Roller derby is an American-invented contact sport—and historically, a form of sports entertainment—based on formation roller skating around a track. While traditionally a professional (paid) sport for both women and men, roller derby has in its current incarnation developed a predominantly female, amateur circuit with a strong DIY ethic.

Rules

Most current roller derby leagues use rules developed by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA).^[1] A summary of the WFTDA rules^[2] follows:

Roller derbies take place on a circuit track. The two teams playing send five players each onto the track — three blockers (defense), one pivot (last line of defense) and one jammer (scorer). Helmet covers are used to display the players' positions: a striped cover is used for pivots, a cover with two stars is used for jammers, and no cover is used for blockers.

Pivots and blockers from both teams start the game by forming a single pack. In a pack, all players face counterclockwise. The pivots line up next to each other, followed by a layer of four blockers, followed by a layer of two blockers. The two jammers, who are not considered to be part of the pack, are positioned 20 feet behind the pack. At this point, no differentiation need be made between the two teams; as long as the pack formation is as described above, it does not matter if the team members are interspersed randomly in the pack.

The referee signals the start of jam formation by blowing a whistle. During jam formation, the entire pack moves counterclockwise, during which time players can change position. All pivots/blockers must remain in the pack (i.e., 20 feet in front of or behind any other player who is not considered out of the pack). Jammers remain stationary during jam formation. When the last person in the pack has passed where the front of the pack was initially lined up, the referee blows the whistle again, and play begins in earnest with a jam.

A jam is a 2-minute countdown period during which teams attempt to score points. Points can only be scored by the jammers, who, moving counter-clockwise, attempt to pass the pack and lap around as many times as possible. After passing the pack the first time, jammers earn one point each time they pass an opposing blocker/pivot. During a jam, all pivots/blockers must remain in the pack. If a pivot/blocker falls or otherwise becomes separated from the pack, she is out of play (i.e., cannot block or assist the jammers) until she catches up to the pack.

The first jammer to pass all pivots and blockers once the jam begins wins the status of lead jammer for the remainder of the jam. The lead jammer can decide to end the jam at any time before the 2 minutes are up. She does this by placing her hands on her hips, which signals the referee to officially call off the jam.

After a lead jammer has been established, both jammers have the option of passing their positions to their teams' respective pivots (passing the star). This is done by removing the 2-star helmet cover and handing it to the pivot. The pivot then becomes the jammer, and the jammer becomes the pivot for the remainder of the jam. If the original jammer was the lead jammer, the position of lead jammer is not passed on; the position is forfeited for the remainder of the jam.

To impede the progress of the opposing team's jammer, players may block using body parts above the hips, excluding hands and head. Blocking with forearms is allowed, however blockers must use care with their elbows, which may not be used in blocking and cannot be swung at other players or used to hook an opponent's arm.

Each game consists of three 20-minute periods. At the end of each jam, players re-form the pack and continue play.

Penalties are given to skaters who block illegally, fight or behave in an unsportsmanlike manner, or otherwise break the rules. Possible penalties include sending players to a penalty box (during which time opposing jammers can score points by passing the penalty box) and expulsion of players.

History

Origin

In 1914, the New York Times reported on a 24-hour banked-track roller skating race held at Madison Square Garden. The reports didn't use the word "derby", but called the team relay event "the first twenty-four-hour roller skating race that has been held in New York in years," and made mention that the crowd enjoyed the sudden sprints and spills in preliminary races held the day before.^[3][4][5]

In 1922, the Chicago Tribune announced and reported on the results of two "roller derby" events. These were multi-day events during which roller skating races were held on a flat track at Chicago's Broadway Armory.^[6][7][8]

In 1929, as the Great Depression began, a struggling film publicist named Leo Seltzer felt that dance marathons were undermining attendance at his Oregon cinema chain, so he began holding his own dance marathons. Hundreds of unemployed people participated, hoping to win a $2,000 cash prize. Since dance marathons usually ended up with people lazily shuffling around, he soon changed the events to "walkathons". The contests were emceed by celebrities like Frankie Laine and Red Skelton, and grossed $6 million in three years.

In 1935, the novelty of walkathons wore off, but a roller skating fad arose again, and Seltzer decided to combine the two concepts as Transcontinental Roller Derby, an event more than a month long, staged at the Chicago Coliseum. It was a simulation of a cross-country roller skating race in which 25 two-person teams circled a track thousands of times, skating 11½ hours a day, to cover 3,000 miles—the distance between Los Angeles and New York City. Teams were disqualified if both members were off the track during skating times. Sixteen teams dropped out due to injuries or exhaustion, but nine teams finished, and the winning team, Clarice Martin and Bernie McKay, held the lead for the last 11 days of the event.

