Most Remote League In Derby Needs Your Help!

by DerbyLife March 16, 2012 - 9:09am

Malice Springs Roller Derby League is the most remote roller derby league in the world - we are 784 miles (1,270km) from our nearest potential competitor. Imagine if you were the London Rollergirls and the closest place you could go to play a game was just southwest of Stockholm Sweden or if you were the Windy City Rollers in Chicago and your closest team was Assassination City in Dallas - with not much in between. We're in the middle of Australian desert in a town of 25,000.

Malice Springs Roller Derby League is the most remote roller derby league in the world and we are fundraising to buy a portable skating surface.

We currently train at the Alice Springs Youth Centre, toughening up new players (‘fresh meat’) on an uncovered concrete track with splintered wood safety panels. Dodging dust storms, thunder strikes, stink beetles and 40 degree heat, Malice embraces the outdoor track three or more nights a week. It’s tough, outback and picturesque, but a serious challenge for the league and the future sustainability of roller derby in Alice Springs – hard concrete and splintered wood are not ideal ingredients to mix with a full contact sport and whilst it’s toughening us up as a training venue, the rink is not big enough to host an actual game of roller derby.

Over the last eighteen months we’ve looked at over 30 possible venues: scanned shed roofs on Google earth, knocked on random industrial doors, met with school principals, investigated airport hangers, industrial storage venues, abandoned buildings and community halls … but nowhere is suitable for a bout of roller derby either due to size or surface.

The league’s last viable option to be able to play roller derby is to purchase a portable ‘skate court’ that can be set up in any large sized building. We’re booked to host our first competitive bout at the Alice Springs Convention Centre later this year.

Malice Springs needs your support to raise the $38,000 to buy and freight a skate court from overseas so we can get rolling!

Click here to donate!

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Comments

Submitted by Mercy Less on March 16, 2012 - 10:02am

if you can haul SkateCourt onto Ayers Rock to play? :D

Submitted by Beck Wise on March 16, 2012 - 3:02pm

It's about a six-hour drive from Alice to Uluru. And skating in the shadow of the rock would be cool, but on it would not be. My two cents.

Submitted by Beck Wise on March 16, 2012 - 3:05pm

I think my dream Oz derby photoshoot would not be at Uluru, but rather at Kings Canyon, a la Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I could see that.