Researching for Assign No. 2

Researching my topic for assignment 2 – what have I learnt?

I was going to do a story on a new soup kitchen starting up in Kambah. Then I thought about the lack of car parking in the Woden Town Centre. Then I happened upon a roller skater from the Canberra Roller Derby League (CRDL). As with many good stories you come across, I found out about the CRDL via a conversation in the kitchen at work. I tossed around a couple of news angles. CRDL have a bout coming up; a new report released says the overall cost to the taxpayer to manage obesity is $5 billion a year. That’s $5 billion. What better way to get fit and stay lean that roller skating round a rink? Surely you’d be too terrified of being pushed to the ground to worry about whether you’ve burnt off enough calories?

I became intrigued about the punk-style, third wave feminism take on the 60s craze that is roller derby, with its alliterations to pop culture and the double entendre stage names that are used by its competitors. Is this a sport or is this sports entertainment? Do we have Jerry Springer type entertainment on our hands? The roller derby has taken off in the States again; with all-women, self managed leagues cropping up all over the place. And if attendance figures at the previous two bouts in Canberra are any indication, it will be taking Canberra by storm. So what has happened to nice quiet Canberra with its Brumby-loving football fans? I decided to delve into the world to find out, through an interviewer with Bullseye Betty, President of the CRDL.