The world’s biggest roller derby tournament, The Great Southern Slam (TGSS), returns to Adelaide for three days of trans-Tasman rivalry across the June long weekend.
Forty eight teams from across Australia and New Zealand will compete in this year’s TGSS, which will be the fifth instalment of the biennial event since it was established in 2010.
TGSS will again be hosted by Adelaide Roller Derby (ADRD), Australia’s oldest and largest roller derby league, and will see the teams compete in over 80 bouts across 5 tracks at the Adelaide Showground Pavilions.
“For our league it’s always been a really great [way] to bring together the community in terms of roller derby,” veteran ADRD skater Kate ‘Moe Skeeto’ Donnelly says.
“We’re pretty proud that we’re able to put on an event that’s this big and this world-class. We put months and months of work into it in our own time – we’re all volunteers – so to pull off an event of this scale is pretty amazing really.”
Click here to read our review of Adelaide Roller Derby 2018 Bout 3.
As the popularity of roller derby continues to thrive in Australia and New Zealand, this year will be the biggest TGSS yet with the addition of a third division of bouts to accommodate for disparity in skill level between newer and more experienced leagues.
“The teams across Australia are so varied in skill and so we were facing a bit of a situation where people were probably playing against people they were just getting smashed by,” Kate says.
“So after hearing feedback from the leagues we noticed there was a gap and we decided to add the third division.
“For a lot of newer leagues that haven’t had a chance to play against other leagues, it’s a great opportunity to do that. We’ve got 48 teams from Australia and New Zealand, and for the first time this year we’ve actually let leagues bring two teams along.”
ADRD 2018 action - Image © Stephen MullerThis means ADRD will also be entering two teams: Adeladies in division A and Radeladies in division B, doubling the league’s chances of finally bringing home the coveted grand final trophy. “Obviously our biggest hope is to win,” Kate laughs.
“Both of the teams have been training all year in preparation, working on our strategy and that kind of thing. We’re in different divisions… so our aim is to smash the teams we’re playing against and get to keep the trophy at home for a change.”
TGSS was first held in 2010 as part of an initiative by ADRD to provide more playing opportunities for rural and remote leagues, and has since become the largest showcase of roller derby in the world.
“It’s the only event of its kind that has so many teams participating and we’ve always been big on making opportunities, especially for teams that don’t get to play other teams very easily,” Kate says.
ADRD 2018 action - image © Stephen Muller“By hosting it this many times it shows who’s the best in Australia because we’re all getting an opportunity to play everyone; it gives us a ranking for Australia that we haven’t had before and that we can follow over the five events.”
