Definitely
not your mama's roller derby Mark
DeWine -
Sports Intern
FAIRBORN
-- It is the same Nutter Center that will play host to
soft-spoken country artist Alison Krauss Sunday. But the
scene this past Friday night was distinctly different.
This night the Nutter Center is home to the Gem City Rollergirls
(GCRG), the hard hitting, trash-talking ladies brave enough
to be members of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.
GCRG is Dayton's first and only skater-owned and operated,
women's flat-track derby league.
At the end of the night, the Rollergirls take home the
victory, defeating the Fort Wayne Smokin' Guns 98-73. But
roller derby is not only about the score.
The moment you walk into the arena and hear the National
Anthem being played via electric guitar, it is evident
that the atmosphere is fundamentally different from any
other sporting event.
The Nutter Center is far from packed, but the energy says
otherwise.
The sparse three hundred plus crowd is raucous and energetic;
booing, jeering, and occasionally cheering enough for three
thousand. Most fans cheer the hardest not when points are
scored, but when hits are made and crashes ensue.
You
also get the feeling that the announcers are not your bread-and-butter
combination. Their running banter through the entire night
is often far from G-rated, and usually tongue-in-cheek.
They also feel open to express their personal opinions,
at one point announcing that the referees, "whistles
do, in fact, work tonight."
The
announcers begin the night by telling fans they are welcome
to sit in "suicide
row," the area immediately outside the compact 100 foot concrete track, at their
own risk. The only thing separating the spectator from a collision course with
an athlete is a thin line of caution tape, a grave underestimation of the perils
that lie within the red tape. Soon suicide row lives up to its name, as rollergirls
come crashing in, to the horrors of some spectators, but to the delights of others.
The score is one-sided in favor of Gem City by the end of the night, but to most
people, (Rollergirls included) this seems almost irrelevant. For these girls,
playing the game has intrinsic value, regardless of the score.
This was not the case, however, for their opponents, the Smokin' Guns. Ft. Wayne
proved themselves to be a mean opponent from the very beginning. Tripping, illegal
blocking, and fighting are commonplace for Ft. Wayne. So is the yelling and complaining
to the referees, as well as to the fans. At one point a member of the Smokin'
Guns tells a heckling fan, "let's go outside when this is over." Four-letters
words often seem to consume their vocabulary.
The attitudes of the players are reflected in their roller derby names they choose.
The Gem City Rollergirls names range from Polly Rocket to Seoul Sister. Meanwhile,
the Smokin' Guns don names such as Bang Bang Ladesh, Oreo Slamher, and Sassy
Assasin.
But it almost seems that neither team is the other's true opponent. In fact,
it is the referees of roller derby that are the sworn enemies, to the point that
they are described in the program as "the villainous referees." And as a result
of this role they take a huge amount of abuse; from incessant yelling by red-faced
coaches, to being physically pushed to the ground by a Ft. Wayne rollergirl.
And the referees seem to relish their role of the villain. When they are announced
and subsequently booed, they thank the crowd in a facetious fashion.
Despite all the theatrics of roller derby, the sport itself is as fascinating
as it is legitimate.
But the enjoyment of the night does not end with the blow of the whistle, for
fans or athletes. As it proclaims in the program, "when it comes to pass that
one final whistleÉshall henceforth end our days rivalry, we shall partake
in the eating of junkfood and the imbiding of beverages, and the enjoying of
roller derby sisterhood."
In other words, fans are invited to join players from both teams at the after
party, held at the nearby Fox and Hound bar.
So in a sport's world dominated by scandals, whatever they may be, it is can
be a refreshing treat to attend a sporting event where the athletes are untarnished
and realÉ even if that sport does include pushing grown women to the ground
at 50 MPH on a concrete track.
The Rollergirl will next take on the Cincinnati Rollergirls on August 11.
