21 March 2011

CRDL smashed by VRDL in front of 3,500 fans

| johnboy
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CRDL v VRDL

A big crowd decided to give Skyfire a miss on Saturday night and give Rollerderby a go at the AIS Arena.

Sadly the spectacle was a trifle one sided.

Things were a bit odd from the start. Having themed the night “Skate Fatale” as a play on “femme fatale” the lounge band Annie and the Armadillos were meant to be warming up the crowd.

For mine that didn’t really work, there was a notable lack of applause for the band.

And then the Victorian Allstars came out onto the rink. There was a decidedly East German sort of air to them, all very white and long and powerful.

And then the smashing started.

The final scoreline of 67-166 is actually a little misleading.

In the first half the Canberra skaters managed just 17 points. By contrast the VRDL jammer Skate Bush scored 22 points in just one two minute jam.

In the second half the Victorians messed around with letting their blockers have a go at jammer.

It was quite the lesson in the use of offensive blocking.

In short the Victorians were bigger, faster, fitter, with better teamwork, and better tactics.

Hopefully the CRDL can find someone to play next time they can be competitive with.

Rollerderby

Here’s some video of the intro:

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lakelurker said :

VRDL is a from a city of 22 million. VCR are a younger team and awesome for taking on the roller derby big shots. They will only get better by playing teams that are more experienced than themselves. Canberra will see it’s team rise to the top!

Melb is about 4mil. But I agree with the rest!

Roulette Rouge – we’re all so proud of you gals, especially for the second half performance. Shows how much you learn and grow from such a bout. Now if only we were as kind to our other Canberran sports teams 😉

lakelurker said :

VRDL is a from a city of 22 million. VCR are a younger team and awesome for taking on the roller derby big shots. They will only get better by playing teams that are more experienced than themselves. Canberra will see it’s team rise to the top!

Wow… they don’t look like they’re from Jakarta!

VRDL is a from a city of 22 million. VCR are a younger team and awesome for taking on the roller derby big shots. They will only get better by playing teams that are more experienced than themselves. Canberra will see it’s team rise to the top!

user_unknown9:15 pm 21 Mar 11

Second roller derby game I’ve attended. Had a lot of fun! The crowd getting behind short stop was amazing.
I think we just got beaten by the better team of the night! I will say though, there was one girl on the VRDL team who just got through every time, not matter what we did! She seemed to have boundless energy as well! Good on both teams, and the crowd for getting behind them. Will definitely up my attendance this seasons and just have to pick a team….

Thanks the the Vice City Rollers, for putting themselves up against the national champions, sure it may of been a bit of a learning exercise in some ways, but Roulette knows what she is talking about. The second half was much tighter and I think the tactics used by the All Stars will have some exploitable weaknesses.

What they do so well was the way they worked together. Given the CRDL girls are a few seasons of experience behind them it suggest a great future for them.

Despite the score it was a very enjoyable game and well worth the investment. What’s not to like about an DIY all female players sport that can boast a tattooist, a butcher, a comic shop and a cafe as sponsors (amongst many others)

And Roulette for what its worth I’m already going for the Red Bellied Black Hearts!

Roulette Rouge5:17 pm 21 Mar 11

Thanks for coming along the VCRs local derby always needs local support!
One of the strategies in developing good roller derby, like any competitive sport, is learning from the best. This might mean hosting great visiting trainers, going to training camps or being brave enough (or as some say having enough ‘ovaries’) to take on much more established teams in a bout. VRDL has been around for a while now and been a fantastic source of inspiration for many local derby girls. So having the opportunity to bout with the VRDL All Stars on our home turf is – in this derby skater’s opinion – not only frightening but also an exciting and valuable opportunity to learn from one of the best teams and some of the most experienced skaters in Australia. To the VCR’s credit the second half saw the team score 50 points to VRDL’s 60, proof that the VCRs were in it until the end and didn’t balk at the crushing first half score.
No team is going to become better or learn anything if they only challenge teams that they know they can beat!
Our home season starts soon – time to pick a CRDL team, hope to see you in the crowd 😉

Having never been to Roller Derby I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I have read several reviews on here about the matches and had it on my to do list so headed out on Saturday.

Initially I thought something else was on at the same time, as the crowd was impressive to say the least. The enthusiasm and general vibe of the crowd was great too with plenty of people dressed up 1950s-ish and plenty of CRDL merch around the place.

The venue wasn’t too bad but I think it had it’s limitations with the live music as the seating feels fairly precarious at the best of times (so damn steep!) .. so dancing isn’t much of an option.. (which resulted in everyone looking unenthusiastic to onlookers and the band).

When the actual Roller Derby got underway it took me a while to figure out what the chicken dance at the end of a Jam was all about but after a few rounds + the printed guide + the intro video I had it figured out. Not sure if the intro video is a new addition, but I think it is an excellent opener for newbies (like me) and sets the vibe well!

Unfortunately I found it hard to stay focused on the match because of the imbalance. I resorted to shouting every time someone in purple and green worked their way through the pack. In saying that though, I can see how close matches would be exciting to watch and I think I will turn up again to see a more evenly matched contest.

What I would have loved to have seen is more ‘back story’ (even if it’s complete fiction) in the flyer/program. It would be great if the personality of the players came out more in writing because it’s hard to see them from 200ft up a concrete embankment. Similar to how the PWA guys have back stories about the wrestlers.. always such a good laugh while you’re waiting between rounds! (still laughing at the ‘boyfriend stealer’ from the last PWA Wrestling match up)

So in summary.. I think it was very well organised, had a great vibe, plenty of people involved..and even with the balance problem in the competition itself, I will be back for more.

Also a plug for Short Stop / Shaggle Frock who provided some awesome moments that had the Canberra crowd shouting even with the ~100 point deficit! 🙂

Oh lastly!.. for crowd involvement, perhaps giving away some prizes for ‘best dressed’ in the crowd (have someone scout them out before half time).. would be a good way to get people more involved in that aspect of the night which really added to the atmosphere!

Thanks to everyone involved in putting the event on too!

Although it was really one sided, I found it quite interesting and was able to get into it once I worked out what was going on. What did others think about it?

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