Roller skating has always been a popular pastime in the United States of America, and endurance races were particularly popular in the early 20th century. Held both on flat and banked tracks, these races were coined ‘derby’ events by the press, meaning multi-race events with multiple participants. Promoter Leo Seltzer and sports writer Damon Runyon are credited with modifying these endurance competitions during the 1930s by emphasising and maximising the physical contact and teamwork between skaters and making it part of the game, effectively creating the spectacle known as Roller Derby.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Roller Derby’s popularity exploded across the United States, attracting tens of thousands of spectators to live bouts, as well as television and radio coverage. This popularity continued throughout the 1960s under several different guises and within several separate leagues across the country. As time went on, Roller Derby became increasingly scripted and staged, its popularity declining in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The sport effectively died out with the collapse of most operating leagues due to poor revenue and lack of public interest.

Fast forward to Austin, Texas, 2001: a new revival of Roller Derby emerged, establishing a focus on athleticism, community, sisterhood and sassiness. As word spread, all-women Roller Derby leagues, founded from a grass-roots, skater-owned-skater-run philosophy began to emerge across America and, soon after, all over the world.

By 2006, Roller Derby had gone global and diversified. Currently there are just over 500 amateur all-female, co-ed, or male leagues skating flat-track and/or banked-track Roller Derby in 15 countries around the world, with 20 leagues in Australia alone. With over 20,000 participants worldwide, Roller Derby is the fastest-growing female-focused amateur sport in the world.

The Roller Derby resurgence spread to Australia a few years ago, and today there are over 25 flat-track Roller Derby leagues in Australia, with more starting up all the time, due largely to the DIY community attitude roller derby fosters. While each league runs completely independently, most flat-track roller derby leagues adhere to WFTDA regulations and we define ourselves as being part of a global derby family.