Photography - David Payne
Devon Clotted
Screamers v Bath Roller Derby Girls
Bristol, July 14th
2013
Having enjoyed hosting Bath Roller Derby Girls at home
earlier in 2013 for a joint training session and scrimmage, the Screamers were
excited to play them in a ‘proper’ bout up at their training venue in
Bristol. We felt that the two teams were
quite evenly matched in terms of the amount of time since starting out and also
our bouting experience so it would be interesting to see how a real bout panned
out after we had each had a few more months of training. Had we known in advance that the day of the
bout was destined to be the hottest day of the year we may not have been quite
so keen…!
The journey up seemed uneventful enough for most of us –
even K-Tea Claws and Mumbles made the epic journey successfully from Eastbourne
where they had been NSOing the previous day for the Eastbourne Extreme outdoor
roller derby event. (They did both, however, have a nasty case of sunburn –
Claws’ calves were a particularly lovely shade of burgundy from halfway down and
Tony proved that it is possible to achieve a slightly red shade of
black!). However as we warmed up we
realised that our Captain Coxy was nowhere to be seen – and this continued to
be the case as the first hour’s training continued. As we got hotter and hotter in the oven of a
sports hall, Coxy, Smitty and Carl were enduring the same sweltering heat
albeit stuck in a car on the way to Bristol.
Eventually, however, Coxy made her entrance (one might say slightly
flustered and a little peeved) and we were ready to go just in time for the
first whistle.
As is usual for the Screamers, we were unable to field a full team due to injury so we were joined by a lovely lady from Bristol Roller Derby (who I’m not sure we were ever told the name of but who went by the name of Mumbles for the rest of the afternoon). This lovely temporary Screamer was very positive and with ice-skating experience behind her we were very grateful to have her on our team! The Bath girls were as cheerful and friendly as ever in their summery yellow kit but it was time to leave niceties behind and put it all out there on the track. We had assistance from So Solid Sue on line-up and the real Mumbles on the bench and we did our darndest to get off to a good start. After a few jams with the usual schoolboy errors in terms of penalties, some good jams were achieved, with quite a few power jams on both sides. Both teams had come on greatly since our earlier meeting in Barnstaple, and there was some really strong blocking and jamming from the usual suspects and a few new faces. It was a close bout, with Bath just clinching it as the Screamers reduced line-up finally wilted in the heat, but everyone gave it 100% and came off the track smiling.
Awards went to:
MVP Bath - Foxy Hard Knox
Best Blocker Bath - Hardcore Blondage
Best Jammer Bath - Kerri Kon Karnage
MVP Screamers - Rolls Moyse
Best Blocker Screamers - Whippety Split
Best Jammer Screamers - Becky
Spaghetti (although we think these last two might have been a mix-up!)
After everyone had quickly de-skated and rushed outside to
enjoy a bit of a breeze, we were treated to delicious BRDG cupcakes (wonder
where they got that idea?!) and lovely goody bags celebrating the popping of
BDRG’s bouting cherry. Although some of
the team had to get back to North Devon quickly, a few brave souls embarked on
an adventure to a mystery picnic spot which I’m sure was most enjoyable once
they eventually found it! It was a
fantastic day as always with the gorgeous ladies from Bath and we’re already
looking forward to doing it again (but maybe in normal British temperatures
this time!).
