Leithals mistake to hand them a power-jam or another opportunity to bridge the 25 point gap between the scores. Mo B Quick lined up against Ciderella for yet another reprise of their contests throughout the bout... and Ciderella took lead jammer, with Kaos Moss clearing the outside line for her to pass.
Flamboyantly calling the jam after a relaxed scoring pass, Cider left the score at the end of the bout:

159 Leithal Weapons : 126 The Skatefast Club

Skater Awards & Conclusions

Cherry Bombers v GRD Hell's Belles	The Final   Leithal Weapons v The Skatefast Club
Best Jammer Cherry Bombers Circuit Breaker Hell's Belles Rogue Runner Best Blocker Cherry Bombers VeloSidy Hell's Belles Sarah Oates MVP Cherry Bombers Bronx Betty Hell's Belles Slain Austen	Best Jammer Leithal Weapons Ciderella The Skatefast Club Blazin' Phoenix Best Blocker Leithal Weapons Alma Geddon The Skatefast Club Mallory Powers MVP Leithal Weapons Sharkée The Skatefast Club Mo B Quick

Tournament Awards
Best Jammer	Best Blocker	MVP
Admiral Attackbar	Alma Geddon	Skinn'er Alive

With thanks to Auld Reekie Roller Girls and Glasgow Roller Derby, and the @AuldReekieRG twitter feed.
Video: Cherry Bombers v GRD Hell's Belles http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6EE40DDB52FD9FA3&feature=view_allThe FINAL: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL732E66EAE40B9153&feature=view_all

Photos:Cherry Bombers v GRD Hell's Belles https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/ARRGHomeTeamsFinalCherryBombersVGRDHellSBelles28April2012?authuser=0&feat=directlinkThe FINAL: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/ARRGHomeTeams2012FinalLeithalWeaponsVTheSkatefastClub?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Bout Report: ARRG Home Season 2012: Double Header Final!

Roller Derby is never a sport that does things by halves, and Auld Reekie Roller Girls are fully signed up to the spirit. For their first ever Home Seasons final, then, they served up an evening double header; the third place Cherry Bombers facing off against Glasgow Roller Derby's third place Hell's Belles for a sort of "interleague intraleague" playoff, before the Leithal Weapons came to the track to face The Skatefast Club in ARRG's own final.

In result surprising for its one-sidedness, GRD's Hell's Belles (featuring some replacements from last year's lineup due to injury and availability) dominated the Bombers in the first bout, taking an 38:214 win.

The Final itself was much more closely fought, with neither side giving or taking quarter. The Leithal Weapons eventually took the win, with 159 to The Skatefast Club's 126.

"Third Place Interleague"

Cherry Bombers v GRD Hell's Belles

While the Cherry Bombers placed third in the season, they are still a formidable team, having only barely lost to The Skatefast Club in their placement match-up. The expectations of their bout against GRD's Hell's Belles were for a fast and close bout, with great skating on both sides.
While the latter was clearly the case, the former was somewhat inaccurate.

Period 1

Starting the first period decisively, Megan Hyndman (4) burst through the pack, scoring a grand slam pass for Hell's Belles (although without lead jammer), thanks to some excellent blocking from pivot Slain Austen (823.7), Sarah Oates (3) and Mona Rampage (22) against the Bombers' Circuit Breaker (100).

Demon Speeding, about to find out what it's like to be hit
by Mona Rampage

This was just a measure of what was to come; the Belles dominated the first 9 jams of the period completely, forcing no-scores when they didn't get lead jammer (the home team's Demon Speeding (333) run down by Megan Hyndman in jam 4), and otherwise picking up scores in the rest, thanks as much to some superlative blocking as to the jammers themselves.
The 10th minute, and jam, of the period saw the first glimmer of light for ARRG's Cherry Bombers; with Sarah McMillan (7) through the pack first, but also off to the sin-bin for an Illegal Procedure major, Circuit Breaker finally had a chance to score in the resultant power-jam. The Belles weren't going easy on her, of course, and after recycling by Fightin' Torque (531) , the Bombers' jammer had only the time to score a single scoring pass before a track cut sent her to the sin-bin in turn. With relatively little time left on the clock, McMillan had only enough time for a single scoring pass herself, but the continuing power-jam into jam 11 gave Megan Hyndman more than enough space to score multiple grand slams; despite having to fight her way through tough resistance from the Bombers' Shootin' Annie (.45), Sunny Sheeba (33) and VeloSidy (16) ever pass. A returning Circuit Breaker saw the result of GRD's pack drills, Mona Rampage skating back almost a quarter turn behind the pack to delay her reentry; this, and the now expected Belles blocking expertise, held her back for another scoring pass by Hyndman before the jam was called.
After that excitement, and half-way through the first period, the score stood at:

4 Cherry Bombers : 53 GRD Hell's Belles

With the Belles proven fallible, the home team quickly scored again, jam 12 seeing some good teamwork by Bronx Betty (319) and VeloSidy hold back GRD's Rogue Runner (210) for Demon Speeding's second lead jammer of the bout; despite some opposition from Mistress Malicious (99) at the rear of the pack, another 4 points were Auld Reekie's before the jam was called.

The Glasgow team soon reasserted themselves in the next few jams, Fightin' Torque picking up a scoring pass, followed by a tremendous start by Megan Hyndman, practically teleporting between the jam line and the front of the pack; only some tenacious blocking at the front by the Cherry Bombers' Sunny Sheba limiting her to a single scoring pass.

