Roller derby

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roller derby is an American contact sport—and historically, a form of sports entertainment—based on formation roller skating around a track. It is played at both professional and amateur levels. While traditionally a sport for both women and men, roller derby has developed a predominantly female circuit during its current revival.

Contents

[edit] Rules

Texas Rollergirls in action. A jammer can be seen at the bottom right-of-center, with a black star on a red helmet.
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Texas Rollergirls in action. A jammer can be seen at the bottom right-of-center, with a black star on a red helmet.

Roller derby rules vary from league to league, but in general, the sport is played as follows:

Two teams of five skaters, wearing protective gear such as helmets, mouth guards, and pads, take up positions alongside each other in a pack formation. Each team consists of either four blockers and one jammer, or, rarely, three blockers, and two jammers. Helmet colors or designs are typically used to differentiate between player roles.

A signal is given and the jam commences. All skating is performed counter-clockwise on a small, narrow track. Today, a few professional roller derby type leagues use a banked track, while most new leagues use a standard flat skating rink.

Initially leading the pack are special blockers known as pivots, who set the pace and give the other blockers direction in order to strategize and keep the pack relatively tight. Blockers who stray too far from the pack may not be allowed to engage opposing players.

Blockers (including pivots) start skating at the referee's first signal. A second signal is given to launch the jammers, who must catch up to the rear of the pack. Jammers navigate through or around the pack, then lap around the track until reaching back of the pack again. The first jammer to get through the pack legally (for example, without cutting the track, going out of bounds, or acquiring any penalties) is dubbed lead jammer and may call off the jam at any time.

Scoring commences when the jammers lap around the back of the pack and go through for a second time. One point is scored for each member of the opposing team passed by an inbound jammer (passing is determined by the skaters' hips). Blockers try to stop the opposing jammer from passing them, while defending their own jammer, whom they can assist by pushing or pulling (whipping) in an attempt to advance them through the pack. The jam concludes after a fixed period of time, usually 2 minutes, or when the lead jammer calls off the jam. Until then, both jammers are free to lap the pack again and again.

Calling off the jam early is a strategic move to prevent the other team from having the opportunity to score. For example, it can be helpful if the lead jammer's team is at an unexpected disadvantage (due to good defense by the other team, or falling or penalized players on the jammer's team), or it can be used to solidify a lead when the jammer's team is doing exceptionally well.

Physical contact between players is frequent and sometimes violent. Body blocking is allowed, and elbowing is allowed in some leagues, but participants are not allowed to trip or intentionally punch other players. Violence may leave the track and may include striking opponents with available objects. Roller derby participants generally adopt stage names and gimmicks, evoking comparisons to professional wrestling. However, unlike professional wrestling, roller derby (in its current revival) does not involve fixed or scripted matches.

Penalties are given to skaters who block illegally, fight or behave in an unsportsmanlike manner. Penalties can be given after each jam or at the end of a period. Some penalties may result in additional points being scored; for example, in some leagues, a jammer may score a point if a blocker commits a foul against the jammer. Some leagues require penalized players to temporarily stop playing and/or participate in a post-jam challenge that may result in more points being scored.

[edit] History

[edit] Origin

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, 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, California 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.[1][2][3][4][5]

[edit] Jam On, Jam Off

Skaters leap over two who have fallen
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Skaters leap over two who have fallen

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, had 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.[6]

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.[7]

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, New York Bombers, Texas Outlaws, and Detroit Devils. 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.[8][9]

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.[10] 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.[11][12] 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 50's 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 28,000 for a game between the Bombers and the Northeast Braves. The following year that record was topped again with 34,000 for a Bomber game at the Coliseum; their rival, the Midwest Pioneers, broke that record with 50,000 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 1973, high overhead and other factors led to the demise of Roller Derby.[13] Jerry Seltzer elected to shut down the organization. Roller Games recruited some of IRDL's star skaters to skate for the Roller Games league, the International Skating Conference (ISC), which quickly eliminated all Derby teams except for the Chiefs to again focus on the Los Angeles Thunderbirds.[14][15] However, within two years, the wrestling/circus-like approach doomed all of Roller Games; many Roller Derby skaters quit and fans deserted the arenas.

