Start of the New Roller Derby Season

Saturday was the local start of the 2013 roller derby season and I went along to watch the bout. I think this is my fourth time watching Glasgow compete. A couple of faces (and tattoos) I was starting to recognise weren't there...I was really surprised that: a) I'd been paying enough attention to notice; and b) I was a little disappointed to not see them. Although that might have been just me getting confused - there was just the one bout this time. Most of the previous games I've seen have been double-headers so I've seen twice as many Glasgow competitors.
It was a really close and pretty exciting contest with the lead always changing. But in the last couple of jams Auld Reekie ran ahead of Glasgow.
From my point of view, there were some very good things. Rules have been changed which, for a newbie like me, made things much easier to follow. There used to be a hierarchy of penalties which, at some point, get a player sent to the sin bin. Minor infringements, you stay on track. Unless you've had several, in which case off you go. I never had any idea what was going on there. Now (I believe!) either it's a sin-bin offence or it's no offence at all. Thank you, rule makers! Even better, the faffing around between the jammers skating off and a second whistle to allow the jammers to skate...that's all gone. Now, the whistle blows and everyone skates. Phew! I don't know what the players and refs think about the rule changes, but as a spectator I'm very grateful.

Anyway, I took some pictures.