Sarah McMillan takes lead jammer (again)

The home team weren't entirely out of the game; Circuit Breaker sneaking in a point to Sarah McMillan's 3 thanks to a slightly late call, and Maulibu Barbie taking lead, thanks to some lovely work from Fanny Thunders (47) and Sunny Sheeba, but just unable to score with a Fighting Torque hot on her heels and all of the Auld Reekie blockers at the rear of the pack.

It was down to Demon Speeding, quickly becoming the go-to jammer for the Cherry Bombers this bout, to once again actually score for her team, picking up lead jammer with a nippy pass down the inside line in jam 17. With the Belles' Rogue Runner still in the pack, thanks to some big hits from Bronx Betty and VeloSidy, it looked like Auld Reekie might even manage a grand slam pass or two - but (20Hz) proved a bigger hitter, keeping the home team to a single scoring pass.

13 Cherry Bombers : 70 Hell's Belles

Once again, this was just a brief respite, with GRD immediately moving to regain control; bolstered particularly by the events of jam 20. With Rogue Runner already lead jammer within the first 10 seconds of the jam, thanks to an agile leap around Sunny Sheeba at the front, Maulibu Barbie was increasingly frustrated by an unbreakable Belles wall at the front. The GRD jammer had already picked up a couple of grand slam passes in impressive style when her counterpart finally acquired enough minor penalties from her efforts for a trip to the penalty box; with the pack suddenly near-stationary, Rogue had little problem completing a 30 point scoring run by the end of the jam.
The home team still had plenty of fight left in them, however, stopping Megan Hyndman from taking any advantage from the dying seconds of the power-jam as the next jam started; Shootin' Annie and Fanny Thunders keeping the Belles' jammer locked up just long enough for Maulibu Barbie to reenter the track and take lead jammer, although with insufficient lead to actually score.
Bouyed by this, and the 4-3 pack advantage, Circuit Breaker managed to break through the pack, and survive hounding by Sarah Oates on the other side, to take lead jammer, scoring the final points for her team in the period.



Unfortunately for the Cherry Bombers, the final jam saw Rogue Runner up to jam for Hell's Belles once more, facing off against their own Demon Speeding. An unusual lack of scrum start (thanks to the Bombers wanting to get Maulibu Barbie out of the bin, and the Belles not being particularly bothered about spending time at this point), contributed perhaps to the back block major that the Bombers jammer picked up almost immediately on contact with the pack, knocking Summer Shudder to her knees. The nightmare of a Belles power jam, with Rogue jamming, as the period ender had just begunjust as the jam ended, picking up a back block major. Rogue Runner proceeded to spend the next couple of laps penetrating the Cherry Bombers walls, until finally, and ironically, picking up a back block major herself after colliding rather more forcefully than she intended with VeloSidy's back. The jam clock ticked down before Demon Speeding could do anything on her return to the track, leaving the score at the end of period 1 at:

17 Cherry Bombers : 124 GRD Hell's Belles

Half time in the sin-bin.

Period 2

The Cherry Bombers returned to the second period with a one hundred point deficit and change, aware that they'd have to do an awful lot of work to pull out a win. A power-jam start to the first jam gave them a perfect opportunity, with GRD's Rogue Runner on the bench from the end of the first period; and, indeed, despite a very slow start as Hell's Belles tried to wear down the penalty clock, Circuit Breaker broke through, picking up a single scoring pass near simultaneously with Rogue's own initial pass, and calling it.

This happened rather a lot when Rogue Runner was jamming...

The Belles continued to not get things their own way, Bronx Betty holding Fightin' Torque to a no-score in the next jam, and Demon Speeding managing lead jammer but with insufficient space to score in jam 3. This was all just encouragement for Hell's Belles to kick it up a notch, however, and over the course of the next 12 jams they reestablished their dominance from the first period, only giving away points in 2 jams; jam 7, where a pair of majors for both Rogue Runner and Maulibu Barbie led to the jam going to time, and jam 9, Slain Austen coming up to jam and finding Maulibu Barbie (again!) a little too spirited, despite some very tough blocking from teammate Mona Rampage.


By jam 15, the score differential had soared to an intimidating:

33 Cherry Bombers : 186 Hell's Belles

With only 11 minutes left in the bout, and a comfortable lead, the Belles began relaxing their jammer rotation, letting some of their less regular jammers into the mix. First up was Mona Rampage, who proved a little less terrifying with a star on her helmet; the Bombers' Demon Speeding effortlessly taking lead jammer and a scoring pass against her. More successfully, Venus Velocity fought past Maulibu Barbie at the front of the pack to take lead jammer over Circuit Breaker. Megan Hyndman, pivoting, kept Circuit from escaping the pack for several passes by Venus, inflating the score by a full 12 points.

Oates demonstrates why you shouldn't try to pass her
when she has a star on her helmet.

Indeed, the home team didn't get another chance for a scoring pass until the second last jam of the bout, once again Demon Speeding bringing home the points for the Bombers; the third time being the charm, after a pair of close runs against Sarah Oates in jam 18 (where some jammer-on-jammer blocking resulted in a Demon on the track and reabsorbed by the pack) and Fightin' Torque in jam 20, a no-score.
Sensing the need for encouragement from the track side, the Cherry Bombers' Miss Collie Check, not skating, got up and exhorted the home team for the final few jams. Apparently this was the missing ingredient, as up against Megan Hyndman in jam 22, Demon Speeding managed just enough of a lead to score a single point before calling it, bringing the Cherry Bombers' score to its final resting place of 38.
With Mistress Malicious sealing the final jam with a partial scoring pass ahead of a fast-gaining Circuit Breaker, the final score sat at:

38 Cherry Bombers : 214 Hell's Belles

For the report on the final itself, including the skater awards for both bouts, see part 2, here.

