The Great Southern Slam (TGSS) is the largest competitive roller derby event in the Southern Hemisphere, contested by teams from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australia. It is held bi-annually in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. TGSS was created and continues to be both hosted and run by volunteers from

Adelaide Roller Derby Adelaide Roller Derby (ADRD) is a roller derby league based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 2007, the league has four competitive home teams; The Mile Die Club, The Salties (formerly The Salty Dolls), The Road Train Rollers and The W ...

. 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 med ...

'', 8 June 2012

Format

The first round of the tournament sees teams divided into groups, which play on a

round robin Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

basis. Each group includes one of the most experienced teams from Australia or

, 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 and Ballarat 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 a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

2022 Tournament

The 2022 iteration of TGSS has been confirmed for 11-13 June at the Adelaide Showgrounds. There will be 30 teams competing across three divisions.{{cite web , title=Participating Leagues , url=http://greatsouthernslam.com.au/event/participating-leagues/ , website=The Great Southern Slam , access-date=7 June 2022

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