At a glance you could be forgiven for thinking that that a roller derby 'bout' is an alterna-chick oglefest cleverly disguised as a sport, but if you took a few minutes to understand the basic rules, you'd see that it is an intricate display of athleticism, complex game play and showmanship. Seeing a roller derby bout being played is not like the experience of watching any other sport. There are young folk, old folk, families, hippies, revheads, punks, goths, grandparents, all cheering and drinking beer from cans, watching these girls race each other around the track, darting and weaving through the 'pack' in each of the two minute long 'jams' that make up a bout. You start off a little confused, but by the end of the game you are utterly enthralled.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves though - it is possible that you aren't aware of the massive resurgence of the sport. It first gained popularity around the 1940s and remained popular until the 1970s. Back in the day, there was far more focus on the showmanship of the game, and not unlike the World Wrestling Federation, many of the moves, falls and fights were staged for the audience.

Cut to Texas, USA in 2001 where, after a rocky start, the The Texas Rollergirls were formed, with many other US and international roller derby leagues starting up over the following years. Australia has at least fifteen different leagues to date, and Lauren Clair was lucky enough to chat to representatives from a few of those leagues.

Women's Roller Derby is well and truly back, and it has a brash new attitude. These women are hard working, athletic, and the game you watch today is stunt-free – these girls mean business. The Victorian Roller Derby League's Hotrod Stacy, Adelaide Roller Derby's Marshall Stacks, and Geelong Roller Derby's Betty Bamalam all tell a similar tale of how they became interested in this revived sport. “The skating started and I fell in love, envy, lust for the whole sport. Like most derby girls I felt everything I had done in my whole life was leading me to join the derby community,” says Marshall Stacks. Hotrod Stacy liked the idea of a skating alter-ego. “I found out that you could wear fun outfits and make up a fun name. That was the draw card for me!”

That initial attraction to the creativity and individuality that comes with being a roller derby girl, or 'rollergirl', seems to be a common theme. But once you get past the look, there's a fairly complex set of rules in place. Marshall Stacks breaks it down for us. “It's a full contact sport. There are two teams of five players on a track who play offense and defense simultaneously on roller skates. There are four blockers on each team and two jammers. The object of the game is for the jammer to skate past all of the blockers as many times as they can in two minutes. The blockers try to help their jammer get through whilst trying to stop the opposing jammer get through.”

American organisation WFTDA (Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Association) act as a governing body, who set the rules and orchestrate inter-league games in the United States. Most Australian leagues follow the rules set by WFTDA. “We mostly have a common ground in terms of how the game is structured and played,” says Betty Bamalam. She says that because Australia is such a small country comparatively, there isn't a need for an Australian WFTDA, and Marshall Stacks agrees. “It's all pretty friendly and informal in Aussie Derby, we're just enjoying playing other leagues and learning from them without worrying about ranking or hardcore competition. It's early days yet.”

Despite the laid back attitude towards structured inter-league games, this is still a sport that the women involved in take very seriously. With the history of showmanship over athleticism, it's understandable that anyone who plays roller derby will talk at length about the legitimacy of their sport. If you've been thinking about getting involved in roller derby, you need to do more than come up with a catchy name and stock up on the fishnet stockings. “We have quite a large turn over of fresh meat (newbies) because people don't realise how hard we train, and how many sit-ups and push-ups we do,” says Hotrod Stacy. Marshall Stacks can understand how people get the wrong impression of roller derby, but stresses that once someone has strapped on a pair of skates, those misconceptions disappear. “I go to the same gym as many professional athletes, and they know I'm a rollergirl. They think it's an amazing sport physically and mentally, because it is both offense and defense at the same time. We train much more than amateur athletes and it shows on the track.”

And what about the men? Roller derby is predominantly a female sport, but that doesn't stop men from being involved in other ways. The VRDL has male referees, like the aptly named Harry Spot'er, and the GRDL recently voted in favour of becoming a co-ed league - the first of it's kind in the new wave of Australian roller derby. Betty Bamalam explains “Our male refs were training with us, and doing all the full contact drills with us, and pretty soon decided they wanted to play too.” But what about the idea that roller derby is about sisters doing it for themselves? “I think initially some of our female skaters were worried they'd lose some of what is special by having male skaters. We discovered it's still possible to be a self-directed, pro active and empowering organisation.”

Marshall Stacks and Hotrod Stacy are both in support of men starting roller derby leagues in Australia, and encourage male participation in referee and support crew positions within their own leagues, but neither league would seem to be following the lead of GRDL when it comes to co-ed leagues. Marshall Stacks would love to play against the guys though, taking inspiration from the Australian roller derby girls of yesteryear. “We had a chance to meet some of the original derby players from the sixties and seventies and they explained their bouts as having a blend of segregated gender jams and mixed gender jams, so all girls, then all boys, then all in. I think that would make for an incredible game to watch and play.”

For a sport that prides itself on its grassroots nature, one has to wonder if Drew Barrymore is making Hollywood-friendly films focusing on roller derby, does that mean is it all over? How can the sport grow whilst holding true to its DIY ethics and the empowerment and satisfaction that comes with it? Hotrod Stacy doesn't think that Australian roller derby will ever lose it's grassroots nature. “The league is skater run. It wouldn't work any other way. Any big decisions are put to a vote by the entire executive committee to the league,”she says. “As we grow I believe we will cope and continue to better the league in leaps and bounds.”

Despite the Hollywood attention and sold-out bouts, it's safe to say that roller derby is not in any danger of selling out, as Betty Bamalam is quick to point out. “Roller derby is more than skating, stage names and outfits. For many of us, it's a lifestyle or an ideology.”

Written by Lauren Clair
Photo by Deanna Smith