Video from the bout is available in a playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6EE40DDB52FD9FA3&feature=view_all

Bout Report: ARRG Home Season 2012: Leithal Weapons v The Skatefast Club

On the 25th of February, the second bout of Auld Reekie Roller Girls' debut Home Season saw third team, The Skatefast Club (themed on the model of 80s John Hughes films) take on first bout victors the Leithal Weapons.

Despite the teams appearing to be fairly closely matched for the third of the first period, a Leithal Weapons power-jam opened up a 36pt lead which just kept growing throughout the rest of the period, and throughout the second. The final score was 209 Leithal Weapons : 116 The Skatefast Club, seeing the Leithal Weapons throught to the final.
The Skatefast Club will face off against the Cherry Bombers on the 7th of April to determine the second finalist.

[Due to the amount of video for this bout, thanks partly to the generally short jams and frequent time-outs, it's probably best for you to follow the videos through the playlist linked at the bottom of this article, rather than my disfiguring the text with 24 video links.]

Period 1

The first period opened with a series of very short jams started with jam-line knees, setting the tone for the bout as a whole. With neither team managing to establish a lasting lead after the first 11 jams, the score sat at a close (and low)

21 Leithal Weapons : 16 The Skatefast Club

All that was set to change, however, with jam 12 finally breaking the pattern of the previous 10 minutes. With Sharkée (273) for the Leithal Weapons up against Sweet Sinner (99) for The Skatefast Club, it initially looked like the lemon team's jam, Mo B Quick (66) and Bint Imperial (893) holding back the Leithals' jammer at the front of the pack. With lead jammer, Sweet Sinner decided to go for the points, not calling the jam after her first pass. This seemed like an even better decision when Sharkée picked up penalties on her own scoring pass, sending her to the sin-bin for a head block. The Skatefast Club didn't get to enjoy their power jam for long, however, Minnie Riot (7) forcing their jammer to pick up penalties breaking through the Leithal Weapons' wall, sending her to the penalty box (and releasing Sharkée once more).

All that excitement had boosted both teams scores, but more importantly for the Leithal Weapons, it meant that the very next jam started with Sweet Sinner still in the sin-bin, giving Admiral Attackbar (11:11) a few seconds of power-jam to pick up her lead, aided by a knee start from her team mates in the pack. In fact, even though she did take lead jammer with her usual skill, Attackbar didn't need to worry about rushing; a returning Sweet Sinner almost immediately picked up a track-cut major, skating right back into the penalty box again! With pivot Alma Geddon (42) and Ciderella (3) taking turns disrupting the (stationary) Skatefast wall for her, Attackbar had no problems in picking up a 25 point power-jam. The jam called with excellent timing just as Sweet Sinner stood up for her final seconds in the  sin-bin, Minnie Riot took advantage in jam 14, dodging around a very defensive Skatefast Club forward wall to take lead jammer, and scoring a single pass before a final check from Crazylegs (11) saw her call the jam from the track floor.

Just three jams had significantly shifted the points differential, the Leithal Weapons now holding a 36 point advantage, at

59 Leithal Weapons : 23 The Skatefast Club

The Skatefast Club weren't about to give up just like that, of course, and the next 5 jams saw the points drift only slightly further apart, with the ladies in lemon giving just as good as they got.
Double D'struction (34) surrendered another power-jam to the Leithal Weapons in jam 20, however, giving Kaos Moss (84) the chance to further widen their lead. Despite only having two blockers (Tartan Tearaway (509) and Mallory Powers (9)) on track, The Skatefast Club still managed to give the Leithals' jammer a hard time, seeing her sent to the penalty box herself for a collision with a kneeling Tartan Tearaway. A freed Double D'struction did her best to exploit her own advantage, only to be sent to the sin-bin again herself; on her second release, a fully stocked Skatefast pack stopped Kaos Moss from fully completing her own scoring pass before time expired.
Playing Admiral Attackbar to exploit the brief remaining power-jam time, the Leithal Weapons effectively got a free scoring pass out of matters, bringing the score to

88 Leithal Weapons : 31 The Skatefast Club

The Skatefast Club had an opportunity to fight back in the very next jam, however, with an initially promising jam from Sharkée, completing her first scoring pass while Tartan Tearaway was still locked up in the pack, ending in a slightly overambitious attempt to sneak through the inside line on her second pass, a forearm penalty and a trip to the sin-bin. Despite the power-jam situation, some fantastic blocking and recycling by Cider and Minnie Riot, predominantly, kept The Skatefast Club scoring to a mere 6 points before their jammer returned to the track and the jam was called.

