Birmingham Blitz Dames (BBD) was a women's flat track

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

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Founded in 2006, the league was 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).

History

BBD was founded in October 2006 by American transplant Brenda Bentley (Bee Sting née Iva Issues), who introduced roller derby to the West Midlands. The league was the first to form in the UK outside London, and was originally named the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames. They took part in Europe's first roller derby tournament, Roll Britannia in 2009, hosted by the London Rollergirls. The tournament featured 12 teams from the UK and Germany, and was held at the historic

Earls Court Exhibition Centre Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue in London, England. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, original ...

in London, England. In 2009 the league was restructured and the name shortened to the Birmingham Blitz Dames. The league had two travel teams and over 70 members, recruiting and training new skaters on an ongoing basis. The Dames were founder members of the UK Roller Derby Association. Two skaters from the league were selected for the

Roller Derby World Cup The Roller Derby World Cup is an international women's roller derby tournament formerly organized by ''Blood & Thunder magazine'', and currently organized by the Roller Derby World Cup Committee. Teams of amateur skaters from around the world c ...

in 2011: Violet Attack for Team England, and Roisin Roulette for Team Ireland. In 2014 Roisin Roulette was again selected to compete for Team Ireland in the 2014 Roller Derby World Cup held in Dallas, Texas. In 2021, it was announced that Birmingham Blitz Dames would merge with Central City Roller Derby to form Birmingham Roller Derby.

WFTDA

Birmingham joined the

WFTDA Apprentice Program 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 ...

in October 2014, and became a full member of the WFTDA in September 2015.

Rankings

References

{{end box Roller derby in England Roller derby leagues in the United Kingdom Roller derby leagues established in 2006 Women's sports clubs and teams in England 2006 establishments in England