Edinburgh’s roller girls on the hunt for new home
Auld Reekie Roller Girls (ARRG), Edinburgh’s Roller Derby club, are to host a national tournament in the city on Saturday 25th November. ARRGmageddon 2017, to be held at Meadowbank Sports Centre, will see ARRG’s third travel team, the All Star Rookies, battle it out with teams from Livingston, York and Durham. Continue reading ARRGmaggedon: Roller Girls bid fond farewell to Meadowbank
Auld Reekie Roller Girls are Oregon-bound
Edinburgh’s Auld Reekie Roller Girls’ (AARG) All Stars will travel to America to take on some of the most talented roller derby teams on the planet this week. Continue reading City girls go west to face world’s best roller derby teams
Home double header on 28 November
In this year’s Home Season, Auld Reekie Roller Girls three home teams – the Cherry Bombers, Leithal Weapons and Skatefast Club – have battled it out in three fast and furious games, all of which will culminate in November’s grand final.
The Skatefast Club had a decisive win over Leithal Weapons in the first game of the Home Season, before the Leithals rallied with a win against the Cherry Bombers in the second game. Following a rollicking game in early November in which Skatefast Club beat the Cherry Bombers, we’re set for a dramatic finish to the season as the Leithal Weapons takes on the Skatefast Club, juking it out for supremacy. The grand final will be a double-header, with the third-placed home team, the Cherry Bombers, taking on guest team – The Rolling Bones.
Both games will take place on Saturday 28 November at Meadowbank Sports Stadium on London Road.
Doors open at 1pm, so come along and view our cake, merchandise and local vendors stalls before the first game begins at 1.30pm.
ARRG has arranged a special license for a bar, and there will be amazing half-time entertainment and a charity fundraising raffle. There will also be separate seating areas for families and young children, and a children’s craft corner to keep little ones amused.
Tickets are £6 in advance, £8 on the door, available from Brown Paper Tickets:
Tickets: http://www.
ARRG has also introduced new prices for unwaged and Senior (over 65’s) fans at £5 per ticket, as well as free entry for disability leisure card holders and a carer.
Fresh faces will join battle-hardened old hands to play their first Auld Reekie Roller Girls (ARG) home season later this month (writes Lucy Glenny).
ARRG has divvied up its competitive skaters, old and new, into three home teams – Cherry Bombers, Leithal Weapons and Skatefast Club. Each team of 14 skaters will battle it over four events out to be crowned queens of the league 2015.
The first game will be between the Leithal Weapons and current title-holders Skatefast Club on Saturday, September 26.
Next up is the Leithal Weapons versus the Cherry Bombers on Saturday 17 October and the third game will see the Cherry Bombers take on the Skatefast Club on Saturday 7 November 7.
The grand final will be a double-header, with the third-placed home team playing a guest team and the two top home teams competing for first place on Saturday 28 November.
Each game will take place at Meadowbank Sports Stadium on London Road.
Doors open at 2pm, giving plenty of time to eat cake, look at merchandise and browse our craft stalls before the game starts at 2.30pm.
ARRG has arranged a special license for a bar at the events and there will be half-time entertainment too.
There will be separate seating areas for families and young children and a children’s craft corner to keep little ones amused.
Tickets are £6 in advance, £8 on the door and £17 for the five-game home season ticket, available on Brown Paper Tickets.
www.facebook.com/auldreekierollergirls
Saturday’s second and final Edinburgh Fringe roller derby game, hosted by Auld Reekie Roller Girls, will be a stellar all-Northern all star line-up (writes Lucy Glennie).
Fabulous skaters from teams across Scotland and northern England will pit their speed, stamina and agility against each other to determine the victor.
The two all-female teams will each field a jammer, who will strive to get past four opposing blockers to score points. The teams will aim to outwit, out sprint and hit their opponents out of play using only the power of their bodies and minds.
This Saturday’s game comes hot on the heels of Auld Reekie’s All Star Reserves’ incendiary head-to-head against Glasgow Roller Derby’s Maiden Grrders on 8 August. Active Edinburgh’s sponsorship of the first Fringe game really helped things go with a bang!
The next game will be a special evening event, building on the excitement of the last, with a stadium full of fans and a licensed bar. This is an inclusive, family-friendly event celebrating strength, teamwork and friendship for young and old, regular and brand new fans.
All welcome at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh on Saturday 15 August, 7 – 9.30pm.
A red-hot new roller derby team will assemble for Auld Reekie Roller Girls’ first Edinburgh Festival Fringe game of 2015. Sparks are sure to fly as Edinburgh’s All Star Reserves play Glasgow Roller Derby’s Maiden Grrders next Saturday.
Team captain Mallory Powers said the new skaters will raise temperatures with the fastest crossovers, big hits and speedy whips.
