Equality and Inclusion

Statement on Equality and Inclusion

Auld Reekie Roller Girls (ARRG) promotes equality and inclusion in roller derby. ARRG is fully committed to equality in all its activities, including within its membership, its public games, its events, its public persona, and in all its other dealings.

ARRG abides by an Equality Policy, which states our guiding principles, and our commitment to equality and positive action both within and outwith ARRG.

ARRG has a dedicated Equalities Team, which was set up to oversee ARRG’s activities to ensure that we are proactively creating and maintaining a safe, inclusive and accessible environment for all. We want ARRG to be trailblazers across the key themes of equality, diversity, accessibility, inclusion, visibility and representation in roller derby, and in sport in general. We want anyone to be able to look at ARRG and see a way that they could be involved.

You can read our full Equality Policy HERE.

If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback on how we are doing, please contact us on [email protected]

Safer spaces for events

As per our Equality Policy (2016), Auld Reekie Roller Girls (ARRG) promotes equality and inclusion in roller derby, strives to create accessible and inclusive spaces for marginalised people, and is committed to creating an environment in which every person attending an ARRG event or interacting with ARRG feels safe, welcome, and free from discrimination or harassment.

As part of our commitment to create a safer space for all those attending we will not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, racism, body shaming or LGBTQIA+phobia.

Guidelines for those attending ARRG events or using ARRG online spaces:
- Be responsible for your own actions. Remember that your actions have an effect on others regardless of your intentions.
- Don’t assume people’s ethnicity, culture, sexuality, gender or class. We suggest using the pronoun “they” as a default unless told otherwise, and we encourage asking people about their pronouns.
- Give space to others: different people need different amounts of personal space so be generous.
- If something doesn’t feel right, please speak up in that moment if you feel safe to do so. If you don’t feel safe doing so, please let an organiser or volunteer know as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, or ask a person you trust to do so on your behalf.
- If you see something that does not respect these safer spaces guidelines, please speak to an organiser or volunteer as soon as possible and they will take the issue forward.

Anyone who does not respect these guidelines, both in our online spaces and at our events, may be refused admission or asked to leave an event without a refund.

The Scottish LGBT Sports Charter

ARRG are proud to be signatories on the Scottish LGBT Sports Charter. This means that we are committed to the following five principles:

1. Take steps to actively involve LGBT people in sport and visibly support LGBT inclusion and equality.
2. Challenge homophobic and transphobic behaviour and ensure a positive and welcoming sporting environment for LGBT participants.
3. Develop policies and practices that are inclusive, informed by a better understanding of the issues and barriers for LGBT people and by taking advantage of training
4. Work to further include trans people in sport by understanding the differing needs for trans participants and begin to reduce the barriers which prevent trans people from taking part in sport in their acquired gender.
5. Strive to make continuous improvements to greater include LGBT people in Scottish sport.

Rainbow Laces

In 2016, we joined Stonewall Scotland’s Rainbow Laces Campaign, to demonstrate our commitment to making sport everyone’s game, and still proudly wear our rainbow laces.

Commitment to Removing Financial Barriers

We believe that anyone who wants to should have the chance to get involved in roller derby and ARRG. We understand that roller derby is expensive, and cost can be a barrier to accessing the sport. We are committed to removing this barrier as much as possible:

Loaner Kit
We have successfully applied for funding to pay for loaner kit. This means that for every new skater intake, we have a dedicated number of spots that come with full roller derby kit – skates, helmet, pads and mouthguard – to make it more affordable for people to make that first step. We are continually applying for more funding so we can continue to do this/offer this to more people.

Subsidised Membership
We recognise that our membership fees could create a barrier to participation. For full members, we subsidise a number of memberships on a no-questions-asked basis, to make it easier for anyone facing financial difficulties to participate.

Game Day Helpers
All volunteers who help out on game day are given automatic entry to the game/s.

Concessionary Game Tickets
We offer generous concessions on our game day tickets to anyone who is unemployed, on a low wage/in receipt of benefits, a student, over-60s.

Free Game Tickets
Children aged 14 or under, accompanied by carers who are over 16, get free entry to all our home games.
Edinburgh Leisure Disability Card holders and their carers get free entry to all our home games.

Community Group Deals
We offer special deals for community groups wanting to watch our games – please contact us for more details.