‘It's easy to say, 'These girls are trying to kill each other', but it's more strategic than that’

Fiona Carton is on the Irish roller derby team competing at the World Cup this weekend. Known as ‘Malibruise Stacy’ on track, Carton took up the sport seven years ago after seeing it in a movie, writes Stephen Barry.

Q: What is roller derby?

A: Roller derby is a contact sport played on roller skates on an oval track. There’s five players from each team on track at any given moment and one person is designated as the point-scorer — they’re called the jammer. Their job is to lap opponents and they’ll get a point for every opponent they lap.

Q: Are there any sports you could compare it to?

A: It’s completely on its own. There’s no balls, there’s no sticks, it’s not really like anything else.

Q: ‘Derby’ could imply a certain rivalry. It’s a tough game, isn’t it?

A: It’s physical and aggressive but I wouldn’t say it’s tough because there’s always goodwill between everybody, even between teams. It’s easy to look at it and say, ‘These girls are trying to kill each other’, but it’s more strategic than that.

Q: What’s your role in the team? Are you a jammer, a blocker or a pivot?

A: I’m a blocker, thank God! I don’t have a star on my helmet (as jammers do) so no-one’s trying to target me.

Q: You’re doing the targeting so. Do you have a certain blocking technique? Do you go for big hits?

A: It varies depending on what player you are and who you’re playing against. I’m smaller than a lot of other blockers so I’ll try to get lower than them and pin them, just try to sit on them and stop them. Some of the bigger players might go for a big hit against me but if they go in for a really big hit, they’ll probably just take themselves out of the game and go flying with me. The experienced players will only go for very big hits when they absolutely need to or when they have all the momentum on their side. A lot of the time, it’s a lot more strategic hits. That’s not to say people don’t go flying because once people start skating fast, even small hits can lead people to fly through the air. (laughs)

Q: How detailed are the attacking and defensive tactics?

A: It’s a really strategic game because both teams are playing offence and defence at the exact same time. You’ll have four blockers on track and one of them could be doing one thing and the other three are trying to do something different.

Q: So you could be blocking to protect your jammer as well as trying to block your opponent’s one?

A: Sometimes you’ve to do both at the same time, literally! One thing you also have to be aware of is the other team is probably trying to play offence against your blockers while you’re trying to do the same to them. It’s a big job of multitasking, having really good awareness of what’s going on and communicating between players.

Q: When and how did you first get involved in the sport?

A: I got involved in January 2011, seven years ago now, surprisingly. I had just watched Whip It and it had me lamenting that roller derby wasn’t a real sport. One of my friends said, ‘Wait, it is a real sport. One of my old friends from school is playing it in Dublin.’ I was like, ‘I really want to do that. I used to love rollerblading. Why did I ever stop doing that?’ A couple of weeks later, they had a beginner’s session so I went along and I’ve been playing ever since. I didn’t think about the contact and the physicality of the game. I don’t know how I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to play an aggressive sport’. Maybe I thought I was cooler than I am! (laughs)

Q: Why is the women’s version of the sport so big?

A: When roller derby was restarted in Texas in the early 2000s, it was a really underground sport, very alternative, very feminist-friendly, LGBTQ-friendly. It grew from there and it wasn’t until years later that guys started getting involved and playing themselves.

Q: Is that alternative culture still at the heart of the sport?

A: Yeah, the sport is still a predominately female-driven sport. That’s what draws a lot of women into it because it’s the type of sport that considers itself very inclusive. All over the world there’s a big problem with women in second-level schools stopping playing sports completely. Then, to be suddenly in your 20s, it’s hard to take up sports. But when you turn to roller derby, you’re surrounded by people who have never played sport. You’re surrounded by people who are completely different sizes, from completely different backgrounds.

Q: The nicknames are a big part of the sport. You’re Malibruise Stacy. Why that one?

A: I picked it because I quite like the drink Malibu, I’ve blonde hair and the Simpsons reference was kinda funny. Someone came up with it and I said, ‘Yep, that’ll do nicely!’ Your teammates have a big influence on what nickname you get to keep.

Q: What are your other favourite nicknames on the team?

A: Oh, so many... I like Dashing Trudy Snow and Valdemort, because I’m a big Harry Potter fan.

Q: What’s been your favourite moment in the sport?

A: I made the squad for the last World Cup in 2014 in Dallas. My entire family, my two sisters, my brother and my parents, all came out to support me. It was the first time our family had been together in seven years. That moment of having my whole family together with an Irish flag, and I was in an Ireland jersey, was just a huge, huge thing.

Q: That’s amazing! Have you competed abroad many times?

A: Yeah, I play for Dublin and we’re a really competitive team. To get the high-level games, we have to travel around Europe and the States a couple of times a year. In the past couple of years, we’ve been to Stockholm, Helsinki, Berlin, hundreds of different sports halls around the UK, Florida... last year Dublin made the Division 2 play-off in Pittsburgh, so we went over for that. That was a really big highlight because it was the first time an Irish team had made the play-offs.

Q: What’s the toughest challenge in your sporting life?

A: Definitely trying to balance all your training and running your club along with your real life, work and friends. I’ll train for about seven hours a week with Dublin, I’ll go to the gym about three times a week and I’ll have committee duties — all the leagues are run by the skaters, so I’m on our coaching committee. On top of that, you’re trying to see your family and friends, while maintaining a life. It’s also a big financial burden because we’ve been to Florida, we’ve been to Pittsburgh, we’ve been all over Europe but because roller derby isn’t recognised as a sport, we get zero funding from the government. So all our jerseys, skates, travel, training halls, even for the Ireland squad, we pay for ourselves, which is difficult.

Q: And you’ve some players based abroad too?

A: We’ve a couple of girls in Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, one in the States, so they all have to travel over to Ireland once a month for training. Our coach is based in Manchester and he also plays for the Irish men’s team, so twice a month he has to come over to Dublin.

Q: That’s some commitment!

A: Yep, we’re all crazy about it!

Team Ireland are currently mid-competition at the Roller Derby World Cup in Manchester. Having finished 10th at the inaugural 2011 and 2014 World Cups, they’re facing an expanded 38-team field. First up on Thursday, they were edged out by the Netherlands, 82-79, and then suffered a heavy 238-6 loss to Australia. However, they hit back with a 285-154 win over Korea and will face the West Indies today.