The Great Southern Slam (TGSS) is the largest competitive

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...

event in the world, contested by teams from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is held bienially in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. TGSS was created and continues to be both hosted and run by volunteers from Adelaide Roller Derby. Initially held in 2010, it was the first flat track roller derby tournament to be held in the southern hemisphere.Beck Wise,
Feature Preview: The Great Southern Slam
", ''

Derby News Network Derby News Network (DNN), based in Baltimore, was an internet broadcast network, founded in 2007, which featured the women's skating sport of roller derby. DNN used the internet to collect remote streaming video Video on demand (VOD) is a media ...

'', 8 June 2012

Format

The first round of the tournament sees teams divided into groups, which play on a round robin basis. Each group includes one of the most experienced teams from

, a middle-ranking team, and one less experienced team. The group winners and other teams with the highest point difference qualify for the quarter-finals, and the tournament then continues on a knockout basis.Beck Wise,
Tournament Recap: The Great Southern Slam
", ''

'', 23 June 2010 The 2012 tournament introduced additional bouts between twelve other teams, and some themed bouts with mixed teams, but these were separate from the main competition.

2010 tournament

The 2010 tournament included fifteen teams.

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

and

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

formed a joint team, while Team Pot Luck included skaters from a number of otherwise unrepresented leagues. More than five hundred skaters were involved in the event.

2012 tournament

The 2012 tournament was held from 9–11 June. It expanded to eighteen teams, divided into six groups for the first round.

2014 Tournament

The 2014 TGSS was held at the Adelaide Showgrounds on 7-9 June 2014. The tournament was expanded again to 45 teams from Australia and New Zealand, playing in two divisions.

2016 Tournament

The 2016 TGSS was held from 11-13 June, with 45 teams again playing in two divisions.

2018 Tournament

The 2018 TGSS was held from 9-11 June, with 48 teams competing over three divisions. 2018 was the first year that a third division was added.

2020 Tournament

TGSS was planned to be held in 2020 from 6-8 June at the Adelaide Showgrounds but was cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

2022 Tournament

In 2022 TGSS was held from 11-13 June at the Adelaide Showgrounds. 30 teams competed across three divisions. It was the first roller derby tournament to be held globally since the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

2024 Tournament

2024's TGSS was held at the Adelaide Showground and included 45 teams from Australia and New Zealand playing across 65 games over three divisions. Three additional challenge bouts were also played. For the first time ever TGSS doubled as the WFTDA Oceania Regional Championships, which meant that the first and second place winners of Division 1 will earned a place in the 2024 WFTDA World Championships to be held in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Victorian Roller Derby and Adelaide Roller Derby were the first and second placed teams for the WFTDA Oceania Regional Championships. {, class="wikitable" !Division !Team !Score !Team !Score , - , 1 , Victoria Roller Derby League (A) , 302 , Adelaide Roller Derby (A) , 79 , - , 2 , Brisbane City Rollers , 166 , WestSide Roller Derby , 142 , - , 3 , Kingston City Rollers , 171 , Dragon City Roller Derby , 100

References

External links

Official website
Roller derby in Australia Roller derby competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2010 2010 establishments in Australia Oceanian international sports competitions Sport in Adelaide