IRELAND HAS lately become home to a small but significant community of rollerblading enthusiasts, whose numbers continue to grow every year. Though derided by those who know nothing about it as a passing fad along the lines of the hula-hoop, rollerblading evokes passionate commitment on the part of those who practice it.
For the bulk of this year, Dublin s rollerbladers have met on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights for two-hour open sessions at St Anthony s Old Church in Clontarf. Unfortunately, at the time of going to print, the meetings appear doomed to be a thing of the past: the committee who have lent the church s facilities to the group recently changed their minds, and decided not to renew the licence beyond the end of August.
Their decision appears to have been heavily influenced by the incessant and ceaseless one-woman complaining campaign conducted by a local elderly female resident, who brought such pressure to bear on the committee (including threats of legal action) that they eventually caved in. As a result, Ireland s determined band of rollerbladers now find themselves without any facilities to use, although Frank Mannweiler (who organised and supervised the St Anthony s meetings) remains hopeful that new and better premises will be located before long.
One hopes that he s right. The passion and enthusiasm which devotees of rollerblading display towards their lifestyle is quite incredible to behold. A measure of this is the way kids have consistently come from all over the length and breadth of Dublin and beyond, irrespective of weather conditions or travel restrictions, to attend the St Anthony s sessions. They all testify that rollerblading is more than just a hobby; that it takes over your entire life, and becomes an addiction.
According to Drumcondra s Brian Barron: It just started off as recreational skating, just skating around the neighbourhood. But then when ice-hockey started to take off and people saw videos of aggressive skating, which is really, really big in America, people took it up. And everyone notices what a brilliant buzz it is when you re skating and you pull off a good trick. It s the whole lifestyle, as well. It s not just a hobby, like golf or something. It defines you, as much as being a raver or a ciderhead. It s like, you are a rollerblader. It s your whole life.
What kind of people get drawn to it?
Most people that take to rollerblading get tired of just hanging around street corners, just talking to their mates and doing nothing for the whole summer, just maybe going to the cinema once in a while and they want something to give them a good lift. And it s totally constructive. You re not doing drugs, or drinking beer. You re doing something that s good for you, something healthy.
broken limbs
While the health benefits of frequent rollerblading are fairly obvious, there are also considerable dangers involved.
You can have fairly bad falls, and get broken limbs. My mate Jonathan broke his arm last year. You see, what people say is that a trick is not a trick without style . You have to have your own style, your own individuality. But what s dangerous about that is if you mess up a trick, if you slip off the rail, or if you switch from one trick to another, you might slip. If you re doing speed-skating, that can be dangerous as well.
Where does a new fan of the sport get his/her information about it?
Skate City in Temple Bar is the mecca. It s where everyone gets their stuff; the clothes, the new videos coming in from America. Competitive rollerblading started in America with the ASA (Aggressive Skaters Association) and they have a pro tournament every year. So far it s come to Amsterdam, Paris and Barcelona, but it hasn t come to Ireland yet, cos we just don t have the facilities to hold it.
Brian recently attended a competitive tournament in Birmingham, along with his pals Adam Ozmin and Albert Hooi, and was more than impressed.
I know a good few people over in England, friends of mine, and one of them just let me know about a tournament that was going on over the 8th and 9th August. Last year they held it in Wakefield, which is the skate capital of Europe. But this year it was held in the NEC arena, which is absolutely huge, and there s a gigantic speed course. It was like nothing we d ever skated on before. and everyone did pretty well.
Brian regrets the loss of St Anthony s Centre, but concedes that it had its limitations anyway. Well, it was good for a while, but it wasn t a very big place; the floor wasn t that good. You need somewhere with better stuff; cos that place, you had to put away the ramps and you can t have that. The ramps need to be permanent. If they re in any way big, you can t move them.
Have you encountered much hassle from the general public?
Yeah, definitely, he states, without hesitation. A lot of hassle. Even when you actually find a good place to skate, that wouldn t be near the city centre it d probably be out in Templeogue or something the residents will be annoying you, saying, uhh, you can t do that here , or we ll call the police and we re not doing any harm really, just doing jumps. I can t see anything anti-social about it.
Hitting the nail on the head with precise accuracy, Brian goes on to note that there s a lot of people out there that complain almost for the fun of it. They just love complaining about anything that comes their way. They jump at the opportunity. If we weren t rollerblading, they d just be looking for something else to moan about. n
Skate City is located in Dublin s Temple Bar. Telephone: (01) 6799900.