Over the next two years, Seltzer took the Transcontinental Roller Derby on the road, holding similar races throughout the U.S. with a portable track that reportedly cost $20,000, for daily crowds averaging 10,000 in number, who paid 10 to 25 cents admission. Occasionally, massive collisions and crashes occurred as skaters tried to lap those who were ahead of them. Sportswriter Damon Runyon realized this was the most exciting part, and encouraged Seltzer to tweak the game to maximize physical contact between the skaters and to exaggerate hits and falls. Seltzer bristled, wanting to keep the sport legitimate, but agreed to the experiment, which fans ended up loving. Over time, the spectacle evolved into a sport involving two teams of five skaters, with a team scoring points when its members lapped members of the other team, which is the basic premise of roller derby to this day.

Transcontinental Roller Derby rapidly grew in popularity as a spectator sport. Matches were held in fifty cities in 1940, for more than five million spectators, some of whom formed fan clubs and newsletters like Roller Derby News (later renamed RolleRage). Teams began to represent and compete in other U.S. cities, although some teams were actually the same traveling group that would just change names depending on where they were playing, and all were part of the Seltzer-owned Roller Derby league.

The entry of the United States into World War II at the end of 1941 interrupted the sport's ascent; many skaters enlisted in the armed forces, crowds dwindled, and the fledgling league was reduced to one team skating mainly for the entertainment of soldiers.

After the war's end in 1945, Seltzer successfully resumed growing the sport, although a 1946 attempt to bring it to New York's Polo Grounds failed due to twelve straight days of rain. In 1947, well before television was in widespread use, Roller Derby debuted on the ABC television network. Seltzer changed his residence to Encino (Los Angeles) that same year, a westward move that foreshadowed changes to come. By 1949, Roller Derby games were being televised live throughout the U.S., and Seltzer was grossing $2 million a year. In 1949, the National Roller Derby League was formed, and the season playoffs sold out Madison Square Garden for a week.^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

Meanwhile, from 1946 through 1948, flat-track roller derby was enjoyed as an intramural sport at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Jam On, Jam Off

In 1950, Leo Seltzer moved the base of operations to New York, where it was easier to produce Roller Derby's first wave of televised popularity. Broadcasts centered on the New York Chiefs, who enjoyed nationwide appearances on CBS and ABC. At one point, Roller Derby could be seen on ABC several times a week. Besides the Chiefs, teams in the National Roller Derby League included the Chicago Westerners, Brooklyn Red Devils, Jersey Jolters, Washington Jets and the Philadelphia Panthers, with these 6 clubs affectionately considered by fans as the ancestors of all incarnations of Derby teams through 1973.

Off television in the fall of 1951 due to overexposure and declining ratings, the Derby suffered a dramatic fall in attendance. In July 1953, citing the effects of the Korean War and a dearth of venues, Leo Seltzer moved the Derby from New York to Los Angeles and created the L.A. Braves for their debut at the Rose Bowl. The Braves became the first international team when a tour of Europe was launched in 1953.

However, this was not the first time audiences outside the U.S. had seen the game played live. A renegade league, International Roller Speedway, known in some countries as Roller-Catch, formed in 1937 and toured Europe and the Philippines. Roller Speedway was a modified version of the sport and normally featured two teams, representing Europe (the "home" team) and USA. The 1950 film The Fireball, starring Mickey Rooney, was based on the life of one of the league's stars, Eddie Poore, who skated under the name Eddie Cazar. Roller Speedway ceased operations in 1952.^[14]

In 1954, the Derby established the most fabled team in the history of the sport, the longtime champion San Francisco Bay Bombers. Stars on this team eventually included Charlie O'Connell, Joanie Weston, and Ann Calvello.^[13]

In 1958, Leo Seltzer gave up on the sport in favor of real estate interests, and his son Jerry Seltzer took full control of Roller Derby. Within a year, he moved the operation to the San Francisco Bay Area. He syndicated Roller Derby to 120 television stations, and he changed some of the rules. For the first time, skaters were required to wear helmets, and at the behest of KTVU television announcer Walt Harris, he made the game more TV-friendly by making jammers' helmets easier to spot.

