Rat City Rollergirls

Rat City Rollergirls

Metro area	Seattle, Washington
Country	United States
Founded	2004
Teams	Derby Liberation Front Grave Danger Sockit Wenches Throttle Rockets The Rain of Terror (travel) RCR All-Star Travel Team
Track type(s)	Flat
Venue	KeyArena and ShoWare Center
Affiliations	WFTDA
Org. type	LLC
Website	ratcityrollergirls.com

The Rat City Rollergirls are a flat-track roller derby league in Seattle, Washington. The league is composed of four member teams for intra-league play, an all-star travel team that competes with other leagues, and another travel team that plays in exhibition games with other leagues. Founded in 2004 as Rat City Rollergirls, LLC, the league has incorporated alternative cultural influences, and has inspired and mentored other leagues. Prominent players, coaches, and other participants come from various backgrounds which is typical of the diverse culture of Seattle, and the diverse culture within the sport. The Rat City Rollergirls have been among the most successful leagues in athletic competition, placing second in the WFTDA National Championships in 2006 and 2007. The league and individual participants have been depicted in media as exemplary role models who are smart, sexy and tough.

Teams

The home teams for play within the Rat City league are:

• Derby Liberation Front - 2005, 2008, and 2009 Season Champions.^[1]
• Grave Danger - 2007 and 2011 Season Champions
• Sockit Wenches - 2006 and 2010 Season Champions
• Throttle Rockets
• Rat Lab - Introduced in 2010, it's the training ground for the next superstars of the Rat City Rollergirls and consists of new skaters on the league who have not yet been placed on a home team.

The travel teams are:

• The Rain of Terror - The travel team that competed in the 2008 Rust Riot exhibition tournament with northwest roller derby leagues.^[2]
• Rat City Rollergirl All-Stars - The all star travel team for competition with other leagues in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.

Junior League

In 2007 a junior league was established, the Seattle Derby Brats. The Seattle Derby Brats is an independent, but loosely associated organization. They are the fourth team to be part of the JRDA, the Junior Roller Derby Association.^[3] At the 2007 National Tournament, the Seattle Derby Brats skated against Tucson's junior team between the tournament games.^[4] The Seattle Derby Brats are supported and coached by Krista Lafontaine ("Betty Ford Galaxy") of Rat City, Reanna Williams ("Anna Mosity") of the Jet City Rollergirls in Everett, Washington and many other current and former adult skaters from local leagues.^[5]

The member teams, aged 11 to 17, of the Seattle Derby Brats are:

Division II age 11 to 17 Full contact

• Toxic AvengHers
• Mighty Rollers

All Star Full Contact Travel Team

• Galaxy Girls

Division I age 11 to 17 Positional

• Poision Skid'les
• Evil Angels

Age 8 to 11

• Tootsy Rollers

The youngest group of girls, also known as the Tootsy Rollers, are loosely split into two teams: the Orange Crush and the Turquoise Terrors. They play a positional-blocking version of roller derby with little contact.

PFM Practice Squad

Another independent, but loosely associated organization is the PFM Practice Squad. Composed of skaters in training, as well as recreational derby players who do not wish to commit at the level of league play, the PFM Practice Squad has had a number of their alumnae go on to league play with the Rat City Rollergirls, the Dockyard Derby Dames, the Jet City Rollergirls and the Tilted Thunder Rail Birds.^[6]

Rat City Rollergirls league history

2010

On March 6, 2010, Rat City Rollergirls had a turnout of 5,185 in KeyArena. According to announcements that evening this was record attendance for both Rat City Rollergirls and the largest attendance to women's roller derby in history.

On June 5, 2010, the Sockit Wenches defeated Grave Danger to win the season 6 championship. During the evening, it was announced that they had sold out Key Arena.

2009

The Rat City Rollergirls announced a change of venue from the hangars at Magnuson Park to the KeyArena at Seattle Center and ShoWare Center in Kent.^[7]

Ticket sales for the first bout of the season vastly exceeded the preparations of the venue management, filling more than 4,000 of KeyArena's 5,500 seat capacity in what is referred to as the 'lower bowl'.^[8]

2008

In February the Rat City Rollergirls host the first Rust Riot Pacific Northwest Roller Derby Tournament with skaters from Washington, Oregon and Idaho and defeats Rose City Rollers to win the tournament. Tickets quickly sell out for each bout of the 2008 season.

On the weekend of November 14-16 the Rat City Rollergirls and the Rose City Rollers host the Northwest Knockdown national championships at the Portland Expo Center. Entering the competition ranked third in the nation, the Rat City Rollergirls were defeated in the first round of competition by the Windy City Rollers.

2007

The Rat City All-Stars competed in the WFTDA National Championships in Austin, Texas. They placed second, to the 2007 national champions the Kansas City Roller Warriors.^[9] In the qualifying round, they beat the 2006 and 2005 national champions, the Texas Rollergirls, who placed third.^[10] Eight teams went to Austin to compete in the 2007 Texas Shootout National Championships, four from the eastern regional division and four from the western regional division, these notable teams included: the Carolina Rollergirls (fourth place), the Gotham Girls Roller Derby, the Tucson Roller Derby, the Detroit Derby Girls, and the Windy City Rollers.^[4]

The Rat City All-Stars beat the Rose City Rollers in Portland, Oregon.^[11]

Sweeping the WFTDA Western Regional Tournament, the Tucson Dust Devil, in an upset of the formerly top ranked Texas Texecutioners, the Rat City All-Stars rose to first in the national roller derby rankings, up from third, and rose to the first seed for the championships.^[12][13][14]

2006

The Rat City Rollergirls hosted the 2006 Roller Derby "Bumberbout" Flat Track Invitational on Saturday, September 2, 2006, in the KeyArena at Seattle Center.^[15] The Texas Rollergirls won the championship, retaining undefeated status. The Rat City Rollergirls finished second.

