Middlesbrough Roller Derby is a flat track

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (j ...

league based in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, England. 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, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...

(WFTDA) and the

United Kingdom Roller Derby Association The United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA) is the National Association for roller derby in the UK. The association was formed in 2010 with 15 member leagues, and was recognized by the British Roller Sports Federation soon after. The UK ...

History

In September 2007, inspired by the

London Rollergirls London Roller Derby is a flat track roller derby league and a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). The league were founding members of the United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA). The league has four travel team ...

, Natalie Boxall (

derby name A derby name, roller derby name or skater name is a nickname used by a skater while playing or officiating roller derby. Derby names can be seen as an opportunity to adopt an alternative on-track persona. Many derby names are puns, and in some ...

Germaine Leer) and Karen Slater (Bon Sleaze) founded the league under the name the Middlesbrough Milk Rollers. This made them the first roller derby league in the North East of England. They hosted the Northern EXPOsure roller derby exposition games on 19 September 2009, with commentary by

Jet Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

from

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

, which also featured Leeds Roller Dolls, Central City Roller Girls and Severn Roller Torrent. As well as taking part in bootcamps, bouts, and guest skating for other leagues, MMR also competed in the London Rollergirls' European tournament "Roll Britannia" in 2009 as part of the mixed team 'Royal Rebel Rollers'. This team was made up of skaters from Middlesbrough, Rebellion Rollergirls, and Windsor Rollergirls. In February 2012 the team received a lottery-funded

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

grant, making them the first roller derby league in the UK to receive one. The Milk Rollers took first place in the Great Yorkshire Showdown tournament in July, 2012. On 22 September 2012, the league launched their B Team in a closed bout against the Norfolk Brawds, their first open bout being against the Newcastle Roller Girls Whippin' Hinnies. Middlesbrough Roller Derby plays by the rules of the

(WFTDA) and is a member of the

UK Roller Derby Association The United Kingdom Roller Derby Association (UKRDA) is the National Association for roller derby in the UK. The association was formed in 2010 with 15 member leagues, and was recognized by the British Roller Sports Federation soon after. The UK ...

(UKRDA). In April 2013, Middlesbrough was accepted as a member of the

WFTDA Apprentice Program The Women's Flat Track Derby Association Apprentice is 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. ...

. Middlesbrough became a full WFTDA member in July 2014. In March 2017, the league announced a rebrand as Middlesbrough Roller Derby.

National Team Representation

Ella Storey and Terri Sudron from the league have represented Team England at both the

2014 Roller Derby World Cup The 2014 Roller Derby World Cup is an international women's roller derby tournament organized by ''Blood & Thunder'' magazine. Teams of amateur skaters from six continents compete for their respective nations. The 2014 Roller Derby World Cup is ...

and

2018 Roller Derby World Cup The 2018 Roller Derby World Cup was the third international women's Roller Derby World Cup, taking place on February 1–4 at EventCity, in Manchester, United Kingdom, with 38 teams competing. An international roller derby tournament, it was org ...

WFTDA competition

Middlesbrough qualified for the Division 2 Playoffs and

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

in 2017 as the sixth seed in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, but lost 163–156 to

Columbia QuadSquad Columbia Roller Derby is a roller derby league based in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 2007, the league has two travel teams: Columbia Quad Squad (A) and Soda City Jerks (B) as well as a junior roller derby team, Columbia Junior Roller Derb ...

and also lost their consolation round game to

E-Ville Roller Derby E-Ville Roller Derby is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 2006, E-Ville is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). History and organization E-Ville Roller Derby was fou ...

199–191 to finish out of the medals.

Rankings

*Please note that rankings were suspended in March 2020 in light of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. * ''CR = consolation round''

In the community

The league takes an active role in getting people in Teesside involved in roller derby and have organised and hosted fundraisers and events including running a

pop-up shop Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to catch onto a fad or scheduled e ...

as part of the 'We Are Open' project.

References

External links

FacebookTwitterFlickrMMR Help Promote Show us your Art for MIMA – 15 September 2012
{{WFTDA Division 2 Roller derby in England Roller derby leagues in the United Kingdom Roller derby leagues established in 2007 Sport in Middlesbrough Women's Flat Track Derby Association Division 2 2007 establishments in England