So, where did this derby madness come from, anyway? Some will remember roller
derby as a fast, mean, and sometimes over-dramatized sport that took place on a
banked oval track and thrived in the 50s and 60s. Roller derby actually began as a
skating endurance competition decades earlier. Both male and female participants
would skate all day and all night, sleeping on cots in the center of the rink. Soon,
promoters realized that the draw for the audience was when skaters crashed during
the competition. The lure of hard-hitting contact spurred the creation of roller
derby as a game, incorporating teams and intentional physical contact into the
sport. After decades of popularity and television exposure, roller derby fell victim
to smarmy management, greedy investors, outrageous production antics and
economic recession. As the 1970s ended, so did the legacy of a once proud sport
that had graced arenas and living rooms across the United States.
The concept of modern flat track roller derby came out of Austin, Texas, in 2003
with the birth of the Texas Rollergirls. In the summer of 2004, a couple of local
ladies founded the Mad Rollin’ Dolls – the sixth flat track league in the country -
and brought roller derby to Madison. These women were attracted to the idea of a
physical outlet that would allow them to be brutally aggressive, yet utterly
gorgeous. Flat track roller derby had the potential to become a sport to inspire
other women, provide little girls with uncompromising role models, and delight
Madisonians with a unique blend of hard-hitting action and campy entertainment.
Mad Rollin’ Dolls began bouting publicly in November 2004, and began their first
season in January 2005. The established leagues met in their first interleague
tournament in Tucson in February 2006, setting off an explosion of interleague play.
Since the Mad Rollin’ Dolls began, flat track roller derby has exploded in popularity
around the world. There are now over 350 leagues and about 15,000 registered
roller girls in North America, with leagues sprouting up as far away as Australia and
the United Arab Emirates. In 2004, the earliest leagues banded together to discuss ways of promoting
interleague competitions. One year later, these leagues formed the Women’s Flat
Track Derby Association, a sports organization of independent leagues working
together to standardize the rules and safety regulations, to determine guidelines for
interleague play between national and international teams, and to assist new
leagues in their growth and development. Flat track roller derby leagues are
independently owned and run by the skaters themselves. All are DIY public works
projects controlled by the enthusiastic, all-volunteer skaters and staff. The strength
and skill of the flat track athletes of today is turning as many heads as the campy
antics that characterized the beginning of the roller derby revival.
The future is clear: First the Olympics, then World Domination!
Though most leagues maintain a regular “home” season, interleague bouting is
now a major part of flat track roller derby as leagues fight to claim North American
supremacy.
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