A perhaps slightly demoralised Skatefast Club couldn't do much more than limiting the Leithal Weapons to single-pass jams in the final three jams of the period, bringing the score at half time to:

103 Leithal Weapons : 38 The Skatefast Club

Period 2

Beginning the second period with a big deficit to make up, The Skatefast Club had to quickly show that they could start controlling jams and picking up points.
After a messy jam 2, starting with as a power-jam for The Skatefast Club after time-out sent Sharkée to the penalty box before the jam started, ended up with Bint Imperial off to the sin-bin in turn after a collision with Alma Geddon handed her a back block major, the jam ran to time with no lead jammer status. On balance, some exceptionally resilient walling by the lemon team (in particular, Crotch Lightning (T10) and Crazylegs as linchpins) helped to bring the balance slightly back their way, the score sitting at

121 Leithal Weapons : 54 The Skatefast Club

With a pair of less decisive jams following, it took until the 5th jam of the period for the lemon rebels to really show their mettle, some beautiful defensive packwork by The Skatefast Club's Mallory Powers, Double D'struction and Crazylegs keeping Kaos Moss locked up inside the pack for multiple grand slam passes by their own Bint Imperial. 14 points in one jam was enough to reduce the points deficit to its lowest value since halfway through the first period, just 59 points separating the teams.

While The Skatefast Club began taking knees to push their advantage, some more exceptional jamming from the Leithal Weapons Admiral Attackbar and Ciderella kept the Leithal Weapons score accruing slightly faster than their opposition. The final example of these, in jam 11, also saw the start of a run of time-outs post jam, in this case sending The Skatefast Club's Double D'struction off to the penalty box for jam 12, thanks to penalties picked up as she plowed into the back of the pack at the end of the previous play.
Another power-jam for the Leithal Weapons looked like capping things off, then, with only two blockers on track from each team. Skinn'er Alive wasn't having any of this, however, and provided some stern opposition to Sharkée, jamming; what looked like a forearms major against her finally sending the jammer to the sin-bin as the jam ended.

An unexpected power-jam for The Skatefast Club's Bint Imperial looked like it would provide some much needed momentum to the ailing team, then, but some fantastic walling and recycling by the entire Leithal Weapons side of the pack helped to minimise her effect. Despite the difficulty, this was still one of the biggest scores the ladies in lemon had made in the period, a big 14 points to their score.
However, another official time-out immediately after the jam ended resulted in Bint Imperial being sent to the sin-bin, handing the Leithal Weapons a chance to immediately come back; which they did, in 2 successive jams (thanks to good call timing again by Admiral Attackbar in the first, allowing Sharkée a brief uncontested time on the track next),
The end result, then, a gaping of the blue water between the two teams scores, now sitting at:

179 Leithal Weapons : 92 The Skatefast Club

With 11 minutes left in the bout, it was starting to look like an increasingly safe game for the Leithal Weapons, but The Skatefast Club could still come back and at least reduce the difference between the scores.
A power-jam for Mo B Quick three jams later might have done the trick, providing 14 points, but that marked the tail end of the 80s girls' scoring.
Amidst an increasingly time-out heavy final 7 minutes and 9 jams (the time-outs were actually longer than the jams), The Skatefast Club only scored two more passes, while the Leithal Weapons picked up 24 points, 9 of them in another impressive display of jamming from Admiral Attackbar in the second last jam of the bout.

209 Leithal Weapons : 116 The Skatefast Club

Awards and Discussion

Perhaps a slightly disappointing debut for the third of Auld Reekie's home teams, admittedly playing without one of their stronger jammers, Blazin' Phoenix. That said, the Leithal Weapons showed excellent form both offensively and defensively, and the score certainly reflects that they really earned their place in the final.

Leithal Weapons MVP: Minnie Riot

Best Jammer The Skatefast Club Bint Imperial Leithal Weapons Admiral Attackbar Best Blocker The Skatefast Club Mallory Powers Leithal Weapons Ciderella Best Rookie The Skatefast Club Double D'struction Leithal Weapons Kiki MVP The Skatefast Club Skinn'er Alive Leithal Weapons Minnie Riot

The Skatefast Club MVP: Skinn'er Alive

..

Acknowledgements and Disclaimers

Thanks to the Auld Reekie Roller Girls for a fantastic bout.

Your announcer was Stephen Tawking, ably assisted by the ubiquitous Psychomilly.

The text, photo and videography in this report are licensed CC:BY 3.0 (Creative Commons: Attribution  - free to reuse, share and modify with attribution).

All photographs are available as part of a Picasa album here: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/AuldReekieRollerGirlsHomeSeasonLeithalWeaponsVTheSkatefastClub?authuser=0&feat=directlink
and also on Facebook.

All video is available as part of a YouTube playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1EF3DC53216C3E52&feature=view_all

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

Bout Report: Auld Reekie Roller Girls Home Season 1: Cherry Bombers vs Leithal Weapons

The 21st of January saw the start of the first ever Home Season for Auld Reekie Roller Girls, pitting the  "steampunk/seagull" themed Leithal Weapons against the "zombie cheerleader" themed Cherry Bombers. Both teams, along with third and final home team, "80s John Hughes movie" themed The Skatefast Club, include a complete mix of skaters, from experienced Team Scotland qualifiers through to the newest rookies.
After an initial power jam to the Leithal Weapons' Admiral Attackbar (11:11) in the second jam of the bout handed them a 26 point advantage, the Cherry Bombers only managed to narrow the gap in the final few minutes of the bout itself, a brilliant power jam from Zillah (555) adding 29pts to their score, for a narrow loss of 171 Cherry Bombers to 179 Leithal Weapons.

The next bout in the season will be Leithal Weapons vs The Skatefast Club on the 25th of February.