[edit] 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 comprised 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.[16][17][18]

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. Comprised 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.[19]

[edit] 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.

[edit] RollerJam revival

Between January 1999 and January 2001,[20] 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.

[edit] Today's roller derby

[edit] All-female, grassroots leagues

The Hell Marys, discuss tactics during half-time.
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The Hell Marys, discuss tactics during half-time.

In the early 21st century, after two decades in relative obscurity, the sport began to experience a grassroots revival, particularly among women, with leagues forming in urban centers across North America. At the end of 2005 there were over 50 such leagues, and by mid-February 2006 the number had grown to more than 80, and by mid-August to over 135. The sudden growth in 2006 is attributed to the exposure the sport achieved from the Rollergirls reality television show, depicting portions of the lives of real skaters from an Austin-based banked-track league. The show began broadcasting in January 2006, but was not picked up for a second season due to unsatisfactory ratings.

Nearly all of these contemporary leagues are thus far all-female and are self-organized, formed in an indie 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.

Since mid-2004, a number of such all-female leagues (30, as of early 2006) have banded together to form 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. As of mid-late 2006, WFTDA is accepting new members, but its current membership requirements may prevent some leagues from being eligible.[21]

On February 24–26, 2006, Tucson Roller Derby hosted the Dust Devil, the first national championship tournament for the new leagues. Twenty WFTDA leagues converged on Tucson, AZ for three days of intense competition leading up to the championship final, in which the Texas Rollergirls were victorious against the Tucson Saddletramps.[22]

[edit] 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, 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.[23][24] 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.[25][26]
  • On June 4, 2005, the same two teams faced off at the same venue in a game billed as "Ralphie's Revenge".[27][28]
  • On July 30, 2005, the LA Stars bouted the Red Devils in "Ralphie's Roller Action" at the same venue.[29][30]

Another of these leagues is the Dan Ferrari-owned, Northern California-based American Roller Skating Derby (ARSD), established in the late 1990s. ARSD's roster includes former Roller Games stars but claims the style of play is more like traditional Roller Derby. ARSD team names have included the Bay Bombers, the California Bombers, the Chicago Pioneers, the St. Louis Pioneers, the Chicago Chiefs, the New York Chiefs, and the Brooklyn Red Devils. Despite their names, none of the teams have played east of Modesto, California.[31] Recent matches include events in 2002 and 2003 in Richmond, California and at the San Jose Civic Auditorium in San Jose, California, and in 2004 and 2005, at the Alameda High School Gymnasium in Alameda, California. A match between the Bay Bombers and the Chicago Pioneers is scheduled for October 14, 2006 at the Alameda venue.[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]

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.[40] The ARDL was featured in the 2006 documentary film Jam,[41] 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.[42][43]

Former Roller Games skater Hiromi 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.

[edit] 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.[44] 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.[45]

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. Thus far, the current wave of other leagues are all-female.
  • 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Roller derby in popular culture

[edit] Film and television

[edit] 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 bout 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.
  • Jam, a professional 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, is in post-production.

[edit] Fiction

  • In 1950, Twentieth Century Fox released The Fireball, a fictional film starring Mickey Rooney as a boy who runs away to join the Roller Derby—called the 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 2002, Rollerball, a remake of the 1975 film, was released. It is much more action-based than its predecessor.
  • Roller derby was incorporated into the plot of 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 30th episode of the TV series "Clarissa Explains It All" in 1992, the 181st episode of the King of the Hill animated series in 2005, an episode of the TV series "CSI: NY" in 2005, and an episode of the TV series The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman in 2006.