A more theatrical imitation called Roller Games was started in 1961 in Los Angeles featuring retired Roller Derby skaters who chose not to make the move to San Francisco. Owned by Bill Griffiths, Sr. and Jerry Hill, Roller Games was the only viable rival organization to the original Roller Derby, and actually consisted of several separate leagues, including the (U.S.) National Roller Derby (NRD), soon renamed to National Roller League (NRL) since the "Roller Derby" trademark was aggressively protected by the Seltzer organization. The NRD/NRL consisted of the Northern Hawks (sometimes billed as the Chicago Hawks), New York Bombers, Texas Outlaws, Detroit Devils, Los Angeles Thunderbirds (nicknamed "T-Birds"), and Philadelphia Warriors (sometimes billed as the Eastern Warriors). There were also several attempts in markets that failed quickly, with teams such as the Baltimore/Washington Cats, the Florida Jets, and the Western Renegades. Roller Games also encompassed the Canadian National Roller League (CNRL) and Japanese National Roller League (JNRL). Some former Roller Derby stars found new fame in the Roller Games, and a handful of skaters simply went back and forth between the two organizations. After 1968, however, the Roller Derby to Roller Games defections were quite few; instead, a handful of Roller Games skaters returned to their roots and began skating for the Derby again.^[15][16]

1961 also saw the advent of a short-lived New York City area rival league, the American Skating Derby (ASD), promoted by Joe Morehouse and Mike O'Hara. ASD debuted two teams of ex-Roller Derby skaters — one team representing "New York" and the other representing Brooklyn — at Long Island Arena in Commack, New York, around April 1961, with plans to appear throughout the Tri-State Region.^[17] A league split later that year resulted in the formation of another league, the Eastern Skating Derby (ESD), which lasted until mid-1964 and skated only in New York, sometimes at the same venues as the ASD.^[18][19] As with Roller Speedway, none of these splinter groups are remembered today by anyone outside the most dedicated fans and the skaters who participated in them.

To the media, there was only one Roller Derby, and from Jerry Seltzer's takeover in the late 1950s the game reached new heights of popularity with a 120-station television network where taped games from the Bombers' home, Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, were shown weekly. Television made fans of thousands and the Bombers packed arenas from coast to coast on cross country tours, regularly selling out arenas such as Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden, Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis and dozens more. The indoor record for Roller Derby was set at 19,507 at Madison Square Garden in 1970; it was broken by the outdoor record at the Oakland Coliseum a few months later at around 28,814 for a game between the Bombers and the Northeast Braves. The following year that record was topped again with 34,418 for a Bomber game at the Coliseum; their rival, the Midwest Pioneers, broke that record with 50,118 fans in 1972 for a game at Comiskey Park in Chicago. At this point, the Bombers home-team concept was duplicated with the New York Chiefs representing the Eastern U.S. and the Pioneers based in Chicago (but really everything west of Philadelphia). A one season run in 1971 by the Cincinnati Jolter team in the Midwest (Ohio, Kentucky and other areas) was not financially successful and the team became a road franchise once again. The Bombers were briefly a Southwest team moved from the Bay Area, but potential new owners couldn't come to terms with the Seltzer family and so the Bombers were returned home. (In an unusual move, the Chiefs were a "replacement" team for the Bombers during the period that franchise was supposedly based in Texas).

In the early 1970's,a Roller Derby participant was depicted in the children's program, ZOOM, in a segment called, As the World Zooms, this was a main character of the segment who continued through the entire run of that incarnation of the program.

In 1973, high overhead and other factors led Jerry Seltzer to elect to shut down Roller Derby. In a 2005 interview, Ann Calvello mentioned gas shortages during the 1973 oil crisis as a contributing factor because teams could not travel.^[10] Some of the IRDL star skaters were recruited to skate for Roller Games' International Skating Conference (ISC), which quickly eliminated all Derby teams except for the Chiefs to again focus on the Los Angeles Thunderbirds.^[20][21] However, within two years, the wrestling/circus-like approach doomed all of Roller Games; many Roller Derby skaters quit and fans deserted the arenas. Cultural historian Paul Fussell, perhaps editorializing, attributed the collapse of the sport to the declining economic class of its fan base in its final years; fans were ultimately unable to support the sponsors that had been keeping the sport on television.^[22]

IRSL revival

Several attempts were made in the late 1970s and 1980s to revive the sport.

The most successful of these was the International Roller Skating League (IRSL), operational from 1977 to 1987. IRSL games were held mostly in Northern California, but a handful of games were skated in the Northeastern United States, the Midwest, and Canada. Many skaters from Roller Derby were in the IRSL, and some of the team names were the same as in Roller Derby.

