Adelaide Roller Derby (ADRD) is a

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played on an oval track by two teams of five skaters. It is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leaguesA Roller Derby league is synonymous with an individual club or team in other team sports, as ...

league based in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Founded in 2007, the league has four competitive home teams; The Mile Die Club, The Good Ship Salty (formerly The Salty Dolls), The Road Train Rollers and The Wild Hearses, and an officiating 'Team Zebra'. There are also two combined representative teams, the "Ads" and the “Rads” that compete against other leagues and are currently ranked 4th and 18th respectively in the Oceania region. Adelaide Roller Derby's home season is held at the

Adelaide Showgrounds The Adelaide Showground holds many of Adelaide's most popular events, including the Royal Adelaide Show. The Showground (also popularly known as the Wayville Showgrounds) is located in the inner-southern Adelaide suburb of Wayville, South ...

, and the league is a member of the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby. It sets the international standards for rankings, rules, and competition in the sport, and provides guidance and ...

(WFTDA). Adelaide Roller Derby also host The Great Southern Slam bienially.

History

Adelaide Roller Derby was founded in 2007, with their inaugural season launching in July 2008. Between the club's formation and the start of their first season, the club hosted the first interstate roller derby competition in Australia, ''Skate of Origin'', against the

Victorian Roller Derby League The 'Victorian Roller Derby League'' (VRDL or Victoria) is a flat track roller derby league based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2007, VRDL provides opportunities for all ages and at all levels to participate and compete in Roller Derby. VR ...

. Their first local competition started in 2008 and featured two teams, the Mile Die Club and the Salty Dolls, with the Salty Dolls winning the three-match series. The second year of competition in the league saw the introduction of a new team, the Road Train Rollers, but it was the Mile Die Club who took out the series, winning undefeated. The same year also saw the second interstate bout between Adelaide and Melbourne. ''Skate of Origin 2'' was hosted in Melbourne, but the Adelaidies were able to come out on top in a close match. This was followed by a three-state competition hosted in Adelaide between two Adelaide teams created for the event, the Phantoms and the Tornado, and teams from Brisbane and Sydney – the Brawl Stars and the Assassins. Once again, the two Adelaide teams were successful. 2010, the third year of competition for the Adelaide Roller Derby league, saw the introduction of a fourth team in the form of Wild Hearses. This brought the registrations for the league up to 120 per year, and 2010 saw over 100 people trying out for positions at the annual "Fresh Meat" program. The season started with an appearance leading the

Adelaide Fringe Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...

parade, and ended in a double-header with a win to the Road Train Rollers. The same year saw Adelaide Roller Derby hosting the first ''

Great Southern Slam The Great Southern Slam (TGSS) is the largest competitive roller derby event in the world, contested by teams from New Zealand and Australia. It is held bienially in Adelaide in South Australia. TGSS was created and continues to be both hosted ...

'' – the largest roller derby tournament to be held outside of the United States, with 500 competitors from Australia and New Zealand. In 2011 four teams competed over six bouts, with a double-header grand final won by the Salty Dolls. In addition to the local season, three interstate/international competitions were played. The first was with Bunbury and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

teams at

Arena Joondalup Arena Joondalup is a multi-purpose sports complex in Joondalup, Western Australia, located on of parkland approximately north of Perth. Opened in 1994, Arena Joondalup is a super complex with many facilities including an outdoor sports grou ...

, followed by travelling to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

to compete with the local league there, and finally a trip to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

to compete against the Pirate City Rollers in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. Adelaide Roller Derby was featured in the documentary film ''

This Is Roller Derby ''This Is Roller Derby'' is a 2011 Australian documentary film by Daniel Hayward on four Australian roller derby teams over the course of a season. The film features members from roller derby associations from Australia and the United States, p ...

''. The league was accepted into the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice The Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice was the program affiliate of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). In operation from 2009 until early 2019, the Apprentice Program served to onboard new member leagues into the WFTDA ...

program on 24 January 2014.WFTDA Accepts 22 Additional Apprentice Leagues
", WFTDA, 24 January 2014 In March 2015, Adelaide was made a full member of the

Team Name Change

At the first double header of the 2022 season, The Salty Dolls were officially renamed "The Salties", the name change comes after several

Non-Binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

identifying players joined the league, in attempts to promote inclusion.

WFTDA competition

In 2017, Adelaide was ranked at 23rd overall in the WFTDA, but was ineligible for Division 1 Playoffs for not meeting sanctioned game minimum requirements. In 2019, Adelaide formally qualified for the WFTDA post-season for the first time, as the tenth seed for the North American West Continental Cup held in

Orem, Utah Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Utah, Provo, Lindon, Utah, Lindon, and Vineyard, Utah, Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the pri ...

in the United States. The Continental Cups model groups teams regionally by geography, and without sufficient numbers to hold a standalone tournament in the Asia Pacific region, Adelaide was sent to Utah. There they upset seventh-seeded Jet City Roller Derby in the opening round, before losing to

Sun State Roller Derby Sun State Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby based in Brisbane, in the Australian state of Queensland. Suns State was established in 2007 and has been a member of the international Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) si ...

in the quarterfinals, and ended the weekend with a consolation bracket win against

Rocky Mountain Rollergirls Rocky Mountain Roller Derby (RMRD) is a flat-track roller derby league based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2004, Rocky Mountain is a founding member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), and has qualified for WFTDA Playoffs every ...

WFTDA rankings

Death of Sarah Strong-Law

On February 21, 2022, the league founder Sarah Strong-Law (aka Barrelhouse Bessy) was killed in a car accident involving a truck on

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...

. The funeral was broadcast via Facebook Live and Zoom for people in Adelaide who couldn't travel or who were stuck in isolation due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

References

External links

Adelaide Roller Derby

''This is Roller Derby'' (documentary)
{{AUS roller derby leagues Sports clubs and teams in South Australia Roller derby leagues in Australia Roller derby leagues established in 2007 Sport in Adelaide 2007 establishments in Australia