Granite City Roller Girls
Granite City Roller Derby (GCRD) is a roller derby league based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Founded in 2007, the league currently have two teams which compete with teams from other leagues.
Originating as the Aberdeen Aces, GCRD were the second established roller derby league in Scotland. The league struggled in the early days to find a training hall to practice in and resorted to skating in a local car park when weather allowed. In November 2008, the league began skating at the Aberdeen Lads Club, and was reborn as the "Granite City Roller Girls".
In May 2010, the league hosted Scotland's first roller derby tournament, Highland Fling, with Glasgow Roller Girls, Auld Reekie Roller Girls and Dundee Rollergirls attending. The leagues A-team, the Northern Fights, came a respectable fourth in the competition out of the 6 teams taking part. The tournament was attended by around 650 people over the course of the two days.[1] The league are members of the UK Roller Derby Association.
The league contributed two skaters (Clinically Wasted and Fight Cub, previously of Auld Reekie Roller Girls) to Team Scotland for the inaugural Roller Derby World Cup.[2]
In June 2012 Team Captain Clinically Wasted took part in the London 2012 Olympic Torch relay, carrying the Torch through the local town of Peterculter.
In August 2013, The Northern Fights emerged victorious in the first ever "Quad Nations", a tournament hosted by Swansea City Roller Derby consisting of four teams representing England (Severn Roller Torrent), Northern Ireland (Belfast Roller Derby), Wales (Swansea) and Scotland (Granite City).
In May 2014, it was announced that three skaters (Clinically Wasted, Fight Cub and Rock'n Riot) from GCRD had been selected as part of the final squad for Team Scotland and will be taking part in the second Roller Derby World Cup in Dallas, Texas.
In June 2015, Granite City’s ‘B' team was formed, The Fight Hawks. On 12th September 2015 they went on to play their debut at the Jack Kane Sports Centre, claiming a well hard fought win against Lothian Derby Dolls. Final score 157 – 147.
GCRD received a fresh new revamp and a name change to "Granite City Roller Derby", in November 2015
GCRD's Northern Fights are taking part in the 2016 British Roller Derby Championships and are placed in Tier 4 North.
References
- ↑ "Aberdeen hosts first roller derby championship", The Press and Journal, 24 May 2010
- ↑ Hurt Reynolds, "Team Scotland World Cup Roster", Derby News Network, 2 September 2011