Initially the league was composed of the San Francisco Bay Bombers, the Midwest Pioneers, the Eastern Red Devils and the Manhattan Chiefs. In 1979, the league was bought out and restructured by one of its owners, former San Francisco television producer Dave Lipschultz. At this time, two more teams, the Northeast Braves and Southern Jolters (later renamed the Southern Stars), were added, and the Chiefs were renamed the New York Dynamite and, eventually, the Eastern Express. A final team, the Northern Knights, representing Canada, was announced in 1986 but never competed. As before, most of the attention was centered on the Bay Bombers. After skating primarily in Northern California, a Midwest tour was launched in 1984, but flopped due to competition from baseball and football as well as weather related problems. In 1986 a tournament was carried on ESPN and the IRSL set up sporadic appearances in New York. ESPN dropped the contract in its pursuit of the more lucrative professional football market, and although talks were underway to broadcast IRSL matchups on USA Network, the IRSL was unable to survive without television support. Lupshultz shut down the league after its last game at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 1987. Around that time, Lipschultz and skaters were negotiating over how to keep it going. Lipschultz wanted to make it more like professional wrestling in an attempt to win over a fickle TV audience, but the players had different ideas. No agreement was reached, and potential sponsors lost interest.^[23][24][25]

The 1985 IRSL matches have been shown twice on ESPN Classic's sports comedy show Cheap Seats as ESPN retains the right to air those matches.

American Skating Derby, promoting the game as Rollerjam! formed in 1987 and played a spring season with two teams, the San Francisco Slammers and the Los Angeles Turbos. Its name was the same as the early 1960s New York based league but was unrelated. Composed of inactive Roller Derby and IRSL skaters, the ASD was formed primarily as a means to keep the game alive, and the two teams (with the Slammers being essentially replaced by the Bay City Bombers) skated around Northern California communities for high school charities. For the next decade, with sometimes as few as one game annually, the ASD attempted to keep the traditional game going.^[26]

RollerGames revival

Main article: RollerGames

RollerGames, created in 1989 by two television producers and Roller Games owner Bill Griffiths, Sr., was a U.S. television show that presented a theatrical version of the sport of roller derby for a national audience. It featured a steeply banked figure-eight track, an alligator pit, and a number of skaters who had been in the Roller Games league, as well as younger participants. The six teams were the T-Birds, Violators, Bad Attitude, Rockers, Hot Flash, and Maniacs. It was broadcast for one season (1989–1990) before its distributor went bankrupt.

RollerJam revival

Between January 1999 and January 2001,^[27] Knoxville, Tennessee television impresarios Ross K. Bagwell Sr. and Stephen Land, under the name Pageboy Entertainment, collaborated with CBS to stage another televised revival known as RollerJam or Roller Jam. Bagwell and Land recruited numerous stars from the Roller Derby of yesteryear, as well as newer stars from various athletic backgrounds, including nationally ranked speed skaters, to skate in the six-team World Skating League (WSL). Jerry Seltzer was named RollerJam "commissioner".

RollerJam games were televised out of "RollerJam Arena," situated on the grounds of Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Initial teams, each consisting of seven men and seven women, were the New York Enforcers, the California Quakes, the Florida Sundogs, the Nevada Hot Dice, the Texas Rustlers and the Illinois Riot (Original names of the latter three teams were the Las Vegas High Rollers, Texas Twisters, and Illinois Inferno. These names were changed prior to the start of the first season). Despite strong funding and four seasons of broadcasts on The Nashville Network (TNN, now known as Spike TV), the venture never became a "live" attraction. As time went on, fabricated storylines and uncharismatic characters were being featured more than actual competitive skating. This did not go over well with many skaters nor die-hard roller derby fans. Two notable veterans from Roller Games, Rockin' Ray Robles and Patsy Delgato, were featured in the second season of RollerJam. When RollerJam was cancelled, many of the skaters found smaller leagues to skate in. 40 episodes of Roller Jam have been reversioned for UK television after successful televised seasons in other countries. Airing from October 2nd 2006 on Challenge TV much of the narrative has been removed with sex and violence toned down for a family audience.

One major rule difference between previous leagues was the legalisation of in-line skates, which the WSL required for younger players.

Contemporary roller derby

All-female, grassroots leagues

In the early 21st century, after two decades in relative obscurity, the sport began to experience a grassroots revival among women, with leagues forming in urban centers across North America. In 2001, Bad Girl Good Woman Productions (BGGW) was formed, creating the first all-girl roller derby game of the new generation. Founders formed four teams, and staged their first public match in Austin, Texas in summer 2002. Shortly after, the league split over business plans.^[28] The Texas Rollergirls embraced flat-track play, while the BGGW league (also known as the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls or Texas Roller Derby) went on to skate banked-track roller derby.^[29] The revival then began in earnest, with over 50 such leagues in existence by late 2005, more than 80 by February 2006, and more than 135 by mid-August 2006. The sport's sudden growth spurt in 2006 is attributed to the exposure the sport achieved from the Rollergirls reality television show, which depicted portions of the lives of real skaters from the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls. The show began broadcasting in January 2006, but was not picked up for a second season due to unsatisfactory ratings.

