WONDERBRAWL

Well then! Yesterday, we had our first ever ever ever HOME bout, at Manchester's number one music venue, the Academy 1.  And it went amazingly, if we do say so ourselves.

Manchester sat witness to not one but two exciting games of hard-hitting derby goodness - and by the sounds of it, the sport may well have gained a few more fans.

The day for me started at 12 when I got there, but preparations were well underway by then - part of the track was marked out and some of our MRD lovelies were mopping the floors and setting up the projector/DJ gear.

Having put myself forward to help, I donned some knee pads and got involved with finishing off the track - in a team of three with lovely Farrah and Shannen.

Once the track itself was laid out we shoved our gear upstairs in the very swanky changing rooms and tried to settle ourselves a bit.  It was here that we were told there was a rather large queue forming outside and that a girl in that queue had MRD SHAVED. INTO. HER HAIR.  This was BIG.  Maybe the nerves started to set in a little more at that point... but we'll call it anticipation.

I ventured back downstairs. The merch stalls in the foyer were all set up and looked byootiful.  Seeing this (in addition to the track all laid out, the projector screen all set up and the growing crowd) it was plain to see how everything had actually come together.  All the hard work put in by everyone (particularly Psycho, Sian, Al, Seb, Gio, Sui, Mooks, Kristy, Martha, Robin, Farrah, Vicki, Joe, Gaz, Danny and Shannen) had totally and completely paid off.  This was happening, both in the 60's hippy slang and actual sense of the word.

The venue was packed in time for the first game, with about 550 people all eagerly awaiting the first whistle.  The atmosphere was electric.

First on the track were Tiger Bay Brawlers (TBB) and Birmingham Blitz Dames (BBD).  The first game started off extremely tight between the two teams, and for most of the first half there were only a couple of points in it. The gap widened a bit in the second half and despite a couple of serious TBB skater injuries, they came out on top - beating BBD by 123 to 110.

Next it was our turn. The crowd was ready, we were ready...

With skate outs, variously impressive warm-ups and stretches out of the way, the ref blew his whistle and we were off.  Hot Wheels went ahead in the first couple of jams, so to all intents and purposes it was a bit of a wobbly start.  However, someone once said to me that the first jam is always rubbish... so let's remember that.

Our jammers spent a fair bit of time in the sin bin during the first quarter but we definitely learned from that quickly and turned it around.  It was kind of like the turnaround we'd pulled off at Mods & Blockers but much earlier on.

The scoreline went from HWRD 12 - 8 MRD to HWRD 16 - 20 and we were back in the game!  A power jam briefly put Hot Wheels back in the lead, but we pulled it back again with awesome jams from G-Whizz and Fale.

During half-time we had a brief team talk - morale was high but we didn't want to get too cocky.  Hot Wheels could easily turn it around, just as we had almost done at Grimsby.  We decided on our gameplan and were ready to go.

As the second half kicked off the scores were HWRD 40 - MRD 91 and we got straight back into it again. Focused and positive!

It was full-time before we knew it and the final scores settled at HWRD 56 - MRD 171.  I'm so proud of everything that we did and all the work that was put in, both on and off the track.

Huge thanks and much love to the Hotties, Blitz Dames and Brawlers for being amazing, brutal and tenacious. We want you all back.

Everyone I invited, even those who had no idea what the game involved, said that they absolutely loved it.  My dad, a total footy-obsessive, was bowled over (particularly by the fact that we just get up instead of rolling about on the floor angling for a penalty :P).

The Wonderbrawl teams, future MRD heroes, NSOs, refs and friends/fans are made up of the best people you could hope to meet and I love being a part of MRD.

This has gone on for longer than I intended.
Derby loves,
Kate Push #11

(All photos courtesy of Shirlaine Forrest except the first colour photo, which was taken by Hannah Wood, and the second colour photo, which was taken by Danny Powell. Thank you!)