For the first ever skateout for the two teams, the crowd was predictably excited. (VIDEO)

Period 1

Zillah leaves carnage in her wake.

The first period started with a close fought jam between Leithal Weapons captain, Minnie Riot (7) and Cherry Bombers' Circuit Breaker (100), which went to time, neither achieving lead jammer status in their initial pass. Unfortunately for the Cherry Bombers, the second jam of the period saw Zillah (555) pick up a trip to the penalty box in her initial pass, handing a power-jam to Admiral Attackbar (11:11). The Leithal Weapons jammer, who had shown good form in Tattoo Freeze only the week previously, capitalised to pick up 20 points in grand slam passes before Zillah returned to the track.
For the rest of the first half of the period, the Leithal Weapons maintained their lead, winning the majority of lead jammer statuses, and scoring slowly but consistently. The Cherry Bombers only scored in three jams in that same period, jam 5 (VIDEO) after both teams had their jammers (Minnie Riot and VeloSidy (16) ) sent off in relatively close succession, jam 6 with an almost inseparable VeloSidy and Admiral Attackbar separated by a takedown of the latter by Zillah (as pivot) on their scoring pass, and jam 7, which saw both jammers (Leithal Weapons' Kaos Moss (84) and Cherry Bombers' Circuit Breaker) sent to the sin-bin simultaneously and the jam go to time.
By the start of jam 13, then, with only 12 minutes left in the period, the scores stood at:

24 Cherry Bombers : 69 Leithal Weapons.

Danger Mouth is an imposing last line of defence...

With Leithal Weapons' Death Biffo (14) almost immediately sent to the sin-bin for a back-block major, however, this jam was the chance for the Cherry Bombers to start moving the score back their way. Some lovely pack control helped Zillah to pick up a 15 point power jam, with only some determined face-to-face blocking from Leithal Weapons' vice-Captain Alma Geddon (42) proving sufficient to slow her passes down, despite resulting in a trip to the sin-bin for Alma for blocking out of bounds.

Zillah's power jam seemed to reawaken the fight in the Cherry Bombers, the remaining third of the period staying fairly close between the teams; a rare trip to the penalty box for Admiral Attackbar towards the end of jam 17 (a lead jammerless jam) which extended over to the start of jam 18 (VIDEO) giving the biggest scoring opportunities for the Bombers' Zillah and VeloSidy. Coming into the final three jams, Circuit Breaker looked like she was going to make it three-for-three for Cherry Bombers scoring in jam 19 (VIDEO, also jam 20), slipping almost instantly through the pack and into lead jammer status while Kaos Moss was still at the back. A hard collision with the Leithal Weapons' rear wall on her scoring pass, followed up by a check by Midget Gems (873), knocked her to the track, however; by the time she'd regained her skates, Kaos Moss had whipped through a distracted pack to take the points herself.

Another successful jam for Admiral Attackbar!

Continuing their momentum, the Leithal Weapons' Yin And Bang (39) effortlessly took lead jammer in the penultimate jam of the period, with some particularly strong blocking from Death Biffo keeping Zillah from breaking through herself (and, in fact, seeing her off to the sin-bin for either the track cut or the back block involved). Despite the best efforts of the Bombers' Sunny Sheeba, the Leithal Weapons picked up a 16 point power-jam, before Zillah returned to the track with a last-minute scoring pass (apparently before the opposing team had even noticed she was back!).

The final jam (VIDEO) saw some exceptional blocking from the Leithal Weapons Bulletproof Glass (.357) and Midget Gems prevent Circuit Breaker from escaping the pack while Admiral Attackbar completed a natural grand slam; in the process of trying to escape, the Cherry Bombers jammer managed to pick up enough penalties to earn a trip to the penalty box soon after, although the Leithal Weapons had less use of the opportunity than they'd have liked, thanks to an impressive display of back skating by Bombers Captain and pivot Danger Mouth (55) forcing Attackbar to reenter almost a third of the track back from where she'd been knocked out.
With the period ending with Circuit Breaker still in the penalty box, the scores stood at:

71 Cherry Bombers : 110 Leithal Weapons

Period 2

With the second period starting on a power-jam for the Leithal Weapons, the Cherry Bombers' Sonny Sheeba, Danger Mouth and Bronx Betty (319, pivot) pulled out some strong cohesive pack work to slow Kaos Moss's initial pass, and hold her to only 3 points on her only scoring pass (VIDEO).
After a close jam between emerging rivals Zillah and Admiral Attackbar, jam 3 saw the first big scoring jam of the period, with Circuit Breaker taking lead jammer for the Cherry Bombers (despite spending a moment sandwiched between all four Leithal Weapons blockers), while Yin And Bang headed off to the penalty box. A back block major on her third scoring pass sent Circuit to the sin-bin herself, however, providing Yin and Bang with her own opportunity to fight through a strongly defensive Demon Speeding (333) and VeloSidy, picking up 5 points before the jam ended.

Circuit Breaker powering through her power-jam.