[edit] Other

[edit] Books

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Original Roller Derby. National Roller Skating Museum. Retrieved on 2006-05-15.
  2. ^ Ann Calvello interview. Roller Derby Association (2005-04-15). Retrieved on 2006-05-15.
  3. ^ Brandan I. Koerner (1999-01-20). This Ain't No Roller Disco. The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2006-05-25.
  4. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/modules.php?name=JLF_Newspaper_Articles&op=ShowNewspaperInfo&id=7&id_cat=3
  5. ^ http://www.ktvu.com/station/1854338/detail.html
  6. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20021008022247/www.geocities.com/Pioneer5300/page3.html
  7. ^ http://www.ktvu.com/station/1854338/detail.html
  8. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20030728065919/www.rollersport.us/history2.cfm
  9. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/modules.php?name=Leagues&op=ShowLeagueAll&id=175&id_cat=32&categories=ROLLERGAMES
  10. ^ http://www.toooquiet.net/BankedTrack/History/Paper/paper0004.html
  11. ^ http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bankedtracknews/message/551
  12. ^ http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bankedtracknews/message/553
  13. ^ In a 2005 interview (referenced elsewhere), Ann Calvello mentioned gas shortages as a contributing factor because teams could not travel; see 1973 oil crisis. See also the Fussell reference.
  14. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20030728071050/www.rollersport.us/history4.cfm
  15. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/modules.php?name=Leagues&op=ShowLeagueAll&id=179&id_cat=32&categories=ROLLERGAMES
  16. ^ Bob Batz (2006-03-22). Roller derby is really a blast from the past. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved on 2006-05-15.
  17. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20030728070952/www.rollersport.us/history5.cfm
  18. ^ Joe Blenkle (1991-08-28). Roller Derby promoter says game will return. Sacramento News and Review (confirmation needed). Retrieved on 2006-05-15.
  19. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/modules.php?name=Leagues&op=ShowLeagueAll&id=85&id_cat=22&categories=ASD
  20. ^ The RollerJam Episode List at TV.com confirms there were 100 episodes, comprising four seasons, that aired between January 1999 and January 2001, plus a preview/pilot episode in December 1998.
  21. ^ Requirements for WFTDA membership, accessed April 22, 2006
  22. ^ 2006 Dust Devil tournament info and statistics at the Tucson Roller Derby web site; accessed April 22, 2006.
  23. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/modules.php?name=JLF_Newspaper_Articles&op=ShowNewspaperInfo&id=17&id_cat=3
  24. ^ http://www.rollerderbypreservationassociation.com/modules.php?name=Leagues&op=ShowLeagueAll&id=11&id_cat=1&categories=RDI
  25. ^ http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bankedtracknews/message/4035
  26. ^ photos of the bout
  27. ^ http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bankedtracknews/message/4030
  28. ^ photos of the bout
  29. ^ http://www.industryexpocenter.com/criaeqcenter/rraction/images/poster.gif
  30. ^ http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bankedtracknews/message/4476
  31. ^ http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2003/11/03/smallb3.html
  32. ^ ARSD Championship Playoffs. DerbyTime! roller derby fan site (archived). Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
  33. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20040411100139/http://www.freewebs.com/arsd/
  34. ^ http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bankedtracknews/message/3955?viscount=100
  35. ^ http://alamedasun.com/sports/052704sports1.htm
  36. ^ http://www.alamedasun.com/local/101305local5.htm
  37. ^ http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2005-10-19/calendar/cal-sport.html
  38. ^ http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/bankedtracknews/message/6058
  39. ^ http://www.freewebs.com/bombersrollerderby/
  40. ^ John Simerman. A last gasp for a dying sport: Defenders of old-school roller derby say renewed efforts swap skill for sex appeal. Pajamas Media, et al. via Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News syndicate. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
  41. ^ http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0770774/plotsummary
  42. ^ http://www.freewebs.com/bombersrollerderby2/
  43. ^ http://www.rollergames.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=80&Itemid=76
  44. ^ USARS bylaws Article III, §1.C.1. Accessed April 23, 2006.
  45. ^ USARS bylaws Article III, §1.C.5 and §3.B.1; and Article XIX. Accessed April 23, 2006.
  46. ^ http://www.tv.com/rollergirls/show/50205/last-three-episodes-april-2nd/topic/40203-227554/msgs.html

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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