Roller derby is a full-contact team sport played on roller skates. There’s no ball, no puck, no stick, just roller skates, speed and a lot of strategy.
The basics
Two teams compete against each other to score the most points on a flat, oval track. There are two 30-minute halves, which are divided into rounds, or “jams”, that can last up to two minutes. Each team puts five players on the track per jam. Four of these are ‘blockers’ and one is the ‘jammer’. Jammers are only ones who can score points. A jammer scores one point for each opponent’s blocker they pass.
The blockers play both offensively and defensively. They want to prevent the other team’s jammer from passing them and scoring points. At the same time, they want to ensure that their own jammer scores points.
The flow of a jam
At the start of the jam, the jammers stand behind the blockers of both teams. Together, the blockers form “the pack”. When the whistle blows, the jammers try to get past the pack. The first time a jammer passes the pack, no points are scored, instead the jammer who passes the pack first is awarded ‘lead jammer status’. This means that jammer can end the jam early. This is a tactical advantage and can prevent the other jammer from scoring points. After the end of the jam, there are 30 seconds to put new players on the track and then everything starts again.
Players are allowed to use physical contact to hinder or get rid of each other. Not everything is allowed, such as the use of forearms, lower legs or hits to the back or head. However, a good hit with a hip or shoulder is allowed, which makes the sport very spectacular.
Referees
To ensure that everything runs safely, there are seven referees (on skates). They assign lead status, count points and issue penalties for fouls. In addition, there are up to 11 non-skating officials who keep the game running by timing penalties, managing the clock and operating the scoreboard. Officials (with and without skates) are very popular within the roller derby community. Many skaters enjoy helping out as officials when they are not playing themselves, and it is also a perfect way to be part of the derby community without playing.
The rules
We play by the rules set out by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). You can read the rules on the WFTDA website.
The history
In the late 19th century, roller skating became hugely popular in the United States, and people began organizing endurance races that lasted so long that some competitors actually died. In 1922, the term “roller derby” was coined to describe these roller skating races.
In the 1930s, a former film publicist named Leo Seltzer saw an opportunity to draw in crowds looking for cheap entertainment during the Great Depression. He had previously had great success organizing dance marathons, which he called walkathons because they could last up to forty days so the contestants usually ended up shuffling around to preserve their energy. However, the novelty of those walkathons had begun to wear off by 1935, so the ever-enterprising Leo started a competition called Transcontinental Roller Derby. An average of 10,000 people came to each competition, paying between ten and twenty-five cents each. Leo wanted to keep the sport legitimate, but when he realized how much the crowds loved seeing skaters crash and fall, he was convinced to tweak the game to maximize collisions.
The sport featured women and men skaters, and it grew in popularity until the U.S. entered the Second World War in 1941. Then many skaters—and their fans—joined the war effort. After the war, the sport’s popularity grew again, and matches even were shown on television starting in 1948, but the revival was short-lived. In the 1950s, crowds dropped off.
There were several attempts to bring roller derby back over the decades, but contemporary roller derby really got its re-start thanks to a group of women in Austin, Texas, in 2000. By August 2006, there were more than 135 all-female leagues. The Men’s Roller Derby Association (MRDA) was founded in 2007 as more men got in on the action.
Today, roller derby is a sport that focuses on athleticism and inclusivity rather than putting on a show. Roller derby is still essentially an amateur sport with clubs run by the players. There are (national) teams, world cups, skaters with sponsorship deals, and skaters who can make a living from derby-related activities, but in principle there are no professional teams or skaters.