Sport pioneers on a roll to States

RAINY City girls in the thick of the action

TO THE uninitiated roller derby looks like a cross between rugby (without a ball) and British Bulldog - on roller skates.

It is a sport where the players - and even the referees - have puntastic nicknames such as Wuthering Frights, Uma Vermin, Nancy Raygun, Tequila Mockingbird and Wench Press.

But don't be fooled into thinking it isn't serious: this is a contact sport which requires fitness, strength, a lot of skill and the ability to give and take hard knocks.

Often billed as the UK's fastest growing female sport, it came to Oldham in 2011 when the former Astoria in King Street (where The Beatles once played to their own screaming fans) was transformed into the Thunderdome.

Rainy City Roller Derby was founded three years earlier in Manchester by the club's now-president Biertrix (Carly Harper) who had seen the sport on cable TV.

Inspired to set up her own team, they played in a sports hall before becoming the first team in the country to have their own dedicated venue when they moved to Oldham, and the first in Europe to have a dedicated skating track surface.

"It was pretty hard going," explained Rainy city PR director Harlot Jo Ransom (Emma Lyskava) as the majority of the work to transform the first floor hall was done by skaters, friends and family.

"They took down all the internal walls and luckily we knew people who did the electrics and plumbing. It took weeks and weeks and we held events and games to raise the money."

But that hard work paid dividends and Emma added: "It means we can train when we want to and not be constrained by other sports teams wanting to use the same space. It also gives us the freedom to run games when we want."

Teamwork

Starting with around 10 players - some former artistic skaters and some complete newbies - the club now has around 60 skaters who compete in three teams: the top All Stars, second team the Tender Hooligans for rising stars and the Bet Lynch Mob for newer skaters.

Many of those started at the club's thriving new skater night on Mondays, where complete beginners can try out the sport - with some like Emma inspired by Drew Barrymore's cult roller derby film Whip It.

"Some people describe it as a sport for people who don't like sport. A lot of people who start don't want to join a traditional sports team but they still want to be part of a team," she said.

Rainy's growth and success has been phenomenal and thanks to a five-game winning streak this season, they are now 26th in Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) international rankings.

Tournament

The All Stars came away from a tournament in Florida earlier this year with the second highest points total after beating fellow UK team Newcastle Roller Girls, Red Stick Roller Girls from Los Angeles and Florida's Fort Myers Derby Girls.

And they are now only the second English roller derby team to make it to the WFTDA Division 1 Championship Play-offs, following in the footsteps of London Rollergirls.

All Stars captain Vivien Leigh-Thal (Georgia Fishwick) said: "Getting to play-offs was our number one goal this year as a team, and we've worked really hard to make that happen. It feels amazing to have all of our hard work rewarded and be invited over to America to play in such a massive tournament."

A total of 40 teams will compete in four play-off tournaments in Montreal, Vancouver, Columbia and Mad