She said: “We have a brand new team and are really looking forward to bringing everyone together and building on the excitement and atmosphere of the two recent All Star derby derbies!
“This will be the first time the Auld Reekie and Glasgow Roller Derby B teams have played each other in a while and the teams are very different now, so no-one really knows what to expect.
“The focus will be on developing our newer skaters and working as a team to achieve our goals – but we’ll bring the same level of gritty determination, cheery competitiveness and fun as our wonderful All Stars.”
Vice-captain Lady Scrapnell said she was looking forward to the new skaters playing their first festival game.
She said: “It’s always exciting when new people skate on a team for the first time, and this time around we are lucky to have five new Reserves.
“We’ve all been working really hard in the All Star Reserves off-season, helping the All Stars train for their high level games, so lots of skaters have developed really quickly and we’ll be really proud to be skating out with them at Meadowbank.
“Between us all we’ll bring enthusiasm, athleticism and attitude, and will help to create one hell of a crowd atmosphere.”
Families are welcome to watch this test of strength, speed and agility as skaters battle through their rivals’ team using only the power of their bodies.
The show rolls into town next Saturday (8 August) at Meadowbank Sports Stadium from 2pm.
The British Roller Derby Championships are Europe’s largest Roller Derby Tournament, with 72 leagues from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland going head to head over the course of 2015.
Auld Reekie Roller Girls (ARRG) are in the Premier Division of the competition and have already travelled to Cardiff to take on Middlesbrough Milk Rollers in the first round of the tournament. That nail-biting game between two closely-matched teams resulted in a 114-108 win for the Edinburgh women.
Round two of the tournament will be hosted by ARRG at Meadowbank Sports Centre on Saturday 2 May, where Edinburgh’s finest will take on two of the UK’s strongest teams: Manchester’s Rainy City Roller Girls (RCRG), and – in what is guaranteed to be a very exciting game – ARRG face their closest neighbours and deadliest rivals in the Edinburgh v Glasgow Derby Derby!
ARRG are currently ranked number 1 in the UK rankings, but Glasgow are close behind at number 2. Will the mighty ARRG be able to hold on to their top spot, or will the Glaswegians opposition be too strong?
The day will also host games between Birmingham’s Central City Roller Girls (CCR), Middlesbrough Milk Rollers (MMR) and Cardiff’s powerful Tiger Bay Brawlers (TBB): it’s sure to be a day of fiercely-fought battles between the highest-ranking teams in the UK.
This is an incredible chance to see the country’s best teams play at the bargain rate of only £12 for the entire day – come and see why people are getting so excited about the fastest-growing women’s sport in the world!
British Roller Derby Championships: Premier Tier – Round 2
9am – 7pm, Saturday 2 May: Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh
Tickets: Tickets available from: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1353385
Full-day tickets: £12.00
ARRG vs. Glasgow tickets: £5.00
Free for children aged 14 and under.
What is modern roller derby?
Roller derby is an all-female sport that involves teams competing on an oval track in a series of ‘jams’ – two minute periods that see teams of five players each battling to score points.
During each jam, one player on each team is designated as the ‘jammer’ who scores a point for every member of the opposing team she passes.
The sport requires a punishing array of agile and athletic skills, from zig-zag blocking moves to body slams to all-out speed-skating.
To perfect these manoeuvres, skaters commit to several hours of practice every week, paying for gear and practice space out of their own pockets. While it has its roots in sports-entertainment-style exhibition games going back as far as the 1930s, modern roller derby has reinvigorated the game with a grass-roots DIY ethos that puts the passion for athleticism front-and-centre.
The trend finally reached Edinburgh in 2008, when a small group of women founded the Auld Reekie Roller Girls. The Edinburgh league now averages over 100 skaters, and is run purely on the volunteer efforts of its members.
ARRG became full members of the Womens Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) in 2011. ARRG’s All Stars are currently ranked number 1 in Europe and number 60 in the world.
For further info go to www.arrg.co.uk.
Tickets to the next Auld Reekie Roller Girls game just £5 when you sign up to the league’s newsletter
ARRG’s all-women roller derby team the All-Star Reserves hope to hit, whip and skate their way to victory against Cambridge Rollerbillies when they clash this Saturday.
The game will bring all the big hits and speedy skating to fans rooting for the Edinburgh girls to complete an Oxbridge double, after beating an Oxford team last month.
All Star Reserves’ captain Kiki said: “We’re so pumped for the last All Star Reserves game of the season and can’t wait to channel our amazing training into this game!”
However, the Cambridge team comes fresh from winning the Heartland Series tournament of 24 English and Welsh teams, with a stunning 184-59 score against Plymouth City Roller Girls. The Cambridge skaters have proved themselves fit, speedy and strong and are sure to bring their new skills and strategy to their game against Auld Reekie.
