Blue Ridge Roller Girls Report: Roller Girls dominate; beer taps dry up; ejection for fighting; promise of free popcorn from the Asheville Civic Center; and much more

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Photo by Bill Rhodes

Here’s the full report on the Blue Ridge Roller Girls‘ first bout this past Saturday:

By Bill Rhodes

In a wild season-opening romp at the Asheville Civic Center the Blue Ridge Roller Girls(BRRG) decimated the Roller Derby of Central Kentucky (ROCK) 244 to 39. Yes, 244 to 39. In front of 2,700 fans, many of them first-time derby watchers, a large number of whom were apparently confused over a few things.

First on the confusion list, why was the Asheville Civic Center not prepared for a crowd of this size. Partly because this was at least twice the crowd Roller Derby has ever drawn, partly poor planning. Long before the half, the beer ran dry, the popcorn poppers went cold, and hot dogs and coke were depleted. The biggest confusion were delays in the game, due to needed time outs for official discussions. Many were under the impression the bout would end at 9pm, and in this case the second half hardly started then. Most bouts are finished before 9:15. This bout saw two relatively rare events—an ejection for fighting and an injury requiring EMT’s. Both of these events are pretty rare, and took time to resolve.

In spite of the uneven score, long lines, and rumbling stomachs there are lots of reasons to go back, or go for the first-time. 244 to 39 is certainly a blow-out of a score, but in roller derby, there is always action no matter the score.

Much more challenging bouts are coming up in April with a double-header against Johnson City, TN’s Little City Roller Girls followed by the Southern Illinois Rollergirls of Carbondale, IL, both teams feature several ex-BRRG skaters, so that will be interesting, in June against Carolina Bootleggers of Raliegh, NC, a very tough team, and in July against the Texas Hellmarys, a pioneering team in modern roller derby.

The Civic Center director, in a half-time speech which went mostly unheard as many were on lines for nothing, promised everyone who brought their ticket from March 13th to the April bout would receive, get this, a free popcorn! Something free from the Civic Center? Should have been the lead on the evening news.

On to the event.

What can you say? Blue Ridge dominated. From the minute the two teams came out for warm-up laps, it was pretty clear how the night was going to go. The ROCK bench never seemed to have it together. A glance over there was a peek into chaos and mayhem. Meanwhile, sixty feet east, the BRRG bench, guarded on either end by magic horses and unicorns seemed a calm in a storm. As BRRG warmed up, they unveiled their new jerseys for the year and an obvious espirt de corps that any military unit would envy.

The BRRG team this year has had some personnel changes, and they have gone through several coaching iterations over the past year. None of this seems to have affected the remaining skaters, and the core of the team seems strong and invigorated. On their warm-up laps, which were a show in themselves, they did synchronized yoga stretches and other obvious team-building maneuvers. The girls oversee all aspects of the training, just as they do for the administration, public relations, and back-office work as well.

Okay, so I promised you some info on rules last time. Here goes. The points are scored by jammers. There is one jammer for each team, who wear stars over their helmets on nylon covers called “panties.” The two jammers start behind and after the pack, and work to get out in front to become “lead jammer.” Lead jammer is a tactical advantage, because only they can call off the jam. Points are only scored after the first pass through the pack. A referee is assigned to and skates alongside each jammer. The lead jammer is pointed to with one hand, the other in the air in the shape of an “L” for lead. Each member of the opposing team a jammer legally passes scores a point.

Jams are limited to 2-minute periods. They can be called early, by the lead jammer. This happens frequently as a strategic move, score a few points, call the jam, start again. If there is no lead jammer, for whatever reason, penalty, inability to get in front… whatever, the jam goes the whole 2 minutes.

There are major and minor penalties, major ones mean one minute in the penalty box, like hockey. Minors are counted up as in basketball. Four minor penalties means one minute in the box, but is not counted as a major penalty.

Next time a graphic to help understand the flow of the game.