SCOTTS VALLEY >> Roller Derby isn’t a sport of niceties and manners. It’s a sport of sweat and bruises and ears mangled by skates.
So when the London Brawling came to town for a Women’s Flat Track Derby Association-sanctioned bout against the Santa Cruz Derby Girls’ Boardwalk Bombshells, they probably weren’t expecting to be invited in for tea. Then again, they also probably weren’t expecting to see, in a sea of SCDG T-shirts and sweatshirts and red-white-and-blue scarves, one of the Bombshells fans waving a cardboard sign featuring the London flag on one side and the Union Jack on the other.
According to Vnes, a self-proclaimed SCDG superfan who goes only by one name, making the sign was the proper thing to do.
“I’m a big fan of this team, but I’m also an Anglophile — I’ve seen the Spice Girls twice,” said Vnes, who also wore a black SCDG T-shirt that matched her shock of pink hair. “I’m feeling pretty proud to have weaseled my way into this closed bout by pulling every string I can.”
About 120 people witnessed the Brawling’s 317-26 victory in the private bout. It was held at the SCDG practice facility at the old Aviza warehouse because the SCDG’s current home, the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, isn’t big enough to host a WFTDA-sanctioned bout and because the teams arranged the bout too late to make other arrangements, according to SCDG spokesperson Eileen Hill.
Hill said the Brawling, the London Rollergirls’ all-star team, which is ranked No. 11 in the latest WFTDA poll, approached the No. 46 Bombshells about scheduling the bout as part of their 12-day Brawlifornia tour. That’s something of a plume in the caps of the Bombshells, who are trying to claw their way back into the WFTDA top 40 by the end of the month in order to qualify for the league’s Division I tournament.
“For the Bombshells, every time we play a team ranked this high, it just brings the level up,” said Hill, a former Bombshell who skates under the name Sharon D. Pain.
Perhaps the London Brawling arranged the match because they wanted to meet the Queen.
Queen Litigious, also known as Cheri Bell, certainly wanted to meet them. The Bombshell admitted hoping someone would snap a picture of her skating against Stefanie Mainey, whom she said is a legend in the sport.
“It’s really like skating against some of our idols who we’ve been watching for years,” Bell said.
As a welcoming gesture, the Queen sent some of her henchwomen out to greet Brawling jammers like Rogue Runner and Trisha Smackanawa with a firm hip-check and a friendly shove off the track. Bodies flew, skate wheels screeched and Smackanawa really did take a skate to the ear, causing a brief break in the action. For the most part, though, the Brawling jammers avoided contact by pirouetting on the toes of their skates, making jukes worthy of an NFL running back and performing other mind-boggling maneuvers, all on four wheels.
Meanwhile, their defense was stronger and more taut than a sailor’s knot.
“Their strength and togetherness is really impressive,” Bell said. “As a jammer, you can really feel it.”
Brawling skater Amy Ruffell, whose derby name is Raw Heidi, said she never expects to feel at home during the two to four U.S. tours her team makes each year. Still, the eight-year veteran said Santa Cruz rolled out the welcome wagon and gushed over the London players more than the Brawling expected for a team showing such promise.
“They have a really strong offense and they put us on the hop in the first half,” she said. “They didn’t need to do all that backchatting.”
As for the warehouse venue and fans seated on couches and in beach chairs around the track, Ruffell said she’s envious.
“Roller derby is really the same all over the world,” she said, “but everyone has their quirks.”
Contact Julie Jag at 831-706-3257.