Nearly all contemporary roller derby leagues are all-female and are self-organized, formed in an indie, DIY spirit by relatively new roller derby enthusiasts. They all use traditional quad roller skates. Many are non-profit organizations, and most leagues compete on flat tracks. Each league typically features two or more local teams that compete in public matches, called bouts, for a rapidly growing fanbase. Members of fledgling leagues often practice and strategize together, regardless of team affiliation, between bouts.

WFTDA

Main article: Women's Flat Track Derby Association

A number of such all-female leagues (48, as of September 2007) are members of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), which coordinates and sets the rules that govern inter-league competition among its members. The WFTDA member leagues create "travel" teams who play against each other in regional matches, although some leagues that are not WFTDA members have independently arranged their own travel teams and inter-league bouts.

WFTDA publishes rankings and organizes annual championship tournaments for its members in good standing. The first tournament was the 2006 Dust Devil, hosted by Tucson Roller Derby in Tucson, Arizona.^[30] In 2007, WFTDA's increasing size led to organization of a separate annual tournament for leagues east of the Mississippi.

Further evolution

Although the 2000s revival of roller derby was initially all-female, some leagues later introduced all-male teams.

In May 2007, a handful of leagues formed the Old School Derby Association (OSDA), which promotes, for inter-league play among its members, a rougher set of rules inspired by earlier, banked-track incarnations of the sport. Unlike WFTDA, the organization does not limit membership based on the type of track, amateur status, or the role of men in the organizations. ^[31]

Mixed-gender, for-profit leagues

A handful of leagues, mostly mixed-gender, have origins in earlier incarnations of the sport and heavily promote themselves as professional due to their history, management, membership, style of play and marketing considerations. As of the mid-2000s, most of these leagues do not compete in regular seasons, but rather schedule infrequent special-event games, drawing from a relatively small pool of skaters to form the roster of two teams put together just for the event, or on one team that plays against a similar club from another league. Team names typically pay homage to memorable Roller Derby and Roller Games teams of the past.

One such league is the Lou Sanchez, Sr.-owned National Roller Derby League (NRDL), established in 1995. Sanchez is a former Roller Games skater known for his underhanded, violent tactics while playing for the Texas Outlaws in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from skating, he managed various teams in different roller derby revivals. The NRDL, a.k.a. Roller Derby Inc., began with two teams, the Los Angeles Aztecs and the San Francisco Bay Bombers, skating in exhibition bouts in mid-1995. Potential investors were sought to fund the founding teams plus two more, the L.A. Thunderbirds and the New York Chiefs, in an enterprise to be promoted as Roller Derby 2000, but nothing materialized.^[32][33] The league was briefly known as Roller Blazing Derby League (RBDL) in May 2000 and later Roller Derby USA, then returned back to NRDL. The NRDL consists of teams that train and compete on banked tracks in the coastal cities of Southern California, and in May 2006 began forming two Las Vegas based teams, the Las Vegas Royal Rollergirls (all female) and the Las Vegas High-Rollers (mixed gender). One of the NRDL teams, the L.A. Stars, is sometimes billed as the L.A. T'Birds, and the Texas Outlaws are sometimes billed as just the Outlaws. Recent games include the following:

• On March 22, 2003, Roller Blazing Derby held a pair of matches at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, featuring the LA T'Birds vs the San Francisco Bay Bombers, and the L.A. Stars vs the Red Devils.
• On November 13, 2004, a "Ralphie Memorial" game, held in honor of the late Ralphie Valladares, and featuring the L.A. Stars vs the Outlaws was held at Pacific Palms Conference Resort's Grand Arena in the Los Angeles suburb City of Industry.^[34][35]
• On June 4, 2005, the same two teams faced off at the same venue in a game billed as "Ralphie's Revenge".^[36][37]
• On July 30, 2005, the LA Stars bouted the Red Devils in "Ralphie's Roller Action" at the same venue.^[38][39]

Another such league is the Dan Ferrari-owned, California-based American Roller Skating Derby (ARSD), was established in 1997. The ARSD teams include the San Francisco Bombers, the San Diego Firebirds, the Chicago Pioneers, the Brooklyn Red Devils and the New York Chiefs. Unlike leagues in the past, the ARSD has invested in building a new track, and new uniforms. Dan has made arrangements to have the tracks up at different venues for additional training, and in some cases, for a week or more at a time. They also utilize former skating stars Delores "Tillie" Tucker, "Bad Boy" Alphonso Reyes, Larry Lewis and Jim Fitzpatrick as coaches and mentors during these training sessions.

