November 22, 2017

Hoofddorp host to international men’s roller derby event

Filed under: Sports by Orangemaster @ 8:53 pm
Team Netherlands vs. Team Italy

Team Netherlands vs. Team Italy

Last weekend, Hoofddorp played host to ‘Road to Barcelona’, a six-team men’s roller derby event leading up to the Men’s Roller Derby World Cup to be held in April 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. Road to Barcelona events are currently being held in Europe, with this one organised by Team Netherlands – Men’s Roller Derby, their first time hosting such an event – and it was a blast. These pictures were taken by my co-blogger Branko, and I was the Head Announcer for the tournament.

Although the first ever men’s roller derby event ‘Battle of the Beasts’ took place in the Netherlands for the first time in in Valkenswaard, Noord-Brabant in 2013, happened twice after that and is scheduled for a fourth edition in January 2018, Road to Barcelona was specifically set up in preparation for the Men’s Roller Derby World Cup and featured Team Spain, Team Italy, Team Ireland, Team Belgium, Team Scotland and Team Netherlands. As well, a women’s exhibition game between Team Netherlands and Team Universe (a mishmash of European players) took place, with the Dutch women’s team preparing for the Roller Derby World Cup in February in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Why do we add the word ‘Men’s’ to the Roller Derby World Cup? Why isn’t it a men’s event in the first place? Because roller derby is originally a women’s sport, so it’s the men that get the mention ‘Men’s’ in their title, not the women. Even though this was the fourth ever men’s event on Dutch soil, it was the first one held near Amsterdam and attracted not only players, but officials, volunteers and spectators from all over Europe. Many of the players were playing for the first time and many people came to the Netherlands for this first time just to be there.

Team Spain vs. Team Belgium

Team Spain vs. Team Belgium

(Photos by Branko Collin)

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November 10, 2014

Women’s Dutch roller derby debuts in World Cup

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Orangemaster @ 12:56 pm

TeamNL1

From December 4 to 7 the second edition of the Blood & Thunder Roller Derby World Cup will be held in Dallas, Texas, and Team Netherlands will be participating for the very first time. Notice that this World Cup doesn’t contain the word ‘women’ in it because roller derby is predominantly a women’s sport: it’s the men that have to append an extra word to their World Cup.

Not even a year old, Team NL has been working towards Dallas from the very beginning, with about half the players hailing from the country’s first team, the Amsterdam Derby Dames, and the rest from the Rotterdam Death Row Honeys, Utrecht’s Dom City Dolls, Enschede’s Eastside Rock’n Rollers, Groningen’s Northern Lightning Rollerdgirls and Eindhoven’s Rockcity Rollers.

Today it has been announced that Team NL’s first tournament game will be against World Champion Team USA. Contrary to many other international sports, the US and Canada (ranked 2nd) dominate the sport because since the era of modern-day roller derby that coincidentally started in Texas in 2001, these two countries were pretty much the only ones playing the sport. Since then roller derby has grown exponentially, and countries such as England, France and Germany are now approaching the level of competitiveness driven by the US and Canada.

Some of the Team NL girls will be travelling to the US for the first time and are as excited as can be.

(Disclosure: I skate with the Amsterdam Derby Dames. Photos of Team NL training by Branko Collin)

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March 18, 2014

Men’s Dutch roller derby goes international, 24oranges hits local TV

Filed under: Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 11:33 am

A Dutch first that I had the pleasure of watching live and in person was the first-ever performance of Team Netherlands, the national men’s roller derby team. They played some tough teams, but caught a well-deserved win against Sweden. The video below is of their last game against Finland. The Men’s Roller Derby World Cup – the first ever world cup for the men – was held last weekend in Birmingham, England and I was lucky enough to be one of the many announcers for the event, announcing games for both Team Netherlands and Team Belgium in Dutch on the live feed. In December of this year, the women of Team Netherlands will make their debut in Dallas, Texas for the women’s second ever world cup.

