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Notice from Head of Grievance, Director of Member Relations and President: MRDA Grievance Process Backlog

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Notice from Head of Grievance, Director of Member Relations and President: MRDA Grievance Process Backlog

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Dear MRDA members and broader roller derby community,

In the past week we (MRDA Grievance) have received an unprecedented number of contacts related to both current and historical incidents. We appreciate everyone who has come forward and submitted a grievance, shared information or provided context.

We are committed to ensuring that all grievances are examined with the same level of care and diligence to ensure the best possible resolution for all parties involved, in adherence with our ‘Code of Conduct’ and ‘Policies and Procedures’. At the time of writing, the volume of grievances has exceeded our committee’s capability to process them in a timely manner. We are currently triaging all open cases in order to process them in the most effective way possible. Please be assured that your case has not been ignored.

We are looking to increase the number of committee members to ensure that we can cover the existing volume. In the meantime, we ask that the Derby community extend this group of volunteers some grace as we try to fulfill our objectives.

As the new acting Head of Grievance, I (Tinytanium) am personally committed to ensuring that all cases are handled with the utmost care and attention, which they deserve. I hope that this wave of contacts represents a new era for the MRDA, and that we might move towards the resolution of some long-standing conflicts within our community.

Thank you for your patience,

Tinytanium – Head of Grievance

Lelith – Director of Member Relations

Grimace – President

Please refer to the MRDA ‘Policies and Procedures’ and ‘Code of Conduct’ for information related to how to file a grievance.

The countdown is on

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The MRDA is proud to host the Men’s Roller Derby World Cup in Orléans, France! From April 30th to May 3rd, 25 teams from across the globe will come together to showcase elite athleticism, passion, and the spirit of inclusion that defines our sport.

For four days, the track will come alive with powerful hits, strategic gameplay, and unforgettable moments—celebrating not just competition, but the diverse community that makes roller derby so unique. This is more than a tournament. It’s a global gathering of athletes, fans, and allies united by the love of the game.

For full event details, including schedules, teams, and streaming, visit the official Men’s Roller Derby World Cup website.


Who’s ready for the World Cup?

MRDA #RollerDerby #WorldCup #OrleansFrance #DerbyLife #InclusiveSport

MRDA welcomes new member league: Gatos Monteses from Buenos Aires, Argentina

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After an impressive showing against some heavy hitting MRDA teams at Tourneo de Tenochtitlán hosted by Disorder in May of this year, the Gatos have secured the games needed to claim their spot as MRDA member league. We are thrilled to add another South American team to our membership and hope to add more in the coming years. Welcome, Gatos Monteses! We are so proud you are here!

MRDA da la bienvenida a una nueva liga miembro: Gatos Monteses de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Tras una impresionante actuación contra equipos de gran impacto de MRDA en el Torneo de Tenochtitlán organizado por Disorder en mayo de este año, los Gatos han conseguido los partidos necesarios para asegurar su lugar como liga miembro de MRDA. Nos complace enormemente sumar a otro equipo sudamericano a nuestra membresía y esperamos sumar más en los próximos años. ¡Bienvenidos, Gatos Monteses! ¡Estamos muy orgullosos de tenerlos aquí!

MRDA Launches New Website

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You may have noticed that the MRDA Website hasn’t been updated in quite a while, years even! Our IT team and graphics department have been cooking up a fresh new site full of features our members and the derby community have been asking for.

The new site offers instant score reporting, photographs from our events that feature the incredible photographers the MRDA is proud to work with. The new website has a bunch of new an exciting features including (but not limited to):

Our new site also features a new and improved Officials section with dedicated resources that will be curated and maintained by the MRDA Officiating Committee (as pictured below).

A new and improved events section that will help feature MRDA Post Season events as well as events going on within our leagues.

And finally, a live rankings section that will be updated each quarter.

The creators have been focusing on making the site user friendly, aesthetically appealing as well as providing a central place where the most up to date MRDA news can be found. Another fun feature is that each time you visit some of the selected pages a different photograph/photographer will be featured.

We are really excited about the new site and are already planning to roll out a few new features in the coming months. For questions and comments please reach out to [email protected].

2023 MRDA Board of Directors

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It is with much excitement that the MRDA confirms the Board of Directors for 2023, as elected by member leagues. All board members commenced in their new positions on 16th February and are currently being supported during a handover period whilst also eagerly working towards bringing in the first season since 2019.

