Citing concern for the safety of skaters, non-skating officials and fans as well as liability issues, Arizona Roller Derby made a late decision to cancel this evening's AZRD bout between the Bruisers and the Bad News Beaters. This evening was also supposed to have a exposition by Dry Heat Derby in a co-ed game that would have included skaters from the men's league, AZRD and Tucson Roller Derby.
The concerns were stemmed by today's rain and water damage inside the Castle Sports Club due to the venue's leaky roof. This is a problem that has plagued both AZRD and former Castle derby tenants, the Arizona Derby Dames for years.
"There is water in the penalty box areas" said one AZRD skater accounting the damage. The main concern was the area of the floor that is normally the infield area where non-skating officials taking statistics would sit. REAL Derby had a chance to check out the inside of the venue. By the time we entered, the Castle staff had already mopped up the floor but the entire center of the skating floor was surrounded by cones. A couple of buckets were visible on the floor as well as several buckets placed in the roof support structure and catwalks. Water was dripping to the floor.
AZRD told REAL Derby that fans who held pre-sale tickets for the April 11, 2009 bout will have their pre-sale tickets honored at either the May or June bouts. Fans arriving at the venue were advised of the cancellation and those planning to pay at the door were given coupons good for half-off admission to a future bout. According to AZRD, this bout will likely not be made up. Instead, the league told REAL DERBY that the format of the May bout was going to change to a round robin championship, a decision that was made before this evening's bout.
The last time AZRD had a rained-out bout was on January 5, 2008 when the league was playing their games at Casey At The Bat, an outdoor facility. That bout was rescheduled to January 19, 2008 and the Brawlarinas beat the Surly Gurlies, 77-65.
In addition to hosting roller derby, the Castle Sports Club hosts inline roller hockey including the Phoenix Dragons of the American Inline Hockey League, the Team Excalibur hockey program as well as other hockey and indoor soccer programs. The roof has been in a state of disrepair for quite a long period of time and last year, the club was soliciting for investors to infuse cash into the facility.
In light of tonight's events, Michi-chan RollerSports Productions, an independent news outlet issued the following brief statement: "We commend AZRD for making this decision and not putting their skaters at risk."
REAL Derby will have more details after AZRD irons out the details following tonight's rain-out.
Originally published in 2009 at Michi-chan Roller Sports Productions' DerbyData.
