Published at 11:58, Wednesday, 26 September 2012

THE Furness Firecrackers are leading the roller derby revolution. KARL STEEL strapped on some skates and dropped in on a training session

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A HARD-HITTING contact sport – with the bruises to prove it – roller derby is not for the faint-hearted.

The costumes and the nicknames may give off the impression that this is just entertainment, but for an ever-increasing number of skaters around the world it is as credible and relevant as any team game that graced our screens over this bumper summer of sport.

Of course, many people’s only experience of any sport on roller skates is watching the 70s film Rollerball, which saw players dodge motorcycles as they fought over a steel ball, but in reality it’s a little less chaotic than that.

Not to say I fully understood what was going on. The Furness Firecrackers were formed a little under two years ago, when Barrow school teachers Helen Knagg and Helen Walker saw clips of this new-fangled sport on YouTube.

And what started out as a bit of fun has rapidly become one of the fastest-growing sports in South Cumbria.

Every week more than 40 local women – along with a handful of men – take to local sports halls to do battle and compete for a place in the squad to face teams from across the UK.

“It’s getting bigger and bigger in the UK now, but it’s been around in America for a number of years,” says Laura Carruthers, aka LC Tan-Her, who has been with the Firecrackers for 18 months.

“And it is taking off in Barrow too, but the nearest team is Preston.

“I didn’t know much about it: one of my friends suggested it to me on Facebook and I thought it might be a bit of fun.

“I’m into a lot of extreme sports, but I hadn’t put skates on since I was a kid, so I didn’t really know what I was letting myself in for.

“None of us had probably skated in years, but a lot of girls had rollerskates when they were younger, and it’s just like riding a bike – you pick it up again pretty quickly.”

The team trains three times a week, split into different sessions depending on the level. The advanced skaters – who are in and around the squad of 15 that travel the length and breadth of the UK to face various teams dotted around the country – train separately to the beginners and intermediate skaters who are not quite ready for contact sport. With only a handful of male players in Barrow, the men are part of a club in Manchester, but they are keen to establish a local side in the future.

Carl Formby-Roseblade, who goes by the name Bereft, says: “Ideally we like people to be able to skate before coming here, but we are willing to teach people if they are going to put in the effort to learn. We’ve got two separate training sessions for various levels of ability, and you have to pass a set of skills – a bit like an exam – to move up to the next level.

“At the moment, the men have to travel to Manchester for games, but setting up a team in Barrow is definitely something we’d like to do.”

It is not just a simple case of being competent on skates, you need to have a few tricks up your sleeve too.

On top of that, there are so many rules to get your head around, so you need to really know your stuff before you’re ready to take part in a roller derby bout.

The laws of the game, as set out by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, the governing body of the USA league, see each team send five players onto the track: one jammer, whose job it is to battle their way around the track, picking up points as they lap, three blockers doing their best to prevent them from doing so, and one pivot, who is the last line of defence and the lead blocker.

The pivots and blockers form a pack at the start line of the oval circuit, and the two jammers line up 20 feet behind the pack. The jammer’s aim is to make it through the pack of skaters and skate a full lap to enter the pack again. Once they re-enter the pack, they score a point for each opposing skater they pass legally – which means they can’t use their hands or forearms to break through the wall, and you can only make contact on the players’ sides.

It’s certainly not for the faint-hearted and there have been a few injuries along the way, but it is definitely a sport that’s taking off in a big way.

Recent starter Stuart Mackin says: “People do tend to think of Rollerball, where they had a banked track and motorbikes, but it isn’t really like that at all.

“Of course injuries do happen – it’s a full contact sport – but as long as you know what you’re doing, then it’s a lot of fun, and you can see why it’s growing.

“The biggest problem we face is finding a venue, because you need a big open space. We think we’ve found that in Hoops, and the plan is to be able to host teams from all over Europe and America there eventually.”

• New players are invited to take part in the beginners’ training sessions, and the Thursday men’s session.

To contact the Furness Firecrackers visit www.furnessfirecrackers.co.uk

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