Akron Roller Derby is 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

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Two separate Akron-based leagues, NEO Roller Derby and Rubber City Rollergirls, merged in November 2016 to become Akron Roller Derby. The league consists of two teams which compete against teams from other leagues, and 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).

History

Akron's original roller derby league was founded in June 2006 by Mary Elliott. The Rubber City Demolition Dolls were featured in the ''

Akron Beacon Journal The ''Akron Beacon Journal'' is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon Jo ...

'' on May 27, 2007. Shortly after, Elliott bowed out but the original league stayed intact. Elliott kept rights to the Rubber City name for derby use. NEO Roller Derby was founded as the Northeast Ohio Rock 'n' Roller Girls a group of eleven women from RCDD. The Rock 'n' Roller Girls name was later reserved for the league's A team.Sean Patrick,
NEO Roller Derby League now part of Women’s Flat Track Derby Association
, ''West Side Leader'', June 23, 2011 The league attracted attention for raising money for charities including Stewart's Caring Place and the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

. Meanwhile, Rubber City Rollergirls was founded in Akron in 2008 after receiving permission from Elliott to use the reformed name, and played its first bout, at the John S. Knight Center, in April 2009. 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 in January 2010,Apprentice Leagues
, WFTDA ersion of 23 March 2010/ref> and instituted its B team later in the year. By 2011, it had forty skaters, and was claiming crowds of 1,000 fans. Its A team was known as the Tire Iron Maidens, and its B team was the Hot Rod Dollies. Rubber City at some point left the Apprentice program, and was not listed as such in February 2013. In October 2014, Rubber City re-entered the Apprentice Program. In November 2016, NEO Roller Derby and Rubber City Rollergirls announced on their social media pages, in a statement confirmed by a new, mutual website, that the leagues had merged to become Akron Roller Derby.

WFTDA

NEO was accepted into the

Program in September 2009,Apprentice Leagues
, WFTDA ersion of 16 November 2009/ref> and became a full member of the

WFTDA 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 ...

in September 2010.9 Leagues Join WFTDA for Full Membership
", WFTDA, 1 September 2010 By 2011, the league had almost forty skaters, and was attracting crowds averaging 600 people. In 2013, NEO qualified for the WFTDA Division 2 International Playoffs for the first time, competing at the tournament held in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

that August. NEO finished the tournament in 4th place, losing the 3rd place game to host team, the Kalamazoo Derby Darlins, 250-219.

WFTDA rankings

As Neo Roller Derby

As Akron Roller Derby

References

{{Ohio Sports Sports in Akron, Ohio Roller derby leagues in Ohio 2016 establishments in Ohio Sports clubs and teams established in 2016