All of our blog posts are now hosted on our website, manchesterrollerderby.com.
Head on over there for the latest news from the lovely folk at MRD.
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Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Thursday, 24 January 2013
MRD Allstars to play in first UK co-ed tournament this Sunday
The team that brought you Dodgebrawl, the UK's first co-ed bout, are now bringing you another UK first: a co-ed tournament featuring teams made up of girls and boys from roller derby leagues in Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield.
Our MRD lads and lasses will be on their way to Leicestershire this Sunday for the co-ed roller derby tournament, hosted by Nottingham Roller Girls. We know you've missed seeing the likes of Bruise Brother and Manc Zappa in action - so road-trip it to Leicestershire and reacquaint yourselves.
For those not in the know - a 'co-ed' roller derby team will have men and women skating together on the same team. It often brings about interesting debates in terms of physical differences - but we think you'll be surprised by how evenly matched we all are!
Get down to the Midlands Roller Arena to witness history in the making. Doors open 10am and the first bout is at 11am. Tickets are £9 in advance from http://nrg-co-ed.eventbrite.co.uk/, or you can pick yours up on the door for £12. You can get more info from the Facebook event page.
Our MRD lads and lasses will be on their way to Leicestershire this Sunday for the co-ed roller derby tournament, hosted by Nottingham Roller Girls. We know you've missed seeing the likes of Bruise Brother and Manc Zappa in action - so road-trip it to Leicestershire and reacquaint yourselves.
For those not in the know - a 'co-ed' roller derby team will have men and women skating together on the same team. It often brings about interesting debates in terms of physical differences - but we think you'll be surprised by how evenly matched we all are!
Get down to the Midlands Roller Arena to witness history in the making. Doors open 10am and the first bout is at 11am. Tickets are £9 in advance from http://nrg-co-ed.eventbrite.co.uk/, or you can pick yours up on the door for £12. You can get more info from the Facebook event page.
MRD's co-ed team in 2011 at the UKs first co-ed bout, Dodgebrawl
Photo by Jason Ruffell
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
MRD's Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2012
What better way to bring in the New Year than flexing your knowledge muscles on the last one?
Come to Retro Bar this Friday 18th January 2013 and take part in MRD's Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2012. The fun starts at 8pm until 10:30pm downstairs at Retro Bar and first prize is a crate of beer!
There will also be a "guess the weight of the cake" competition. The correct answer will win you the very cake you have guessed the weight of - and if you have sampled our tasty treats at a bout before you should already know that it'll be a darn fine cake.
There will be a sweet and savoury food stall, the bar will be staffed to serve drinks and there will also be a small clothes jumble. Items at the jumble will be 50p per item – better than any New Year's sale. The MRD merch will be making an appearance too!
To enter the quiz its £2 per person and free entry if you're not taking part. Quiz teams have a maximum of 6 per table.
RSVP here
Come to Retro Bar this Friday 18th January 2013 and take part in MRD's Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2012. The fun starts at 8pm until 10:30pm downstairs at Retro Bar and first prize is a crate of beer!
There will also be a "guess the weight of the cake" competition. The correct answer will win you the very cake you have guessed the weight of - and if you have sampled our tasty treats at a bout before you should already know that it'll be a darn fine cake.
There will be a sweet and savoury food stall, the bar will be staffed to serve drinks and there will also be a small clothes jumble. Items at the jumble will be 50p per item – better than any New Year's sale. The MRD merch will be making an appearance too!
To enter the quiz its £2 per person and free entry if you're not taking part. Quiz teams have a maximum of 6 per table.
RSVP here
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 |
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.
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
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.
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
|
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 |
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 |
Thursday, 29 November 2012
Roller disco in Manchester this Saturday, 6-8pm
Help us raise the funds to send our team to play Dublin Roller Girls. Go on.And whilst you're doing it, have ALL the fun on skates with yer mates.
The roller disco theme is "Irish and 70's" (we're indecisive) and it'll take place this Saturday 1st December at Sporting Edge. Fancy dress is optional... but dressing up is fun and the best dressed wins a prize. Either Irish or 70's, or a hilarious combination of the two, the choice is yours.
There will be cake. Of course. And a DJ. Plus we'll have an array of beautiful MRD merch on sale.
Everyone is welcome, children included. Come on down and throw some shapes on skates.
£3 entry (includes skate hire)
6pm-8pm
1 Silverlace Avenue, Openshaw, Manchester, M11 1GN
RSVP here
Thursday, 15 November 2012
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