Our Stars, In Stripes…

This week is full of good news for Leeds Roller Dolls. You’ll have read by now about our new team captains (If not, you can read all about it here ) and our ref squad also have new roles to announce.

Matt the Knife, previously our Head Ref, will now be Assistant Head Ref. Knife, as we like to call him, has been refereeing for LRD since before time began. Or thereabouts. He is a greatly respected referee in UK roller derby and has put in a huge amount of effort in making our ref squad one of the best squads around.

Our Head Ref this season will be Boris Snarloff. Boris made LRD very proud last year, when he gained Level 1 Certification in the WFTDA Roster of Certified Officials. Boris has been with LRD since 2009 and is known for always keep a cool head under pressure… even if you tickle him under the armpits when he’s checking your kit (please note – do NOT try this yourself, he can have you ejected for that, you know…). LRD would like to thank Boris for working hard to keep Leeds Roller Dolls at the forefront of progress in worldwide Roller Derby.

Talking of which…

This weekend (27th – 29th January 2012), the European Roller Derby Organizational Conference is taking place in Berlin. EROC is a place for leagues from across the continent to gather, share ideas, skills and knowledge, so that we can all work hard to progress our sport and keep our leagues running to the highest possible standard.

Boris Snarloff has been asked to run a refereeing workshop at EROC and Matt the Knife is also attending as representative of our league. We weren’t joking when we said we have one of the best ref squads around, you know…

El Toupee, who recently stepped down as our Head NSO (Non Skating Official), but whom we still consider very much ‘one of ours,’ is running a ‘Recruiting and Training NSOs’ workshop. He’s a demon with a spreadsheet, this man, and has been helping UK (and European) leagues with officiating bouts for some time now.

Magic 8 Brawl and Bruise ‘Em Banshee are also attending, as representatives of the league. Make sure you take a spare suitcase and pack it full of KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS for the flight home, ladies and gents!

Auf Weidersehen, folks… we’re proud of you all.