The roller derby is a female contact sport developed in a flat oval track, with two teams, 10 players on the track (5 of each team at the time of play).
The term roller derby was first used in 1922 when the Chicago Tribune used it to describe multi-day roller-skating races, similar to the late Nineteenth-Century marathons reported by The New York Times. The roller derby became an icon of popular culture thanks to the celebration of matches in many cities in USA which were broadcast by radio and even on television.
In the mid-1970s the Roller derby lost popularity and was relegated to television replacements headed by veteran skaters. The revival of the contemporary female roller derby took place in the early 2000s in Austin, Texas. In 2004, a group of women's leagues formed what is now the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), which coordinates and establishes the rules governing the competition between the members of the leagues.
© david arribas
