Monday 17 January 2011

Rhayfen @ STAR CHECK - First Contact

Saturday 15th January 2011 - Newport Centre.... Roller Derby history was made as the Tiger Bay Brawlers debuted against Bristol Harbour Harlots in what was the first EVER Roller Derby Bout in Wales, I know, I know its hard to believe but it happened, Derby has reached the Hills and Valleys of good ol' Cymru!



And what a BOUT! I was super excited for several reasons, mainly coz this was my first bout that didn't mean getting up at stupid am to get a coach to what is another country, I know alot of my 'abroad' readers might think 'eh, Wales is in England, isn't it', No its not. That's like saying Canada is in America. Wales is in the United Kingdom, but NOT England. So geography lesson over. I usually have to travel at least 3 hours to see live in the flesh Derby, or sit glued to my laptop watching DNN or JustinTV, for the live streams. Also mega excited as some of the original Brawlers and I used to all skate together as Dragon Dolls. However my main excitement was at seeing how they compared to us. Some might call it spying, others espionage. I like to think of it as, well spying and espionage. 

The Brawlers uniforms are amazing! we are about to try and workout what ours are going to look like and where we are going to get them from etc. The Harlots too have awesome little sailor-style shawl things, I dunno what they are called.



There we go. See what I mean??

Anyways back to the Bout.

First Jam, was awesome, second jam was awesome, TBB won. The End, na am joking (TBB did win though).

TBB scored early and made bloody sure once they had the lead they where keeping it. Bristol played their hearts out, but TBB where just able to get in their way. BHH's Jammers where fast, but alas TBB where faster, and when TBB put BB Bombshell in the pack BHH where no match, she just wiped the floor with them, and that's NOT a metaphor. I did feel it was slightly unfair of TBB to play BB, since she has played Derby in Australia for 2 years (I think) and BHH started about the same time as CDD and TBB. However that said if BB was on my team I think I would play her too. All fair in love and Derby, It's like having a ringer or hustling. BB just had the experience to play the game faster than the rest of the girls, that said I think TBB would have won regardless. And I do not want to take anything away from their win, at the end of the day its a team game and as good as BB is she is only one cog in the TBB machine.

Now for the Ref's. mmmmmmmm, It has made me realise that you really should try play as few fresh meat ref's as possible, although for the Welsh and other start-up Derby teams am not quite sure how that will happen. We are going to have to beg, borrow and maybe steal some from the more established teams (just for the bouts you can have them back afterwards). Head Ref, Dr Skaten, came down from Glasgow. The rest I believe were debuting. Now the problems I saw with this were a few. missed calls and the ability to maintain the pack, but am being a bitch. I guess its easy to criticise when your not doing it yourself and you have the ability to see the fouls from the sidelines. I guess its a bit like Refs in other sports, such as football, always gonna get it in the neck for stuff you don't see, and then also for calls you do make. Guess you can't please everyone, plus I doubt the CRoC Ref's looked much better on our first intraleague and since we are yet to debut in a public bout only time will tell if my comments are valid or not. One thing I must reiterate, I am not deliberately bad mouthing the Ref's, skaters or volunteers. After all without you guys Derby cannot and will not happen. I want to congratulate all involved for a job well done, it was a great game, venue and the crowd was huge, and very loud. I had a sore throat Sunday morning! It's just my opinion.

And so for the score.............


That's right, your not seeing things. TBB won by a landslide. The best bit, we are organising our debut against them. Now to get our blocks perfected and our Jammers on speed!!!

Stay Skating.

Derby Love

Rhayfen
xxxxx


2 comments:

  1. The final score was 173-37

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  2. I think you will find Rhayfen that Referees need a chance to learn from there mistakes as well as rollergirls, although calls were missed on the night, you can never judge a referees performance from the sideline as your NOT in the position they are in.
    How would TBB refs get any better if they weren't given a chance to referee actual bouts?
    They were given strong direction from Dr Skaten and he kept an eye on there performance as much as 1 man can.

    If you can provide us with 7 seasoned experienced good referees to ref our next bout, perhaps you should give me a call!

    Being a new sport to Wales obviously the refs will be new too. In future I would keep your negative criticism amongst yourself or I can't see many refs putting there hands up to ref Croc's up and coming bouts.

    As for my involvement in the game, well after training TBB for 8 months I felt playing about 10 jams in a 34 jam bout was reasonable and deserved, I was played the least out of all the girls.
    And from what the Bristol girls told me after the game, they loved the opportunity to play with and learn from me on the track.

    I'll be sure to give you lots of special attention on the track in June so you may learn from me as well.

    xoxo
    BB Bombshell

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