Thanks for Four Years of Awesome
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Blogged Around Philly: Farewell Edition
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shenita
This is the unfortunate perception most people have of women's roller derby. Philadelphia has a roller derby league and these women are serious. This isn't your casual, weekend softball game pick-up sport. This is a tough, serious sport that requires immense dedication, a high threshold for pain and thick skin. The falls are real, the bruises are real, the occasional broken bones definitely real. Oh, and there's no crying in roller derby. We'll save that for football.
Women's Flat Track Roller Derby has undergone one of the biggest growths in sports history. The grassroots revival started back in 2004 with a handful of leagues. In late 2008, there were over 300. The Philly Roller Girls, founded in early 2005, are not only the premiere roller derby league in the Delaware Valley, they're also ranked third in the nation with their travel team, the Liberty Belles. Wait, you didn't know there were national rankings? That's okay, you're not the only one. It's this reason and many more that Phillyist is here to tell you why you should already be in love with the Philly Roller Girls.
If you've been lucky enough to catch a PRG game at their temporary Center City venue, the 23rd St. Armory, you've been treated to some of the best roller derby the sport can offer. PRG is in the middle of their intraleague home season with their three home teams: the Broad Street Butchers, the Heavy Metal Hookers and the Philthy Britches. With each evening of derby, the fans see two derby bouts. The first bout is one home team vs. a visiting team with the second being a matchup of the other two home teams. This season has brought Poe's Punishers, a travel team from the River City Roller Girls to battle the Butchers, ending in a Butchers victory. It also brought the All-Star Rhode Island Riveters to play the Hookers with the victory going to Rhode Island. The next game will match the undefeated Britches up with the Texas Hustlers, a Texas Rollergirls home team.
An evening with PRG is electric—the fans are dedicated to the sport and the women are just as dedicated to the fans. The sold-out crowds, seated on bleachers, the floor or the VIP section (complete with rollergirl cocktail servers) cheer on their favorite girls, sometimes armed with signs and face paint. A dedicated but small team of volunteers help run the evening's proceeds but the majority of the work comes from the girls themselves. The girls of PRG work hard to make sure each fan has the time of their life when attending their event. There is a beer sponsor, Cricket Hill Brewery, a food sponsor, Chipotle Mexican Grill, merchandise, programs—all the things that make sporting events what they are but never do you see the athletes themselves selling the beer, the merch and the programs. PRG girls do all of this and still skate an amazing game.
After the intraleague season ends in May, the Philly Roller Girls gear up for their travel season with the Liberty Belles as well as the B-level travel team, the Independence Dolls. This June 27-29, the Delaware Valley is fortunate to host the third-annual East Coast Extravaganza—a gathering of 22 WFTDA leagues and skaters from 58 other leagues coming together at the Sportsplex in Feasterville for a weekend's worth of full-leangth WFTDA-sanctioned and regulation games as well as half-hour challenge bouts, all over three rinks simultaneously. Challenge teams are made up of a mixed-bag of skaters that form the teams ahead of time through online message boards. Memorable matchups have been MILFs vs. Lesbos, Ninjas vs. Pirates and Blondes vs. Brunettes. The tournament started in 2007 as a way to make East Coast derby more accessible to leagues. It grew in two years to a gathering of over 900 skaters from as far away as Albany and Hawaii. PRG is also hosting the 2009 WFTDA National Championship in November, bringing together the top-ranked flat-track derby leagues in the country to fight it out for first place and a year's worth of bragging rights.
This is not a weekend time-filler. This is a sporting event that is not to be missed. See them on March 28 at the 23rd St. Armory, and get your tickets now—the last two games sold out in advance.
The Philly Roller Girls
23rd Street Armory
Saturday, March 28th, 6:00pm
Tickets: here.
Image credit: Joe RollerFan.
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