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.
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Photo by Shirlaine Forrest
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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
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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.
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Photo by Shirlaine Forrest |