Monday 17 December 2012

CheckerBroads Take the Track in 2012

What a year we have had!

Last December Manchester Roller Derby were settling into our new training venue, Sporting Edge, and embarking on a new chapter for MRD as a league.

17th December 2011 brought a winter home game, Mistletoe and Grime, which was the CheckerBroads first double header alongside our men's team New Wheeled Order. The Broads took on Croydon Roller Derby in what we knew would be a tough game. The visitors won 163 to 126 in a fast paced bout.

In Jan 2012 we traveled to play a return game against Hot Wheel Roller Derby in Halifax. The CheckerBroads had a comfortable win at the previous bout, but we underestimated how much the hotties had improved since then. Final score: CB 91 – 189 HW.

We needed a win. We had lost our last four games and we were facing a return game against CCR’s Slay Belles. The last game was lost by a mere 19 points. We traveled with our fans to Birmingham full of positivity and a coach load of tactics. We skated hard and fast and won 135 to123!
Photo by Shirlaine Forrest
Two weeks later we went to play our friends the Liverpool Roller Birds. This was a strange game as we often scrimmage together, but we we’re all excited to play for real on the track. Final score: LRB 173 – 211 CB. It was the first time we had broken 200 points! It was a great game to play and we didn’t want the final whistle to go.

Then came Dundee Roller Girls in April. We beat them by 99 points last March and this time they traveled the distance to visit us. They turned things around and came out top: CB 129 – 202 DRG. The blow was softened by an amazing after party.

June brought us our next home game, a return bout against the mighty Severn Roller Torrent. We had a huge score to settle and we’re desperate for a home win…and we got it! Final score: SRT 84 - 203 CB.

In July we traveled across to Newcastle to play our return game against Newcastle Roller Girls. Last time we played the B-team and won by 7 points but the return game was against NRG's A-Team. We knew it was going to be tough. We went in cool, calm and waltzing...yes, waltzing was our skate out. Something did the trick as the final score was NRG 156 – 172 CB.

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest
Our training was paying off, our teamwork was stronger than ever, and the trust we had in one and other was being reflected on the track.

The fun continued in July when we were invited to the third Great Yorkshire Showdown. We were drawn against Sheffield Steel Roller Girls B-team the Crucibelles, and Hot Wheel Roller Derby. Final scores: MRD 48 - 95 HW and SSRG 56 - 75 MRD. It was a mighty day and we love LRD for putting on such a great event. We are ready for the next one!

In October MRD went international. We were invited to play the Amsterdam Derby Dames and sent a mixed A and B team to embark on our first European bout. We stormed our way to a win, ADD 131 – 201 MRD, and became international athletes.

November 17th saw the biggest home event MRD had ever hosted. Our very own New Wheeled Order took on the formidable New York Shock Exchange, and we had our return game against the Impostors. Not to be out-shined by the boys, we opened the day with a big win: IRG 64 – 183 CB.

The last bout of 2012 brought 40 or so very bleary eyed rollergirls, refs and derby friends to Manchester Airport early on a Saturday morning for a bout in Dublin. Our wonderful B-team The Furies were played against Dublin's B-team, and the Broads brought our return game to Dublin's A-Team. This game was a challenge but we were able to narrow the point deficit from the last bout. Final score CB 93 – 164 Dublin. We traveled there and back in one day, and didn’t even time for a pint of Guinness!

This year has been a busy one. We have trained hard, learned from each other and the amazing teams we have played. We have sadly seen some of our best players go, but we have filled our team with some amazing new talent. We are all massively proud of how the CheckerBroads have grown as a team, we are definitely a strong force to behold!

The CheckerBroads are very excited to see what 2013 will bring and they hope to see YOU on the track!
HAPPY PACK!
Photo by Craig Richmond


New Wheeled Order: Year One

Twelve months, fourteen games. A year ago today, Manchester Roller Derby’s New Wheeled Order skated out to face Tyne & Fear in our first ever bout. Now that the season’s over, what better time to indulge in a little nostalgia and take a look back at the wins, losses and lessons learned over the year.

And what a year it’s been...

17th December 2011
Mistletoe & Grime: Home to Tyne and Fear

Okay, so we were a team then. Just. The twelve-man roster that took on Tyne and Fear included some very fresh legs (and shiny skates) and for some reason, the Order’s own Crash Matt was skating for the opposition...

Final score: T&F 206 - 113 NWO

9th June
Home to The Jakey Bites

Around six months behind us, the Jakeys paid us the honour of traveling from all over Scotland to play us in their first bout. With some great skaters - and three of Tyne and Fear  making guest appearances - the Jakeys played an aggressive game, but we’d been working to strengthen our walls since that first loss, and the Scots jammers struggled to break through.

Final score: NWO 272 - 103 TJB

Mens European Roller Derby Championships
Birmingham, July 28th/29th

Two days of derby, with seven teams playing each other in half-hour bouts to earn a top-four spot and continue through to the second day. A half-hour bout sounds easy, but the pace of each game was frantic from the first whistle, and staying focussed and energised was as important as the tactics.

Wins against the Crash Test Brummies, Tyne and Fear and (with a decisive points difference) The Inhuman League, saw the Order go through to day 2 in third place, finishing fourth overall due to a loss in the second of two painfully close games with The Expendables.

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest
The team voted our “game of the tournament” as the second bout with the Toulouse Quad Guards, proving that in roller derby, it’s not always about the win; sometimes it’s about setting a goal and achieving it. Despite the loss, taking so many points off the Quad Guards was a huge achievement for us, and every skater shares the pride in that result.

11th August/15th September
Talk Derby To Me: Away to The Inhuman League
Home to Lincolnshire Rolling Thunder

Two games coming close after the tournament taught us a lesson in the need to stay flexible in your tactics. Our strong defensive approach had been successful to that point, but facing teams playing “old-school” merby, with strong individual play and committed assists, saw us struggling to reform our walls and take control of the game. We took what we learned in both games back to training, and spent the next two months drilling a new style of play for us; our defence is still strong, but now so is our offence...

Final scores: TIL 148 - NWO 138 / LRT 170 - NWO 135

17th November
Shock the UK! Home to the New York Shock Exchange

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest
This game had been in the planning for nearly a year, and was worth the wait. Playing to one of the biggest and most supportive crowds either team had experienced, the game played out as many had expected, with the NYSE taking a convincing win, but again we set ourselves a goal and we achieved it. Never mind our points, the NYSE jammers had to fight for every single one of theirs, and we never gave them a second to relax, keeping the pressure at 100% right to the final whistle.

Final score: NYSE 266 - 59 NWO

2nd December
Away to the Crash Test Brummies

We could have ended the year with an upset, with a frantic first half of aggressive play by the Brummies who - as at the European Championships - forced us to play their game up to the half way point, seeing us in the changing rooms with a two-point deficit. It was a more focussed, calmer and more controlled New Wheeled Order that returned to the track for the second period, taking the lead, and then the game, by keeping tight hold on their jammers, assisting ours through the Brummie walls, and keeping - as far as we could - an empty penalty bin.

Final score: NWO 236 - 123 CTBs

So that was our first year as a bouting team, and if you think that was a big year, you have no idea what we have in store for 2013. We’re coming back bigger, stronger, faster, and with our most ambitious goals yet.

Every skater in the Order would like to thank all of our fans for the love and support we’ve experienced at each game.

Happy Christmas.

Photo by Shirlaine Forrest