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 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.
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RAT CITY ROLLERGIRLS TICKETS
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Member Teams
The member teams for play within the Rat City league are:
- Derby Liberation Front - 2005 and 2008 Season Champions. [1]
- Grave Danger - 2007 Season Champions
- Sockit Wenches - 2006 Season Champions
- Throttle Rockets
And 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 second 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 and Reanna Williams ("Anna Mosity") of the Jet City Rollergirls in
Everett, Washington.
[5]
The member teams, aged 11 to 17, of the Seattle Derby Brats are:
Age 11 to 17
- Poison Skid'les
- Evil Angels
Most of the Derby Brats names are candy related, such as Sonic Pezz, or are related to the team name, such as Poizon Izzie or Scab Angel.
Age 6 to 10
- Tootsy Rollers (flag team)
The flag team is called the Tootsy Rollers and is comprised of girls ages 6-10, who play a flag version of roller derby with no contact
[6].
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 Jet City Rollergirls, and the Dockyard Derby Dames.
[7]
Rat City Rollergirls league history
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.
[8]
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'.
[9]
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
Women's Flat Track Derby Association national championships in Austin, Texas. They placed second, to the 2007 national champions the
Kansas City Roller Warriors.
[10] In the qualifying round, they beat the 2006 and 2005 national champions, the
Texas Rollergirls, who placed third.
[11] 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.
The Rat City All-Stars beat the
Rose City Rollers in Portland, Oregon.
[12]
Sweeping the 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.
[13] [14] [15]
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.
[16] 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.
[17]
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.
[18] [19]
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
The 2007 documentary, Blood On The Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls
[20], was directed by Lainy Bagwell and Lacey Leavitt.
[21]. It was released at the
Seattle International Film Festival, 2007. It is scheduled to screen at the
Sydney (Australia) Mardi Gras Film Festival in March of 2009.
[22]
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.
[23]
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.
[24]
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.
[25] [26] After casual observers noted the absence of similarity, the matter was dropped in September of 2008 without further legal action.
[27]
The Rat City Rollergirls logo artwork was designed by Scott Ego.
[28]
See also
- List of roller derby leagues
- History of roller derby
References
- Seattle Times, October 17, 2005.
- Rat City roller girls get ready to rumble
- Derby Brats skater name master list
- Texas Shootout - 2007 Women's Flat Track Derby Association Championship Tournament
- Seattle Junior Derby brats relish hard knocks - The Enterprise Newspapers; August 22, 2008
- The Tootsy Rollers
- http://www.pfmrollerderby.org/
- http://www.ratcityrollergirls.com/venue.html
- http://www.westseattleherald.com/articles/2009/02/09/features/features/feature01.txt
- Rat City Rollergirls lose championship bout
- Home | Derby News Network
- The Oregonian, February 1, 2007
- Seattle Post-Intellegencer, February 26, 2007
- Tucson Roller Derby, Dust Devil 2007
- Arizona Daily Star reporter Kevin Smith live-blogs the action, February 18, 2007
- Seattle Post-Intellegencer, September 2, 2006.
- Seattle P.I. May 15, 2004
- The Tri-City News - Your Best source for Local Community News delivered in print or online
- Log in: HeraldTimesOnline.com
- Blood On The Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls
- Seattle International Film Festival, 2007
- http://www.samesame.com.au/features/3516/Same-Sames-Picks-From-This-Years-Mardi-Gras-Film-Festival.h
- Roller Derby: Meet the players
- Frozen Codebase Partners with The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA)
- Rat City Rollergirls bump up against Starbucks
- Starbucks Asks Rat City Rollergirls to Change Their Logo, The Stranger, May 23, 2008.
- Starbucks Backs Off, Leaving Rat City Rollergirls Logo Intact, The Stranger, September 18, 2008.
- http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=2774016