With the Leithal Weapons power-jam continuing into jam 4 (VIDEO), Death Biffo almost immediately gave the advantage up, sent off within seconds for what looked like a back block major. With Circuit Breaker released from the penalty bench after some brief confusion, she capitalised well, picking up another 11 points despite some lovely anchor work from the Weapons' Alma Geddon, before the jam ended with a returning Death Biffo finally completing her initial pass.
With the points now standing at:

96 Cherry Bombers : 118 Leithal Weapons

it looked like the points differential was finally in danger of being eroded.
A elbows major for Zillah in the very next bout put paid to that possibility for a while, however, allowing the Leithal Weapons' Kaos Moss to pick up 17 points in the resulting power-jam; with Zillah picking up a track cut major almost as soon as she returned to the track, the Cherry Bombers were without a jammer for almost the entire jam; and the second penalty continued into jam 6, where excellent jamming by Admiral Attackbar picked up another 7 points before Zillah finally returned to the track, and the jam was called.
With the points differential now back to 46 points,

96 Cherry Bombers : 142 Leithal Weapons

The first of many falls for the indomitable Bulletproof Glass
on this jam.

the Cherry Bombers would really have to work hard to have a chance of pulling out a win.
Despite Zillah leading the way in the very next jam with a 4-point single pass score, the subsequent 4 jams were dominated by the Leithal Weapons once more, with only VeloSidy sneaking in a single point score. The most determined skating was almost certainly that of the Leithal Weapons' Bulletproof Glass, knocked down four times in a row trying to complete her initial pass, but recovering with very nice rolls each time and never giving up. Rewarded by a power-jam in the second half of the jam, she picked up 7 points, to match the 9 points that Zillah had managed in the first half.
With Zillah outpacing Admiral Attackbar through the pack in the next jam (despite starting from the penalty bench), but without lead jammer, the scores stood at:

109 Cherry Bombers : 161 Leithal Weapons

with 12 minutes left in the bout.
The next jam, jam 13, (VIDEO) with some exceptional blocking from Bronx Betty and Maulibu Barbie (581) holding Yin and Bang back and then sending her off, the Cherry Bombers' Circuit Breaker was in a position to start fighting back; however, she was given huge trouble in turn from the Leithal Weapons, in particular Minnie Riot, which limited her to a single scoring pass before calling it.
With Zillah and Midget Gems both managing a single scoring pass in the next jam (VIDEO), and Cherry Bombers captain Danger Mouth fouling out a jam later, it was beginning to look more and more like a certain victory for the Leithal Weapons.

With a brief ray of hope emerging just two jams later (VIDEO), Alma Geddon giving away a power-jam to Circuit Breaker, the points differential narrowed to just 26 points. However, the Leithal Weapons responded with a much more defensive play for the final minutes of the bout, holding the score near constant (VIDEO) until the final jam of the bout.
With only time for one more jam, and the score standing at:

142 Cherry Bombers : 179 Leithal Weapons

Zillah needed to pull out all the stops to make a Cherry Bombers win possible (VIDEO). Fighting through to lead jammer status, while Bronx Betty and VeloSidy made life extremely difficult for Irn Mayhem (667), the Cherry Bombers jammer actually picked up a couple of grand slam passes before things got even better for her; Irn Mayhem picking up enough penalties to send her to the sin-bin. Capitalising fully, Zillah managed to acquire an impressive 29 points by the end of the jam, putting the final scores at a hard-fought:

171 Cherry Bombers : 179 Leithal Weapons

Awards

Leithal Weapons MVP Alma Geddon (and mascot)

Best Jammer Cherry Bombers Circuit Breaker Leithal Weapons Yin and Bang Best Blocker Cherry Bombers VeloSidy Leithal Weapons Death Biffo Best Rookie Cherry Bombers Maulibu Barbie Leithal Weapons Bulletproof Glass MVP Cherry Bombers Bronx Betty Leithal Weapons Alma Geddon

Cherry Bombers MVP Bronx Betty

Acknowledgements and Information


Thanks to the Auld Reekie Roller Girls for a fantastic bout.

Your announcers were: Fay Bentos and Mo B Quick.

The text, photo and videography in this report are licensed CC:BY 3.0 (Creative Commons: Attribution  - free to reuse, share and modify with attribution).

All photographs are available as part of a Picasa album here: https://plus.google.com/photos/102032801144714237554/albums/5700414527868433025
and also on Facebook.

All video is available as part of a YouTube playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL206FD72375370D9B&feature=view_all

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

Bout Report: Auld Reekie Roller Girls' Twisted Thistles vs Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz 20 August 2011

Two weeks ago, in their first Edinburgh Fringe bout, Auld Reekie Roller Girls' Cannon Belles defeated Glasgow's Maiden Grrders in an exciting bout that saw a huge number of new Roller Derby fans.

On the 20th, Auld Reekie's A-team, the Twisted Thistles, played the second Fringe bout, taking on Stuttgart Valleys' Rollergirlz in an international bout.
The last time the two teams played, the Thistles won a convincing victory, with 92 points to SVRG's 68; could they repeat the performance this time?

This bout was also streamed live by UK bout video team
rduk.tv

In addition to the rematch, this bout was special for featuring the last appearances of popular ARRG skaters Juicy Lucy (off to London, and the LRG), and Fight Cub (off to Aberdeen, and the GCRG). Obviously keen to make the most use of them before they left, the two featured in a huge number of the line-ups in the coming bout. (Okay, it's because Fight Cub's a great blocker, and Juicy Lucy is an excellent jammer, but...)

Before the bout, there's always the skateout, introducing our two teams. SVRG excelled themselves with a complex counterskating pattern (which was very difficult to film adequately).

-

Period 1

ARRG prevent SVRG's Vegas from getting past...

