Seven teams, five leagues, one roller derby tournament
The Royal City Roller Girls (RCRG) hosted the Royal Brawl at Centennial Arena in Guelph. The roller derby tournament ran May 12 and 13, with seven teams from five leagues playing seven games.
Royal Brawl is the first major tournament the RCRG has hosted since 2012 when they hosted the Roller Derby Association of Canada’s Eastern Canadian Championship.
|
League |
Team(s) |
| Royal City Roller Girls | Brute-Leggers; Rum Rollers |
| Rideau Valley Roller Derby | Vixens |
| Tri-City Roller Derby | Thunder |
| Winnipeg Roller Derby | All-Stars |
| Capital City Derby Dolls | Cannon Dolls; Dolly Rogers |
The RCRG includes six teams, which are divided into two travel teams, two home teams, the fresh meat team (comprised of first-year players who compete against other first-year players), and an unofficial team (made up of refs and non-skating officials).
Travel teams: Brute-Leggers and Rum RollersHome teams: Killer Queens and Violet UprisingFresh meat team: Our Ladies of PainUnofficial team: The UntouchablesThe Ontarion spoke to the president and co-founder of the RCRG, Kirstie McKinaly about Guelph’s response to the tournament.
The community’s response has “been really good, actually. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people came out,” said McKinaly, also known as “Blood Thirsty Kirstie.”McKinaly was also amazed by “the amount of beer, and food, and everything else we sold.”
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The RCRG teams won three out of the four games they played. The tournament included a rematch between Tri-City Roller Derby’s Thunder and RCRG’s Brute-Leggers, in which the Brute-Leggers won 234–139.
Rideau Valley Roller Derby’s Vixens dominated, winning all three games they played by at least 30 points. Tri-City Roller Derby’s Thunder showed their consistency by scoring 139 points in both games they played.
| Royal Brawl bouts | Score | |
| Vixens vs. All-Stars | 197–147 | |
| Brute-Leggers vs. Thunder | 234–139 | |
| Rum Rollers vs. Cannon Dolls | 282–65 | |
| Brute-Leggers vs. Dolly Rogers | 152–119 | |
| Vixens vs. Thunder | 235–139 | |
| Dolly Rogers vs. All-Stars | 191–114 | |
| Vixens vs. Brute-Leggers | 212–181 | |
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For those interested in roller derby, McKinaly suggests going to a game and chatting with people. “Our biggest advertising is our players and how they feel about the league. They are always happy to talk about it because they enjoy the league so much,” she said.
McKinaly also shared that a great way to learn more about roller derby is by watching a documentary about the RCRG called Flat Track Confidential.
According to McKinaly, in roller derby it’s important for players to have a positive attitude, be adaptable, and be able to work in a group dynamic. The importance of working together was stressed as McKinaly noted that roller derby is “very much a team sport.” These qualities are important, but being sporty is not because, as McKinaly said, “everything else we can teach.”
Photo by Tasha Falconer.