A match between the Bay Bombers and the Chicago Pioneers was skated on October 14, 2006 at the Alameda venue. A game skated between the Bay Bombers and Brooklyn Red Devils drew nearly 1,700 fans at the Kezar Pavilion on April 28th, 2007. More recently, on July 7th, 2007 the San Francisco Bay Bombers lost to the Brooklyn Red Devils at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, CA, and defeated the Chicago Pioneers on July 14th, 2007, also at the Cow Palace. The ARSD has also skated an interleague game between the Bay Bombers and Ralphie's Roller Stars on August 11th, 2007 at the Industry Hills Expo Center in the City of Industry, CA. On August 18th, 2007, the ARSD set their new attendance record when they drew 2,045 people at the Kezar Pavilion when the San Francisco Bay Bombers defeated the Chicago Pioneers. The World Championship Cup games were skated on October 13th, 2007 at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, CA. in front of approximately 2,400 people. The hometown Bay Bombers defeated the Brooklyn Red Devils to take the championship. The Red Devils defeated the Pioneers in game one, the Bay Bombers defeated the Pioneers in game two. ^{[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]}

A third league, formed in the late 1990s and based in Northern California, is the Tim Patten-owned American Roller Derby League (ARDL), which focuses on promoting teams whose names include the Bay City Bombers, Los Angeles Turbos, New York Demons, Chicago Pioneers (a.k.a. the Chiefs), and three all-female teams, the Lady Killers, SF Roller Girls, and Orlando Thunder. However, in May 2006, Patten admitted that he was having trouble recruiting and retaining skaters, and only had eight inexperienced skaters practicing once a week in San Francisco.^[48] The ARDL was featured in the 2006 documentary film Jam,^[49] has sponsored novels and a clothing line, and is sometimes promoted as the American Inline Roller Derby League when competing on inline skates.

The Bob Sedillo-owned Roller Games International (RGI) league still operates a single team, the Los Angeles Thunderbirds (T-Birds). A match between the ARDL Bay Bombers and the RGI Los Angeles Thunderbirds (T-Birds) was played July 29, 2006.^[50][51]

Former Roller Games skater Hiroshi Koizumi's Roller Game League has four teams in Tokyo, Japan and has played a modified version of the sport since the league's inception in 1990. It is unclear whether the league is still active.

Defining amateur and professional

In the United States, under the provisions of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, the definition of an amateur athlete is up to the national governing body for each sport. The U.S. national governing body for all amateur roller skating sports is USA Roller Sports (USARS), which defines an "amateur competitive roller skater" very broadly as anyone who is a good sport when competing in USARS events and who does not misrepresent their previous competitive experience; USARS does not formally exclude anyone on the basis of occupational status or, apparently, any other criteria.^[52] USARS also does not yet acknowledge roller derby by name in its bylaws; it only acknowledges "artistic, speed, and hockey", although its membership application for individuals has additional categories "noncompetitive", "recreation" and "aggressive"—roller derby was listed under the latter in 2005, and is its own category in 2006. However, USARS might accept not-for-profit (as shown by statements of funds disbursement) amateur roller derby leagues as members, at the discretion of the USARS Board of Directors.^[53]

The only other governing body for roller derby in the U.S. is WFTDA, but defining amateur and professional are not within the scope of its charter; it exists primarily to facilitate competition and goodwill among its member leagues, and has no authority.

Currently, the delineation between "professional" and "amateur" levels of competition in roller derby is essentially a matter of self-identification by those leagues claiming both that they are professional and the others are amateur. However, organizations that want to bill themselves as one or the other are free to do so without consequence. Most contemporary leagues don't use such terms at all.

As of 2006, there are, however, notable differences between the organizations that heavily promote themselves as professional and those that do not. While these differences do not necessarily define what is "professional" and what is "amateur," observable trends include:

• Professional leagues tend to favor mixed-gender teams. As of mid-2007, the majority of the current wave of other leagues are all-female.^[54]
• Professional leagues tend to have teams that represent and train in different cities, whereas other leagues tend to train within and identify with a single metropolitan area.
• Professional leagues tend to be owned by individual promoters, investors, sponsors, and/or external corporations. In cases of "skater-owned" (owned by individuals who have a skating background) professional leagues, primary management of the league is not in the hands of the organization's members. Other leagues have a variety of business structures, ranging from for-profit LLCs under outside management to fully non-profit, all-skater-managed organizations.
• Today's professional leagues tend to have roots in earlier Roller Derby revivals like RollerGames, and are comprised partly of athletes and promoters who were active in those eras of the sport. Non-professional leagues tend to have no connection to any historical leagues, a distinction that is often deliberate.
• Historically, skaters in professional leagues were full-time employees of the league, and received financial compensation for their service. Skaters in other leagues are generally not compensated.
• Professional leagues tend to be vocal proponents of banked-track competition. Most other leagues tend to favor flat-track competition, although some do favor banked tracks and some use both. Different track types lead to different styles of play, which are in turn sometimes associated with professionalism or amateurism. The merits and drawbacks of flat vs. banked tracks are sources of heated debates and strong opinions throughout the sport.
• Even though they tend to have more experienced skaters, in comparison to other leagues, professional leagues devote greater attention to showmanship and entertainment gimmicks. Other leagues tend to focus more, although not exclusively, on athleticism. These different approaches to producing a roller derby spectacle reflect the different histories, ownership/management structures, and goals of individual leagues, as well as different interpretations of the expectations of fans. These differences are most notable between those leagues that are profit-driven and that strive to acquire and maintain television exposure, and those that train and compete out of a pure love for the sport.