Starting from a no-score first jam, where Polly Purgatory (13) only just outpaced Juicy Lucy (666) out of the pack, the difference between the teams was impossible to call. The first jam is pretty much always a warm up and a chance for the teams to test each others' mettle, however...

Having apparently warmed up, the home team proceeded to dominate the next 6 jams, picking up 31 points to SVRG's 2 (both picked up in jam 4, by Polly Purgatory ), and taking the knee in most of them to hurry things along. Most of ARRG's gains came in two power jams, both exploited well by a fast Blazin' Phoenix (28), picking up 14 points in jam 3 and 9 in jam 7 .

Ciderella comes off worst trying to block Polly Purgatory
from scoring more points.

Ironically, it was the last seconds of that 7th jam that gave SVRG the seed of their resurgence, the ARRG jammer getting herself sent to the sin-bin in her final scoring pass, and the final seconds of the jam. Starting jam 8 from a power jam situation, the away team's Polly Purgatory hextupled their score to 12 in a minute's play. Continuing SVRG's lucky streak, the 9th jam saw their Vegas (80) effortlessly gain lead jammer. Frustrated by her lack of progress, ARRG's Juicy Lucy handed her a Power Jam, track cutting once too often.
Although Vegas was forced to call the jam moments later due to great blocking from ARRG's Minnie Riot (7), SVRG took the knee into jam 10, allowing Blitzkrieg Baby (9) to take full advantage of the remaining solo time, picking up another 10 points for the away team.
Halfway through the first period, ARRG's initial lead had crumbled, the score now standing at a competitive:

31 ARRG : 25 SVRG

Stuttgart Valleys' run of power jams looked like it was about to continue for at least another jam, with ARRG Captain Zillah (555) attaining lead jammer, and then a trip to the sin-bin on her scoring pass. This time, however, SVRG fumbled the chance, their own jammer, Public Enemy (1) also getting herself sent off before she could score more than a couple of points, returning Zillah to the fray. 

Zillah called the jam, handing the extra power jam time over to Blazin' Phoenix in jam 12, but she played it safe, just taking a single grand-slam pass before calling it herself.

After an official Time-Out, and with now only 10 minutes remaining in the first period, it was still all to play for, with just 11 points between the teams.

Blazin' Phoenix (28) outskates SVRG's Vegas (80) to
shut down her chances of scoring.

For the first time unaided by a power jam, SVRG grabbed points in jam 13, Polly Purgatory beating Zillah out of the pack and to a scoring pass. Trying it again, Vegas beat Blazin' Phoenix out of the pack in the next jam, but the ARRG jammer's superior track speed allowed her to pass her opponent; the jam was called no score. SVRG were tenacious in their new aggression, however, Blitzkrieg Baby also leaving the pack first in jam 15, but without lead jammer. Good blocking from pivot Public Enemy and Titty Twister held Zillah back in the pack for some time, however, so SVRG managed to pick up a couple of points before she could call it. 

Now really pushing things, after a series of very short, low-score jams, SVRG took the knee into jam 16. Blazin' Phoenix took lead jammer, however, and a couple of points before Polly Purgatory got close to the pack. 

The low-scoring, evenly-matched jams continued over the next 3 jams, the teams trading lead jammer, but not picking up many points either way.  (17, 19)

And then, with only about 3 minutes left in the period, jam 20 was finally a full length jam, although not by choice - neither Zillah nor Vegas attained lead jammer status due to unclean passes. With both teams blocking strongly in the jammers' scoring passes, Vegas managed to pick up enough minors to get sent to the sin-bin, handing Zillah a late power jam. A strong leading wall stopped Zillah from doing as much as she might have done, however, with Teaze The Tiger (16) and Noxious Angel (17) particularly problematic for the ARRG jammer. In the end, she only picked up 5 points by the end of the jam.

The final two jams, (21, 22) were back to the rapid pace of the majority of the period so far, with both teams picking up points in the penultimate jam, but Blazin' Phoenix proving her worth once again in the final jam, effortlessly taking the outside line past the pack while Alma Geddon (42) and Danger Mouth (55) slowed SVRG's Blitzkrieg Baby sufficiently to allow their jammer to pick up a brace of points.

At the end of the first period, the scores stood at:

57 ARRG : 45 SVRG

-

In the half-time break, there was always time to go buy tee-shirts, crafty things... and usually cake. This time the cake stall sold out of all of its produce, however; could the tension of the close bout have been giving everyone munchies?

In any case, people could still spend their cake money on other worthwhile causes, including the first appearance of the official Team Scotland merchandise.

The Team Scotland Stall sells another T-shirt.

Team Scotland's first bout is on the 10th of September, with the selected team members facing a team of those Scottish players who didn't get to be in the team ("The Rest").

-

Period 2

Coming back into the second period, Stuttgart Valley had a 12 point points deficit to make up. In the first jam, they showed how they planned to deal with it... jammer Polly Purgatory slipping through the pack first, but without lead jammer status. That wasn't so much of a problem, with ARRG's Juicy Lucy failing to get by a strong SVRG defence, led by Titty Twista (81) and Teaze The Tiger, without a bit of track cutting, robbing her of lead jammer status as well. Polly Purgatory proved the better at jammer-to-jammer blocking, knocking Juicy Lucy to the track, to increase her lead, while Titty Twista once more became the ARRG jammer's nemesis when she entered the pack. With Teaze The Tiger pushing ARRG blockers out of the way, the SVRG jammer picked up a mighty 13 points to ARRG's 3 - and it wasn't even a power jam! With only a single jam into the second period, the score now stood at a nigh-equal

60 ARRG - 58 SVRG

If the away team could have kept that level of play up, it would have been a very different second period. As it was, they seemed to have exhausted themselves for the next 3 jams, neither team scoring anything until the 5th jam.

