Tall tales: Roll with it

Something is happening in the world of roller derby. Thanks in part to the success of Drew Barrymore’s 2009 film Whip It, starring indie princess Ellen Page (below), the sport is experiencing a resurgence. In fact, it’s currently the only all-women sport that is growing in the UK.

The game consists of two teams of five players, who race around a track. Each team has four ‘blockers’ and one ‘jammer’. The aim is for the ‘jammer’ to lap the opposing team’s ‘blockers’, winning a point for each player she passes. The blockers must try to stop her, almost any way they can (there are a few safety rules, such as no deliberate tripping or elbowing, but the game is a full-contact sport and all players wear protective gear). This continues in a series of two-minute ‘jams’ that make up a ‘bout’ (match). The team with the most points at the end of the bout wins. Simple.

Roller derby has been around since 1930 but its most recent incarnation, as an all-women, amateur sport – rather than the staged, theatrical show that it became in the 1970s – started in America a decade ago. The first British club, the London Rollergirls, currently ranked number one in Europe, was founded in 2006. Since then, the sport has exploded and there are now 79 teams in the UK. The Rollergirls’ last bout was watched by 1,300, and there is a six-month waiting list to join their junior recreational league.

These women take their sport seriously. They refer to themselves as ‘athletes’, and well they might: the Rollergirls’ top team, London Brawling, trains for up to three hours a day, six days a week. This new wave of the sport is about female empowerment as much as toned thighs. Nowhere is this clearer than in the clothes the players wear: streamlined, specially designed sportswear.

But roller derby hasn’t lost its sense of fun. One tradition is that each player must choose a unique roller derby name, such as ‘Grievous Bodily Charm’ or ‘Rebelle de Jour’. The names allow players to adopt a different persona while they skate. One woman I met is shy by day, but transforms into the fearsome ‘Dalai Harmer’ on the track.

There was a whole range of women at the training session I attended last week, from willowy blondes, to more intimidating, tattooed-covered fighters. It’s obvious that they have all become the best of friends – they spent most of the session cheering on their team-mates, sharing salacious stories, and telling me about their riotous after-bout parties. If this is what the new sisterhood looks like, I’m getting my skates on.

The London Rollergirls’ next bout is on 19 May (londonrollergirls.com)