Orangemaster, aka Natasha (me), was on newly founded local television show and established podcast What’s Up Amsterdam, an English-language guide to Amsterdam, presented by the witty Nathan Tytor. This was their second show and lucky for us, we had the chance to mention [shoehorn?] 24oranges in there somewhere (see video 1).

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April 29, 2013

Battle of the Beasts: Men’s roller derby in the Netherlands

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Orangemaster @ 1:40 pm

(Team Holland v. Team Germany)

Last Saturday, the town of Valkenswaard, Noord-Brabant played host to the first men’s roller derby tournament of the Netherlands, fittingly called ‘Battle of the Beasts’, featuring three national teams put together for the occasion: Team Holland, Team Belgium and Team Germany.

In a tournament of three complete matches called ’bouts’, the men did some heavy hitting in this full contact sport that is in fact originally a women’s sport. Not only did this tournament become part of Dutch sports history by being the first ever men’s event on Dutch soil, but it also put men’s derby on the map in The Netherlands. Team Holland was mostly made up of referees from Dutch women’s roller derby leagues, many of which play in the only Dutch men’s league from Groningen, Roaring Thunder Men’s Derby.

Team Holland took a surprising second place, decided in a nail-biting recounting of points in their second bout, which first had Team Germany pegged as the winners, but then turned into an unexpected win for the Dutch. The small yet dedicated crowd went wild, as the Dutch men performed beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. The fact that the Dutch were neck and neck points wise with the Germans was a delight to watch.

Team Belgium was the solid winner of this tournament, beating Team Holland in the first bout and Team Germany right afterwards in the second. For those who don’t know, bouts are an hour long with two 30-minute periods called halves, and that’s a lot of skating, sweat and in this case as well, injuries, albeit no broken bones.

(Team Holland v. Team Belgium)

Team Germany took third place, but put up a fierce fight all day, according to Team Holland’s captain, Rollin’ Reckless. “We went from zeroes in the first bout to heroes in the third bout. We rose to the occasion. I’m so freaking proud of all the Dutchies.”

(Disclaimer: I was one of the announcers of this tournament and Branko was one of the photographers, hence these lovely pictures)

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February 28, 2012

Bam! First roller derby bout in the Netherlands

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Branko Collin @ 10:43 am

Last Saturday the entire 24 Oranges team (yes, all two of us!) were at the first official roller derby match (’bout’ in derby jargon) of the Netherlands, held in Amsterdam between the Amsterdam Derby Dames and the Roller Girls of the Apocalypse (Kaiserslautern, Germany).

Roller derby is a full contact sport on wheels in which designated scorers need to pass a pack of blockers for points. We covered the basics before in an article about the first unofficial match (‘scrimmage’) last year.

Oohs and aahs ensued in the packed and beautiful Apollohal (on regular days a basketball venue) whenever Amsterdam’s Abs of Steel stepped on the floor, as even those among the visitors who had never been to a bout saw how she tossed unwilling opponents aside like rag dolls. You can see her earn that Most Valuable Player award in this video by Paul Siegman:

Despite heavy resistance from the German women, the Amsterdam Derby Dames kept adding to an early lead and in the end won the match 105 – 69. Our very own Orangemaster could not compete because of a broken leg she got in a practice match in Antwerp, but this did give Nasty Moves (her derby name) a chance to keep people entertained with music and informed on Twitter of the score.

Currently there are 12 roller derby leagues in the country. The women-run sport was re-started and re-imagined around 2001 in Texas, USA, and has made great strides ever since in that country, and is slowly and steadily growing in popularity in the rest of the world.

As always I will be adding a photo impression to our Flickr account later on (see the sidebar).

Update: the photos have been uploaded to Flickr.

(Video: Youtube / Paul Siegman)

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January 17, 2012

Amsterdam hosts the first ever Dutch roller derby bout

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Orangemaster @ 7:19 am

While the country was away on vacation last summer fleeing the total lack of warm weather, the Amsterdam Derby Dames, the first roller derby league of the Netherlands, trained and geared up for their first bout (official competition) in Essen, Germany.