The All-Star Reserves hope to get loud support from the Edinburgh crowd on their home ground at Meadowbank Sports Centre in a fast and fierce demonstration of athleticism on wheels.
Supporters can also snap up merchandise and tuck into home-made cakes at the game on Saturday (28 February) from 2pm.
Tickets for Auld Reekie Roller Girls’ All Star Reserves vs Cambridge Rollerbillies are £8 on the door or £7 from the Brown Paper Tickets website. (www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1017167)
Free entry for children aged under 14 and only £5 if you sign up to the ARRG newsletter on the arrg.co.uk website.
While it seems like half of Wales has moved up here for the rugby this weekend, a city team is heading the other way …
The Auld Reekie Roller Girls, Edinburgh’s Roller Derby team, are on their way to Wales this weekend to compete in the first leg of the UK’s first ever progression and relegation based roller derby tournament.
The tournament includes teams from Scotland, England and Wales, and Auld Reekie are delighted to have been invited into the six-team Premier Division. The team take on the first of their rivals, Middlesbrough, in Newport this weekend.
Captains Skinn’er Alive and Lilo and Stitches said: ‘We are so excited to be playing this tournament. The teams involved are playing the highest level roller derby in the UK and we are thrilled to be part of it. All six teams in the premier division are amazing, so it’ll be really exciting to see the games play out’.
This season sees a few new faces on the ARRG All Stars, and the team is looking stronger than ever. The Middlesbrough team are not to be taken lightly, however, currently ranking fifth in the UKRDA rankings.
Not only have Auld Reekie got new players, but they’ve got a new name too! This will be the first time the ‘All Stars’ have played – they were previously known as the Twisted Thistles. 2015 saw a new streamlined look for Auld Reekie, as they dropped the team names and are now known as the All Stars and the All Star Reserves.
The Reserves have already had one win this year, with a second home game to come at Meadowbank on 28 February, so the All Stars are looking to follow their lead and take home a win this weekend too.
The All Stars are confident; they’ve been working tirelessly all off-season and are looking to build on their new skills and tactics over the season to come. This being the opening weekend, it promises to prove a pretty exciting game!
If you would like to see the next leg of Champs, the All Stars will be playing at home at Meadowbank on 2 May.
visit AARG website at www.arrg.co.uk.
ARRG Facebook: www.facebook.com/auldreekierollergirls
ARRG Twitter: https://twitter.com/auldreekierg
It’s been a year to remember for Auld Reekie Roller Girls – and there’s a lot to look forward to in the year ahead too …
2014 was another exciting year for Auld Reekie Roller Girls (AARG).
January saw us embark upon our third annual intraleague Home Season – and, as we’ve witnessed for the past two years, we saw the Skatefast Club and the Leithal Weapons make it to the final, but this year, for the first time, the amazing Skatefast Club took the title!
February was a busy month of training for us all, and in March the Twisted Thistles played a closed game against Tiger Bay Brawlers, and won.
May saw the Thistles head off to Oregon to compete in the Big O tournament, whilst our Cannon Belles took on Newcastle at home, and won.
We had our annual awards ball in June, which is an amazing celebration of our work both on and off skates, and a lovely excuse to get dressed up and have a night out.
In August we played our annual Fringe games, first our Belles took on Dirty River Roller Girls and then the Thistles faced London Roller Girls Brawl Saints. Sadly we were defeated on both occasions, but the Belles did not feel defeated and they went on to beat Hamburg at home in September. Nor were the Thistles, who also came out with a win when Royal Windsor Rollergirls came to play.
Then, the Belles headed off to Oslo for a tournament with some really highly ranked opponents; Oslo Roller Derby and Dock City Roller Girls. The tournament was incredibly hard and both games saw us defeated, but we fought hard for every point, coming home and ready for the last game of the year, against Malmo’s B team and ended the year on a high with a comfortable win.
And so another year ends, but this time with some BIG changes afoot for 2015.
First and most excitingly, the Thistles and Belles are no more! We have retired these names and as of January 1st, the teams will be known as the Auld Reekie Roller Girls All Stars and All Star Reserves.
This is an exciting movement forward for us, and we are super excited. We’ve also seen big changes with our home season, which is now taking place at the end of the year, from September to November. By the time it comes around, we’ll have a massive number of new skaters in the league so it will definitely not be one to miss.
We’ve also got a lot of really exciting games planned for this year, including being part of the British Champs Premier League where we will play with the other top 4 leagues in the UK to battle it out for the top spot! Look out for more information on that.
We hope to see more and more fans at our home games, and for more information on the fixtures, check on arrg.co.uk or for any enquiries, email communications@arrg.co.uk.
Here’s to 2015!
Auld Reekie Roller Girls