Thanks to the departing board members for your efforts. We are all very grateful for your labour.

President – Julia Sleazer (Puget Sound Outcast Derby)

Vice-President – Mooose (Casco Bay Roller Derby)

Secretary – Malice in Wonderland (South Wales Silures)

Treasurer – Dr B (San Diego Aftershocks)

Director of Events – Girl Fawkes (Saint Louis Gatekeepers)

Director of Member Relations – Smash Ketch’em (Philadelphia Hooligans)

Director of Officiating – Macfarlane (South Wales Silures)

New Member League – Pittsburgh Roller Derby

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The Men’s Roller Derby Association announces a new member league!

MRDA, the international governing body of men’s roller derby, has added a new league to its ranks.

This new league was accepted by a vote of MRDA’s membership to be added to our growing list of MRDA affiliated leagues.

Pittsburgh Roller Derby
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
https://www.facebook.com/pittsburghrollerderby

This league worked hard to gain membership into the MRDA and we look forward to their contribution to the men’s roller derby! Good luck and we will see you on the track!

2021 MRDA Competitive Season

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The MRDA Board of Directors wishes the worldwide roller derby community a Happy New Year.

As 2021 begins, we have obviously been monitoring the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Looking at the surge in COVID-19 almost worldwide and the current vaccine rollout schedule, the Board has decided that we will not move forward trying to plan either playoffs or Champs for 2021. We do not see any timeline in which the majority of leagues will be able to get back to practice with sufficient time to work back to full contact and scrimmaging that would allow for any kind of regular season, let alone one that plays into our normal postseason events.

The Board’s ideal timeline for returning to a proper competitive season is leagues having a full 4 months, ideally 6+, of full-contact practice/ability to scrimmage before competitive games. There is no scenario currently that we can see that would allow teams to have that time for practice and still be able to arrange games that can lead into rankings for our regular postseason.

We will be looking into hosting two regional invitationals (one in North America, one in Europe) in December 2021 if pandemic conditions have eased and leagues have been able to prepare. We will begin looking at this plan in earnest in April/May when hopefully we have a clearer idea how 2021 will look worldwide and what might be feasible.

Stay safe friends. Wash your hands, wear a mask, stay home if you’re sick and follow the guidelines provided to you by your local public health authorities.

MRDA Post Season 2020- May Update and Changes

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With heavy hearts, the MRDA Board of Directors has made the decision to cancel our planned MRDA postseason. In making this decision, the MRDA Board has consulted with our member leagues and taken into account the most recent advice on COVID-19 we have from governments and the WHO. Due to the complexity involved in returning not just to full-contact sport, but normal life, the MRDA Board doesn’t believe teams can adequately prepare for post-season tournaments and we don’t feel Champs will truly be representative of the best the MRDA has to offer. 

All is not lost though, and we aren’t ready to completely write-off 2020 and have come up with an alternate plan to finish out the year and hopefully set up 2021 with some great sanctioned play.

The current format we are planning and moving forward with will include two tournaments on consecutive weekends, Dec 5 & 6 in Newcastle, UK and Dec 12 & 13 in Austin, TX, USA. Each event will be a 10 team, 2 day tournament featuring the top 10 teams from each region, North America and Europe. The bracket will follow our former 10 team Champs bracket.

As with everything, this is subject to change based on developing advice regarding Covid-19, but we will be moving forward with these plans until that time.

We will be releasing the officiating and announcing applications for both events within the coming weeks. 

For the 2021 season, we are excited to announce the Tyne and Fear will still be able to host MRDA Champs and we are (still) excited to share our 10th Championship with them.

MRDA Board COVID-19 Update

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The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the world, with an unprecedented impact on roller derby.

To respond to this unique situation, MRDA has been working with WFTDA, JRDA and National Governing Bodies throughout, and we wish to publicly thank them for their hard work, particularly WFTDA and their COVID-19 Task Force.

27-March-2020- Edit to Post
The MRDA has extended our timeline from April 15th to May 1st at this time. The dates below have been updated to reflect this change.

Recommendations for member leagues:

  • We recommend suspension of training and competition until at least May 1st.
  • Leagues should maintain compliance with local public health advice for when to resume.