Within the Rat City Rollergirl league the Sockit Wenches won the season championship at Sand Point on October 21, 2006. They beat the formerly undefeated Derby Liberation Front, scoring the decisive points in the final seconds of the match, and of the season.

2005

Derby Liberation Front wins the league championship.

2004

Rat City Rollergirls league founded.^[16]

Cultural significance

The league is a prominent example of a subcultural trend which combines diverse strains of postpunk, third-wave feminism, the reexamination and re-creation of 1950s recreational pursuits, new burlesque style, a do-it-yourself ethic, and sports for all women. As the number of roller derby leagues have increased exponentially since 2005, the Rat City Rollergirls have provided inspiration and peer mentorship to other leagues.^[17][18]

Business Structure

As a business enterprise, the league is registered as a limited liability corporation, Rat City Rollergirls, LLC, which is owned by the skaters. Although stakeholders in the enterprise, the skaters are not currently paid for their participation.

Rat City Rollergirls in popular culture media

Documentary Film

Blood on the Flat Track co-Director Lacey Leavitt, editor Wes Johnson and co-director Lainy Bagwell at the film's premiere, 2007 Seattle International Film Festival. Woman at right is one of the Rollergirls.

Some of the Rollergirls, attending the premiere of Blood on the Flat Track.

The 2007 documentary, Blood On The Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls^[19], was directed by Lainy Bagwell and Lacey Leavitt.^[20]. It played at 14 film festivals around the world, including screenings in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia, as well as Aarhus, Denmark. It will be released on DVD in Canada in October 2009 and will release on DVD in the United States in January of 2010.

Trading Cards

During the 2007 season, the Rat City Rollergirls were featured on trading cards.

Feature article on MSNBC

Several of the members of the Rat City Rollergirls were profiled in an article on MSNBC.^[21]

Video Games

In 2008 the Rat City Rollergirls were a featured league in a video game developed by Frozen Codebase and the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.^[22]

Trademark Dispute with Starbucks

In May 2008, Starbucks initiated an inquiry as to trademark infringement between the Starbucks logo and the Rat City Rollergirls "skater portrait in a circle" logo.^[23][24] After casual observers noted the absence of similarity, the matter was dropped in September of 2008 without further legal action.^[25]

The Rat City Rollergirls logo artwork was designed by Scott Ego.^[26]

See also

• List of roller derby leagues
• History of roller derby

References

1. ^ Seattle Times, October 17, 2005.
2. ^ Rat City roller girls get ready to rumble
3. ^ Derby Brats skater name master list
4. ^ ^{a b} Texas Shootout - 2007 Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championship Tournament
5. ^ Seattle Junior Derby brats relish hard knocks - The Enterprise Newspapers; August 22, 2008
6. ^ http://www.pfmrollerderby.org/alumnae/
7. ^ http://www.ratcityrollergirls.com/venue.html
8. ^ http://www.westseattleherald.com/articles/2009/02/09/features/features/feature01.txt
9. ^ Rat City Rollergirls lose championship bout
10. ^ Home | Derby News Network
11. ^ The Oregonian, February 1, 2007
12. ^ Seattle Post-Intellegencer, February 26, 2007
13. ^ Tucson Roller Derby, Dust Devil 2007
14. ^ Arizona Daily Star reporter Kevin Smith live-blogs the action, February 18, 2007
15. ^ Seattle Post-Intellegencer, September 2, 2006.
16. ^ Seattle P.I. May 15, 2004
17. ^ The Tri-City News - Your Best source for Local Community News delivered in print or online
18. ^ Log in: HeraldTimesOnline.com
19. ^ Blood On The Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls
20. ^ Seattle International Film Festival, 2007
21. ^ Roller Derby: Meet the players
22. ^ Frozen Codebase Partners with The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA)
23. ^ Rat City Rollergirls bump up against Starbucks
24. ^ Starbucks Asks Rat City Rollergirls to Change Their Logo, The Stranger, May 23, 2008.
25. ^ Starbucks Backs Off, Leaving Rat City Rollergirls Logo Intact, The Stranger, September 18, 2008.
26. ^ http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=2774016

External links

• Rat City Rollergirls official website.
• "Blood on the Flat Track, the Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls," documentary film.
• "Roller Derby Revival in Seattle," radio news feature, 88.5 FM, KPLU, Seattle, May 25, 2007.
• PFM Practice Squad Alumnae
• "Roller derby enjoys rollicking resurgence," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sports, Friday, August 17, 2007.
• "Rat City Rollergirls," Prost Amerika, Sports.
• "Archive for the 'Rat City Rollergirls' Category," Derby News Network
• "Rat City Rollergirls," Lead Jammer

Preceded by New tournament

WFTDA Western Regional Tournament winners 2007

Succeeded by Texas Rollergirls