Some do not consider any form of roller derby to be "professional" since the sport is not covered by major sports media outlets and because it's historical promotional style has been more akin to "professional wrestling" than a sport such as professional hockey.

The relative lack of reliable, published, and Internet-accessible information about the activities of both historic and modern "professional" roller derby leagues makes it difficult to make qualitative assessments of other possible differences, such as types of training facilities, competition venues, rules and regulations, training schedules, etc.

Trademarks

Several trademarks for the proper noun "Roller Derby" are currently in effect in multiple countries. The first three are owned by Roller Derby Skate Corporation, a manufacturer of wheeled skates, based in Litchfield, Illinois:

• An entertainment exhibition involving a contest between teams of roller skaters, first used in commerce in 1935.
• A brand name and logo for roller skates, wheels, and repair parts, first used in commerce in 1935.
• A brand name and logo for t-shirts, jackets, and trousers, first used in commerce in 1987.

The other current trademark was registered June 6, 2005 and applies to a computer game by Ages Entertainment Software, Inc., a subsidiary of Viacom.

The common noun "roller derby" is often used to refer to the sport in all of its forms, be they semi-theatrical or fully athletic, or professional or amateur. It is possible that some uses of this term may infringe upon Roller Derby Skate Corporation's trademark.

Roller derby in popular culture

Roller derby has been the subject of film, television, and literature, in fictional and nonfictional contexts. This is not an exhaustive list.

Film and television

Documentary

• In 1949, Roller Derby Girl, a 10-minute short film produced and directed by Justin Herman was released as part of Paramount's Pacemaker series. It was nominated for, but did not win, an Academy Award in 1950.
• In 1971, the documentary film Derby (titled Roller Derby in the United Kingdom) was released. Directed by Robert Kaylor, the film follows skater Mike Snell as he becomes immersed in the world of 1970s professional Roller Derby, and provides competition footage as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of several Roller Derby pros.
• In 1986, the 57-minute documentary Roller Derby Mania was released direct to video (NTSC VHS) in North America. It features the L.A. T-Birds roller games team, as well as classic Roller Derby footage. A Region 1 DVD edition was released in 2003.
• In 1991, the 30-minute documentary Roller Derby Wars was released direct to video (NTSC VHS) in North America. It was released on video in the UK in 1993 (PAL VHS).
• In 2001, Demon Of The Derby, a biographical documentary about aging roller derby star Ann Calvello, was released.
• In 2004, the 32nd episode of the sports documentary series "Woodie's World" aired on ESPN and contained a segment on a 1971 roller derby revival.
• In 2005, the 9th episode of the sports documentary series "Timeless" aired on ESPN and spotlighted the LA Derby Dolls.
• Jam, a film about the lives of derby skaters and promoters, premiered in 2006. The film won best documentary at the South by Southwest film festival. A Jam trailer was made available on the Film Threat web site.
• Hell On Wheels, a documentary about the creation of the all-female roller derby league in Austin, Texas in 2001 that sparked the modern derby revival premiered in March 2007 at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
• In 2007, several league-specific documentaries premiered (or were scheduled to), including Talk Derby To Me^[55] and Blood on the Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls^[56]