The 5th jam, however, was worth waiting for, SVRG's Public Enemy picking up a single pass's worth of points, just enough to put the away team in the lead for the first time in the bout. Polly Purgatory continued the theme in the next jam, picking up a pair of points but unable to pass Minnie Riot and Fight Cub (182) to get the complete set.

Obviously, ARRG weren't going to stand for losing without a fight, and Blazin' Phoenix picked up her own pass' worth of points in jam 7, bringing the scores back to a fragile balance at:

64 ARRG : 64 SVRG

Juicy Lucy on the track to score!

Galvanised by their brief experience of being the losing team, Auld Reekie led a fight back in the next five jams, Juicy Lucy, Zillah and Blazin' Phoenix all eking out single pass scores to inch the score back to a more comfortable margin. Jam 8 was a case in point, Fight Cub and Minnie Riot causing Polly Purgatory trouble in the pack while Zillah was safely through (despite an early bit of jammer-on-jammer blocking leaving Polly ahead).

Jam 13 could have been the deciding jam of the bout, Polly Purgatory getting herself sent to the sin-bin, and handing Zillah a power jam. However, before Zillah could do much with her advantage, the jam was called early due to an injury to one of the SVRG players.

After an official time-out for treatment, play resumed with the ARRG power jam still in play, and 15 minutes left in the bout. 

SVRG took full advantage of the power jam, and the depleted ARRG pack, Polly Purgatory lapping the pack multiple times with no real opposition. With a massive 20 point total, the score was utterly reversed, now standing at:

79 ARRG : 87 SVRG

Blazin' Phoenix can't outpace Public Enemy.

Despite Stuttgart Valley taking the knee in the next few jams, the momentum didn't really exist for them. While Blitzkrieg Baby took lead jammer in jam 15, Zillah was so close to her that she couldn't score; the next jam, Blazin' Phoenix found herself in the same situation vis Public Enemy.

Jam 17 finally saw some few points scored, Zillah fighting past SVRG's Titty Twista, and pivot ElliMinate (8) to score a trio of points before Vegas fought her way past Ciderella (-3°C) and Mallory Powers (9mm) at the rear.

With SVRG determined to preserve their lead as long as possible, and ARRG determined to erode it, the final 10 minutes of the bout was a fussilade of short, tightly contested jams, with neither team scoring a significant number of points.  (20 21 22 23 24) On balance, though, the home team had the slight advantage, inexorably grinding down their points deficit (and taking the knee repeatedly to gain the time to do so), until with only 41 seconds left in the bout, the score hung at

93 ARRG : 95 SVRG

Taking the responsibility firmly on her shoulders, team captain Zillah took the jam line for the home team, against SVRG's Vegas. All she had to do was gain lead jammer and pass just 3/4 of the opposing blockers on her first scoring pass to win^*. After a hard fight, she managed the first part, but the away team weren't about to make it easy on her with the second. With Vegas close to starting her own scoring pass, Zillah called the jam at the last possible second, apparently passing her second blocker at about the same time...

The unofficial final score, being checked for the first of three times.

...but the referees didn't seem to agree, the unofficial final score standing at:

94 ARRG : 95 SVRG

With such a close fought final jam, and such a close scoring point at the very end, the referees tripled checked every point, but the final confirmation didn't change anything; SVRG had won the bout by the narrowest of margins!

-

Awards and After-bout.

As usual, Roller Derby continued its tradition as the friendliest of sports, with the traditional post bout hug:

and the traditional post-bout awards, given by each team to their opposite numbers.

Awards

Best Takeout:

Tease The Tiger

Crazylegs

Most Feared:

Polly Purgatory

Danger Mouth

Sin-Bin Queen:

Public Enemy

Juicy Lucy

Best Jammer:

Blitzkrieg Baby

Juicy Lucy

Most Valued Player

Titty Twista

Zillah

^*Passing 2 players wouldn't result in a draw; like tennis, roller derby switches to sudden death jams to decide scoring ties, with both teams playing "lead jammerless" jams until one ends with a points advantage. 

--

Notes and Acknowledgements.

Thanks to the Auld Reekie Roller Girls and Stuttgart Valley Rollergirlz for an excellent game.
Thanks also to the creator of the bout programme, and to announcers Stephen Talking and Fay Bentos.
Also, thanks to ARRG's live bout-tweeter for continuing the ARRG tradition of rapid, detailed play-by-play tweets.

The video and photographs used in this report are all taken by me on a Sony A580 with the kit lens, and no flash. A playlist of video and album of photos from which they are drawn are at:
YouTube Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE6AEAE2386064B40
Picasa/Google Photos album: https://picasaweb.google.com/102032801144714237554/ARRGTwistedThistlesVsStuttgartValleyRollergirlz20August2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink
(Also shared on Google+, and a copy on Facebook)

This bout report, and all media therein are licensed CC-BY (Creative Commons : Attribution), which means that they are completely free to reuse and remix as long as I am given a credit as the author. You don't have to ask permission first as long as you do that.

As always, this report, and any inaccuracies within it, are purely my own. All corrections and comments are gratefully received.