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two friends, forty takes, one adventure across continents
April 8th by may
Dear Adri,
Roller derby is one of my favourite London discoveries to date. The thing about a city that has a bit of everything is that it gets hard to find something original; something still purely fun and bold and arresting to the senses. But when I walked into my first ever derby match that day, I thought “wow”.
The crowd wasn’t your latte-toting, high street variety and neither was it the plaid-wearing, skinny-jeaned breed of East London kitsch. Saturday afternoon in this nondescript sports hall in Bethnal Green was a lot of leather, piercings and tattoos.
The players were warming up, whizzing by, practising falls. Beer flowed freely. And in a very un-British manner, people sat around the track lines on the wooden floor. Most of the crowd was there to support the home team, the London Rockin’ Rollers, who were playing Glasgow’s Irn Bruisers. I didn’t know which team I was rooting for, so I just sat with the crowd that seemed happier and more lathered up.
My first five minutes in there, I wasn’t sure if I’d fit in. I thought I needed to speak some secret language to make up for the fact that I only had one tattoo and really boring hair. Then the guy next to me said hello in very plain English, and all was well.
I don’t know if my videos do it enough justice, but roller derby is more skill and speed than it looks. The girls are set to entertain, no doubt about it, but it’s as intense as any contact sport I’ve seen. Players have been known to break bones and on ocassion suffer more serious injuries. Spectators below 18 are made to keep at least one meter away from the track. It’s like the WWF (the lights! the music! the nicknames!) but without the fake routines and with far more attractive subjects.
Much has been said about the sport of roller derby. It’s certainly come a long way from a sporting culture that was revived purely from a grassroots level, gathering a following of quiet but earnest fans and players across America and Europe and even as far as New Zealand. Some even go further to position it within larger sociocultural contexts, as an homage to a “satirical punk” and third-wave feminism aesthetic.
Me? I’m just in awe of any girl who can dress up in a short skirt and makeup, and still kick so much ass.
London
Music
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts – Bad Reputation
Photo
Natalie Ujuk
Posted in culture, london, Play, roller derby, sports, subculture, video.