And now another first — a historical moment if you will — is right around the corner: the girls will play their first ever home bout against the Roller Girls of the Apocalypse from Kaiserslautern, Germany. It’s one thing to keep playing abroad, as they went all the way to Cork, Ireland for the second bout, but like any other sport, it’s a different set of wheels to play it in front of your home crowd.

Find out more about the actual bout and tickets, and how you can be part of women’s sports history if you’re anywhere near the Dutch capital.

Disclaimer: I will be playing working for this bout, while Branko continues his moonlighting as an amateur derby photographer.

Here’s a video that just starting doing the rounds about the sport through the eyes of derby girls on both sides of the pond.

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August 15, 2011

First ever Dutch roller derby bout in Essen, Germany

Filed under: Sports by Branko Collin @ 12:48 pm

This weekend the Amsterdam Derby Dames (of which Orangemaster is a member) went to Essen for their first ever official match (there was a scrimmage of mixed Dutch and Belgian teams a couple of weeks ago, which is a practice match). This also made it the first ever bout of any Dutch team.

The hosts, the Ruhrpott Roller Girls from Essen, Germany, beat the Dutch ladies handsomely, 165 – 83. Still it was a great game, and I assume, a great learning experience.

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July 17, 2011

Roller derby scrimmage in Rotterdam

Filed under: Sports by Branko Collin @ 2:45 pm

Derby girls from all over the Netherlands and Belgium came together yesterday in Rotterdam for a scrimmage, an unofficial bout. Our very own Orangemaster was there to block for the white team, and I sat in the suicide seats and took pictures.

For those who do not know anything about the sport, here is a short, illustrated explanation. Two teams of five women race around a track, dressed both to impress and so you can tell them apart (in this case one white and one black team). The only men allowed on the track are the referees who dress in black and white stripes.
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June 30, 2011

Amsterdam roller derby team’s first ever bout

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Orangemaster @ 12:03 pm

Back in January, we told you how the originally American all-female sport roller derby was taking off in the Netherlands. Now, the Amsterdam Derby Dames, one of the Netherlands’ eight teams (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Enschede, Arnhem, Groningen and Limburg), will be playing its first ever bout (official competition) in Germany against the Devil Dolls Essen team of the Ruhrpott Roller Girls league.

The moment everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived: the Amsterdam Derby Dames will be playing their first official bout! Your dames are busy forming the first official team to represent the Amsterdam Derby Dames league and training hard. We’re so excited, we want to bring everyone along with us. Friends, family, loved ones, supporters, fans. We want you there! And what better way to get everyone there than to organize transportation for everyone? Well, that’s exactly what we would like to do.

There is a sign up form if you want to ride the ADD bus, but you absolutely have to fill in the form (form link here) so that they have an idea of how many people might be interested.

(Disclaimer: Orangemaster, aka Nasty Moves #76, is a member of the Amsterdam Derby Dames. Photo of mixed Dutch team scrimmage (unofficial competition) in Antwerp, Belgium)

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June 3, 2011

Slutwalk hits Amsterdam, 24oranges joining it

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 6:24 pm

It all started when some cromagnon policeman in Toronto, Canada was quoted this year as saying “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized”, which was picked up and understood as women who dress provocatively, like sluts, are asking to be raped. Nope, he was just an ordinary Canadian who since regrets what he said if I can believe the Canadian press and who still has major issues if you ask me.

Since emancipation is still in the stone age, cities around the world have started holding Slutwalks, and on 4 June, they’ll be one in Amsterdam, which I will attend along with my roller derby team from the Amsterdam Derby Dames uniform and wheels and all.

“We are tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result. Being in charge of our sexual lives should not mean that we are opening ourselves to an expectation of violence, regardless if we participate in sex for pleasure or work.”

SlutWalk Amsterdam
Saturday 4 June 2011
4 pm at the Homo Monument

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