To London, With Love

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Going underground: The Hustlers in London (Photo courtesy of Felicia Graham)

If you happened to be in the ExCel conference center in London, England on March 20, you might have noticed something special: Austin's own purple-clad skaters from the Texas Rollergirls, the Hustlers, winning their first ever intercontinental bout.

Out on the road, the Austin team beat the London Rollergirls touring team London Brawling 84-63 in a competitive bout. "They really knew our strategy," said Hustler's veteran Cheap Trixie. "We were never ahead until right at the end. It was really neck and neck."

Quick update: While technically not a full Women's Flat Track Derby Association-sanctioned bout (that, as WFTDA executive director Bloody Mary pointed out, would require it to be London Brawling versus the Texecutioners) there's no doubting the significance of the godmothers of modern flat track roller derby crossing the Atlantic to take on the first ever WFTDA expansion league based outside of North America since they joined the organization.

It wasn't just about skaters: The Hustlers took Johnny Roastbeef of the Texas Rollergirls and Hambone from Gotham Roller Girls, two of the four level five certified WFTDA refs, who ran their own reffing boot camp.

The Texas team flew out on March 15 and, Trixie said, "The very first day I was there, I went, OK, I'm in London now. It's not really raining, but it's raining, and there's mist." Of course, there were a few days of checking must-see tourist locations like Camden Market, the Houses of Parliament (plus, and purely by accident, Amy Winehouse's favorite pub) and the obligatory Abbey Road photo op. Trixie said, "It's not the best photo, because it' a very busy street, but we got everyone in line."

However, day trips aside, this was all about derby. Before the bout, the other big part of the weekend was the boot camp. There had been a huge amount of excitement about this on the derby boards before the event, and skaters flew in not just from around the UK but also from France, Germany, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and even Australia. "It was the most rollergirls I've ever seen in one sitting," said Trixie. With space for three tracks at the venue, they still ended up with six groups of thirty skaters per group, rotating between different stations every fifty minutes. "Group A was brand spanking new to roller derby. They'd literally bought their skates the day before. Group B was starting to do it, through F, which was the most experienced group."

The sad part of the trip for Trixie was that, after all that traveling, she was injured out with a broken ankle. At least when London Rollergirl Bette Noir told her, "When we heard that you and [Bullet Tooth Tracey] weren't skating, we felt better," that was some consolation.

Fortunately, she was distracted by dealing with the demand for Texas Rollergirls' and Hustlers' merchandise from rabid English derby fans. Trixie recalled, "We walked in and said, 'Is that our table?' There was a huge mob of people, just waiting." Fortunately one of the London Rollergirls, who used to sell concert t-shirts, volunteered to help them deal with the crush. "We almost sold out completely in ten minutes," said Trixie, "and I was only just getting used to the money. Then someone gave me Scottish money, and I'm like, wait a minute. I just get used to one country's money and now I've got another country's money."

The bout itself, Trixie said, "was awesome," not least because "London is like Texas a few years ago, just kicking everyone's ass." She had nothing but praise for the home-town team, not least because of their preparation. She said, "We didn't realize that they'd got the footage from nationals and regionals, and they'd studied every single thing we do to a T. And we had a couple of girls at our boot camp in December, so we'd taught them all our drills."

What was most astonishing to her was that the touring Texans got a bona fide sporting celebrity response from the sold-out crowd at the bout. "It was so loud that, when you were calling someone on the line, you were screaming," said Trixie. "We're used to going places and getting booed. That's the way Texas is, because people don't like us because they want to beat us." This time was a little different. "They intro'd the Hustlers and I've never heard a place so loud. When they announced Babe Ruthless, it hit the fan. Lady Stardust? They loved her, and Bloody Mary got a big 'Wah!'"

This major intercontinental bout definitely won't be the last. On March 31 Adelaide Roller Derby announced that in June they will be hosting Australia's first ever roller derby tournament, The Great Southern Slam including teams from New Zealand. Before then, starting on April 10, the London Rollergirls will be invading the colonies, with bouts in Philadelphia PA, Providence Rhode Island, and Woodbridge CT. So, derby fans, you always knew you were saving those frequent flier miles for something …