Sanctioning, Compliance and Rankings:

  • Sanctioning for games scheduled between now and May 1st has been revoked.
    • Requests to sanction games between now and May 1st will be refused.
    • Games with revoked sanctioning will count towards compliance / rankings.
    • The above may be extended out beyond May 1st.
  • Minimum number of games for compliance / rankings reduced from 5 to 3 until June.
    • We may further reduce the minimum number of games before June.
    • Prior to June, we will reassess and establish protocol for the following 12 months.
  • Games already submitted for sanctioning that are (or have been) cancelled due to the virus will count towards compliance, and therefore post-season eligibility.
  • Games at MRDA Endorsed tournaments that are (or have been) cancelled due to the virus will count towards compliance, and therefore post-season eligibility.
  • Games cancelled due to the virus will incur no forfeit disciplinary actions.

Men’s Roller Derby World Cup (July):

  • The event is still planned to run if possible, with the following considerations:
    • St Louis has declared a state of emergency, and banned all gatherings over 250 people.
    • The above ban is open-ended, i.e. no duration or end date – if this is changed so it explicitly covers any of the tournament dates the event will be cancelled.
    • If the ban is still in place on June 1st the event will be cancelled.
    • https://www.facebook.com/MensRDWC/posts/1433344460184327

MRDA Post-season (August and October):

  • At this time, we are planning for both Playoffs and Championships to proceed as scheduled.
  • We are keeping in contact with the hosts throughout this time and will communicate any changes as soon as they are known.

WFTDA and JRDA further information”

The situation is very fluid, and the Board is continually reviewing and assessing our response to it – we expect that our plans and response will change over time, and we will provide updates as appropriate.

Thank you,

The MRDA Board

MRDA December Rankings

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It’s time for updated rankings! What changes did 2019 MRDA Champs bring?

1 St. Louis Gatekeepers (-)
2 Magic City Misfits (-)
3 Texas Men’s Roller Derby (+3)
4 Vancouver Murder (-1)
5 Southern Discomfort (-1)
6 Denver Ground Control (+4)
7 Manchester Roller Derby (-2)
8 Golden State Heat (-1)
9 Panam Squad (-1)
10 Derby Club le Crès Lattes Montpellier (+1)
11 Austin Anarchy (-2)
12 Manneken Beasts (-)
13 Chicago Bruise Brothers (-)
14 Mohawk Valley Roller Derby (-)
15 Bridgetown Roller Derby (-)
16 Race City Rebels (+3)
17 Lane County Concussion (-1)
18 Philadelphia Hooligans (-1)
19 Toronto Men’s Roller Derby (-1)
20 Mass Maelstrom (-)
21 Puget Sound Outcast Derby (Was unranked)
22 Tyne and Fear Roller Derby (-)
23 Brisbane City Rollers (+1)
24 Twin Cities Roller Derby (+1)
25 Oklahoma Men’s Roller Derby (+1)
26 Carolina Wreckingballs (+1)
27 Wheels of Mayhem (+1)
28 Chinook City Roller Derby (+1)
29 Tampere Rollin Bros (+1)
30 Granite City Brawlers (+1)
31 Glasgow Men’s Roller Derby (+1)
32 Varsity Derby League (+1)
33 Flour City Fear Men’s Roller Derby (+1)
34 Pittsburgh Blue Streaks (+1)
35 Houston Men’s Roller Derby (+1)
36 Atlanta Men’s Roller Derby (+1)
37 Casco Bay Roller Derby (+1)
38 Harm City Men’s Derby (+1)
39 Montreal Men’s Roller Derby (+3)
40 Cleveland Men’s Roller Derby (+3)
41 Capital City Hooligans (+3)
42 Sydney City SMASH (+3)

UR Barrow Infernos
UR Bototos Bandidos Roller Derby Masculino
UR Crash Test Brummies
UR Dakota Men’s Roller Derby
UR Detroit Men’s Roller Derby
UR Light City Derby
UR Lincolnshire Rolling Thunder
UR Men’s Roller Derby Japan
UR New Orleans Brass Roller Derby
UR New York Shock Exchange
UR North Wales Roller Derby
UR Nottingham Roller Derby
UR Roller Derby Toulouse
UR San Diego Aftershocks
UR Sioux City Korn Stalkers
UR Tampa Roller Derby
UR Victoria Men’s Roller Derby
UR West Swedish Roller Derby Society
UR Your Mom Men’s Derby

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