These Are The London Roller Girls

[@Supermunch2000]

Holy crap, this is awesome! Roller Derby is now at the top of my list of things to do in London when I visit again!

[@DogsBAwesome]

A male team would be spoiled by meatheads

[@nabilatahseen9126]

@@DogsBAwesome 😂

[@zig131]

@@DogsBAwesome In my experience it isn't. It does certainly attract some competitive, aggressive types but they are outweighed by the cool, for-lack-of-a-better word 'Alternative' people. Men's Derby is led by Women's Derby and Women's Derby is super inclusive and welcoming. Because it's a relatively small community, you can't afford to be a dick and piss-off your opponents as they are potential friends who share your interest/passion :) . There's also the fact that it is eve more of a team game than something like football. As a blocker you spend most of your time in physical contact with your team-mates physically sharing the burden of the jammer you're trying to stop. This isn't a sport for lone Alpha-wolf types.

[@radicaledwards3449]

This is nice, I love seeing women come together.

[@b17marko]

I remember seeing the United States version on cable tv back in the 90s, they used a seriously banked oval track, which allowed team members to slingshot team mates around the bends at speed, it was also very physical, body checks and chop blocking an opponents legs to knock them off balance and fall over, it was more showbiz than an actual sporting contest.

[@brucemorgan62]

Yes. Like pro-wrestling, it goes through peaks and troughs of popularity. As a wee lad I used to watch it with my grandma. The sport fascinated me nearly as much as the fact my grandma obviously enjoyed it, which didnt fit with my "picture" of who she was.

[@zig131]

Modern Roller Derby is a reinvention of the sport you know. It's much more of a genuine and safer sport now at the expense of not being quite so exciting to watch. The rules are based around a flat track to make it more accessible - all you need is access to a sports hall to start a team. A flat track is arguably less exciting overall than a banked one but it does allow skaters to legally cut corners by jumping over them which is a real feat and super impressive. It's still a very physical sport but there are some restrictions on contact to avoid major harm to skaters. Legal contact is above the knee to below the head excluding the centre of the back/spine. Most of the time you're hitting people in the side/kidney with your shoulder or hip. You can totally hit someone square in the chest if they are dumb enough to present it to you ;) .

[@aidy6000]

I remember watching that on sky years and years ago.

[@mysticmarkthemagician5852]

Where can I come and watch this live around Login Herts etc.

[@brucemorgan62]

Also a growing sport in Australia. Some of my friends like the "alter ego" of a Derby Nickname as much as some of the guys like their D&D character name :)

[@d.martin6847]

Starlight Express!

[@hughmnyks]

Great stuff!

[@nkiey]

Right to the end I thought they were saying "Roller Debbie". Which incidentally would be a great alias for a skater girl. Especially if her name was Debbie.

[@CaptainAnnaBanana]

Surprisingly that name isn't taken! www.derbyrollcall.com/search?name=roller+debbie (There are some similar ones but not that exact name.)

[@daphnelambert8048]

@@CaptainAnnaBanana Doh! If only I was a skater girl called Debbie, rather than a 61-year old man... !!

[@incredingo]

the original game was huge in the 70's. the track was on an angle though. a better game. here in australia it was on tv every week.

[@checkerist]

Dope!

[@FarlandHowe]

How about a banked hardwood floor. I have loved Roller Derby since I watched the Bay City Bombers as a teenager.

[@zig131]

Banked track Roller Derby is still played in America but it has been overtaken in popularity by Flat Track derby as it is simply far more practical. All you need is a sufficiently big sports hall.

[@FarlandHowe]

Thomas Sturges-Allard I imagine that to be true. Too bad though, derby on a banked track is really fast. It also adds a few techniques for scoring no possible on flat tracks.

[@TransItAuthority]

While you lose some of the banked track scoring tactics, flat track ends up being a lot harder for the jammer to actually get past blocker walls which were almost impossible in banked track to even set up and execute properly, so ironically modern flat track is more physical. There’s also some unique and fun to watch scoring tactics in flat track like apex jumping, which wouldn’t really be possible, or at least effective on a banked track

[@TheLoxxxton]

Man I soooo want this channel to go UKist

[@christtototottottott]

Bring back the Roller Express!

[@bretwinters8505]

Number 2 is Dire Ria... well..

[@Fasty8Gaming]

24 hors on the underground

[@user-ei7ed6zy9k]

Feminists

[@user-ei7ed6zy9k]

This video smells like fish

[@MrGyges]

Good heavens! Played by ladies, you say? Appalling. How one craves for the crinolines & perfumed wiggery of yore. Spose that’s down to the blokes these days