Fiction

• In 1950, Twentieth Century Fox released The Fireball, a fictional film starring Mickey Rooney as a boy who runs away to join the International Roller Speedway and falls in love. This is one of Marilyn Monroe's first films.
• In 1972, Raquel Welch starred in Kansas City Bomber, a fictional film about a female roller derby player who learns to take control of her life both on and off the track.
• An exploitation film entitled Unholy Rollers: The Leader of the Pack was also released in 1972. Written and directed by Vernon Zimmerman, the movie stars Claudia Jennings as a factory worker who quits her job to join the roller derby.
• In September 1973, "Bailey's Comets", an animated series from DePatie/Freling Studios debuted on CBS. It was about the Comets, a 6 member (3 male, 3 female) roller derby team involved in an international race against other, rather bizarre teams for a $1 million cash prize.
• In 1975, Rollerball was released. The fictional film, set in a dystopian future, is loosely based on the Roller Derby concept, and concentrates on social and political issues. Several skaters from the original Roller Derby have cameo/stunt scenes in the film. It was remade in 2002.
• In 1978, NBC produced a short-lived TV sitcom called The Roller Girls which featured the exploits of a fictional all-female roller games team, the Pittsburgh Pitts.
• In 2005, Variety reported that Paramount purchased a comedy pitch for a film about women's roller derby, and set it up for development with former Paramount president Tom Jacobson and MTV Films.^[57]
• Roller derby was incorporated into the plot of the 27th episode of "The Untouchables" in 1960, the 14th episode of the animated TV series "The Addams Family" in 1973, the Disney theatrical film The Shaggy D.A. in 1976, the 12th episode of the TV series "Charlie's Angels" in 1976, the 87th episode of the TV series "The Six Million Dollar Man" in 1977, an episode of the TV series "Laverne and Shirley", the 22nd and 117th episodes of the TV series "Fantasy Island" in 1978 and 1982, the 10th episode of the TV series "Room for Two" in 1982, episode 31 of "The Fall Guy" in 1982, the 45th episode of the TV series "It's A Living" in 1986, the 30th and 49th episodes of the TV series "Clarissa Explains It All" in 1992 and 1993, the 17th episode of the animated TV series "George and Martha" in 2000, the 181st episode of the "King of the Hill" animated TV series in 2005, an episode of the TV series "" in 2005, the 3rd episode of the TV series "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman" in 2006, and the 32nd episode of the TV series "Family Business" in 2006.^[58]

Other

• Roller derby players were featured in two reality television shows: episode 8 of "Switched Up!" in 2004, and episode 25 of "Average Joe" in 2005.
• On January 2, 2006, the A&E Network premiered Rollergirls, a reality TV show consisting of 13 one-hour episodes featuring the Lonestar Rollergirls, a banked track league. Another season was planned, but the show was canceled and its final three episodes were aired on April 2, 2006.^[59]
• In 2006 and 2007, members of roller derby leagues appeared in a roller derby-themed TV commercial for Right Guard deodorant and another for Aleve pain reliever.
• Punk cartoon Nothing Nice to Say satires roller derby in a 2007 comic strip.

Books

• Michelson, Herb. A Very Simple Game: the Story of Roller Derby. 1971.
• Deford, Frank. Five Strides on the Banked Track: The Life and Times of the Roller Derby. Little, Brown and Company, 1971. ISBN 0-316-17920-5.
• Coppage, Keith. Roller Derby to Rollerjam: The Authorized Story of an Unauthorized Sport. Santa Rosa, California: Squarebooks, 1999. ISBN 0-916290-80-8.
• Fitzpatrick, Jim. Roller Derby Classics… and more!. Foreword by Ann Calvello. Trafford Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-4120-6678-6.
• Bordner, D. M. (Tim Patten) Roller Babes: The Story of the Roller Derby Queen. iUniverse, Inc, 2006. ISBN 0-595-67544-1.
• Joulwan, Melissa. Rollergirl: Totally True Tales from the Track. Touchstone (Simon & Schuster), February 2007. ISBN 978-0743297158.
• Mabe, Catherine. Roller Derby: The History and All-Girl Revival of the Greatest Sport on Wheels. Speck Press, 2007. ISBN 1-933108-11-8.
• Cross, Shauna. Derby Girl. Henry Holt and Co., 2007. ISBN 978-0805080230.

See also

• Ann Calvello
• Joan Weston
• List of roller derby leagues

References

External links

• General interest
• The Austin Rollergirls Blog - Blog dedicated to the Austin Rollergirl Scene, covering both banked & flat track Austin leagues.
• bankedtracknews - Yahoo! Group populated by fans and players of historical forms of roller derby
• Leadjammer - A roller derby news site
• Rollergirl Q/A - a guide for both new and experienced jammers, blockers and pivots
• Rollergirls - Promotional site for the defunct television series
• Blood and Thunder Magazine - A magazine dedicated to the world of contemporary all-girl roller derby
• Roller Derby Foundation - Fan site honoring Roller Derby and Roller Games in general
• National Roller Derby Hall of Fame - Fan site and museum honoring Roller Derby athletes
• Buddy Atkinson Collection, 1989–1994 - Information about a former professional skater's archive that was donated to the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin
• Banked Track Memories - Fan site with many historic photo galleries and links to similar ones
• Sites related to contemporary women's amateur leagues
• US / Canada & International Rollergirls' Master Roster - Listing of every currently active RollerGirl in North America / Canada / International by derby name, number, position, league, team, and team theme
• Women's Flat Track Derby Association - Official site
• Old School Derby Association - Official site